As the hopes for keeping alive the Fourth Amendment rest now on the possibility of a chauffer's strike in DC (UPDATE: no such luck), it occurs to me the accompanying hopeless feeling of dread is becoming all too familiar. As I listened to NPR give a one-sentence mention to the "expected to pass" gutting of FISA safeguards speeding through the Senate today, I began to enumerate all the other avenues into open government that have been so effectively closed by the criminal conspiracy occupying the White House.

The list is staggering.
 
"A republic, if you can keep it" is the oft-quoted reply of Ben Franklin when asked what type of country had been forged in the constitutional convention. There can no longer be any doubt - we have lost the republic. And to a bully, no less. How could this happen? Historians, if their profession persists, may argue about it, but the truth of the matter is that this whole issue has been engineered in such a way that we will never know.

Read below the fold and weep.

As the guardians of the economy have slowly woken up to a reality that anyone living in less than three homes can describe from experience, there has been a recent avalanche of "assistance" coming from the government treasury American taxpayers in the form of cash infusions in a desperate, haphazard effort to resuscitate the staggering US economy. As the Fed meets again to decide if any pain should be inflicted on investors, or just dump it all on the consumer, and the Senate debates another attempt to minimize the carnage wrought by unchecked greed in the housing market to the tune of a mere $4 billion, I thought it would be a good time to see just how much CPR the economy has received lately, and whether it's doing any good.

Short answer; It isn't.
Maybe it's time to pronounce.
Cause of death (with links) is under the sheet.

We're all abuzz with the news that Steny Hoyer (D-AT&T) has rammed through a capitulation on FISA reform against his own will, and with no support from democrats.
Key to the success of this clearly corrupt, fraudulent piece of "legislation" is the makeup job/title change designed to make us (FAIL) and our representatives (uh-oh) in congress think that there is some sort of check on unbridled surveillance powers tucked into the bill.
There isn't.
It's worse than the original.
Action item (an easy one) below the fold

Just a short diary today. I had a letter in my inbox from Patrick Leahy and John Conyers asking for help in protecting America from At&T, and thought I'd forward it to everyone who didn't get one.

Here it is:

email to senators on FISA update WITHOUT amnesty

Brief description below

Vermont Public Radio aired an interview this morning with Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). As you likely know, Leahy is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as such has more power over the fate of the nominee for US Attorney General than any other senator (if you didn't know that, let me be the first to say "Welcome to DailyKos!").
It appears that the chairman is having more than a little trouble holding his rubber stamp.
It even appears Mr. Leahy is not ready to take Dick Cheney's advice.

More below

Sometimes the big stories come wrapped in the smallest of packages, and never more so than in a small, rural state like Vermont. Who would have thought that a year-old inquiry by the Vermont Public Service Board, which regulates utilities (#yawn#), would suddenly become a central front in the investigation into the bush warrantless wiretapping programs? Apparently almost no one. That is until a local lawyer, who happens to be representing a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, started having some strange things happen to his telephone.

more after the jump

WE get it. WE have functioning memories. WE know a con job when we see one.
However, the steno pool pretending to be a free press is apparently not quite so intellectually adept.
They need our help again.
As discussed by Markos on Hardball, by georgia10 on the front page, and by Bob Johnson's  recommended diary from yesterday, among others, this "troop cut" to pre-splurge levels was always on the books, had to happen, was a foregone conclusion, hell, it was a slam dunk.
    For reasons all about conditions on the ground; by next April, we will be out of fresh troops to send into Hell.  
But you already know that. You read Dailykos.

The Kewl Kidz don't, so don't kid yourselves about the reach of this website.

It's important to inform the media that we already know that desurgification presented as a 'choice' or the result of 'success' is factually wrong.
Quick action item below:

Vermont Public Radio ran a short interview with freshman Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders this morning (transcript  here, audio is also available), and I finally heard an elected official say, essentially, ENOUGH.

Bernie will work against any measure regarding Iraq that does NOT include a firm timetable for withdrawal. VPR also reports Senator Patrick Leahy will have a "difficult time" supporting any such capitulation.

    Essentially, any 'compromise legislation' is a non-starter with the Vermont senatorial delegation. Reid's fear of a threatened filibuster has pushed him, effectively, into the Republican party. In an attempt to pander to their bloodlust and inability to admit wrong, he has adopted a strategy that forces members of his caucus into a new opposition.
And that is what capitulation from a position of strength gets you.

Further evidence of the Bush Abomination's implosion - even Fortune magazine has abandoned Bush's spin on the economy, specifically the spiralling federal budget deficit.
   In an article entitled Bush's Fuzzy Math (via CNN money), writer Allen Sloan hands out some preventative Dramamine for the spin that will come from the White House in early October.
Grab a dose below the fold.

Since we lost the Senate to a case of "I need my vacation, so screw the country" blackout, our only hope is to somehow tie this crap FISA update evisceration up in the House. Meanwhile, we can work on the latest capitulation chorus in the Senate to wake the hell up.
Some common sense questions about the Urgent Need To Destroy The Constitution And Make Abu G Into The Head Of The Secret Police Act to ask your congresscritter are below the fold...

I know, I know. It's hardly earth-shattering. But my subscription to TIME was the last present my dad gave me before he died last spring, and I always read it, at least out of a sense of connection to him. The reporting is occasionally good, but the "analysis" by sociopaths like William Kristol and others are often in CoulterLand. This week's episode actually outdoes Kristol, and it's nefariousness is hiding behind a sham slam of Bush. I'm talking about the article "Easy Commute" by Richard Lacayo.

disinfecting the yellow journalism below...

I wasn't gonna do anything today but eat popcorn and watch the Abu G show on C-Span3.  Really.  But the extended break and scattered nature of the hearings were taking a lot of air out of my interest, so I went wandering around the internets looking for different takes on the morning's festivities.

I found something unrelated (well, specifically unrelated) to the mess at the DoJ, but the similarites are glaring in general terms, namely extralegal edicts issued by a recently appointed, politically-oriented administrator designed to obscure truth and stymie oversight.

The Pentagon is going to "unprecedented" lengths (free registration) to keep the truth from Congress:
As of April 19, 2007, no members of the military who are not:

1. Bush appointees

2. At least at the rank of colonel

can provide information to members of Congress, either in hearings or in personal briefings.
Want to guess who, what, and why?
On the flip

As the "pet food recall" blossoms into yet another mushroom cloud of "incompetence" and "nobody coulda known", I think it's important to point out a few things that came up on "The Google" when my rusty memory was tweaked regarding the recent history of the FDA.

You guessed it, kids - it's another tale of cronyism and politics undermining the true work of government to keep it's citizens safe. I have no idea if this is being investigated by anyone in an official capacity, but it sure needs it.

This time it's the drug companies. And of course the Bush White House.
Almost makes you wonder if one of them has an antidote to melamine poisoning in the pipeline.

Follow another depressing tale of selling our country's safety for a campaign contribution inside>>>>>>

As many Kossacks are already aware, Vermont has partially pulled the trigger on sending an impeachment resolution to the US Congress, via the method described in Jefferson's manual.  This action alone moves the State initiated impeachment movement ahead by miles. However, the resolution can go nowhere until both chambers approve it. Though there is at least a decent chance the resolution will pass the House, it is being held up by "off the table" Speaker Gaye Symington, even in light of the turnaround by Senate president protem Peter Shumlin.
So once again, it falls to the citizens of this tiny state to make democracy work.

My little push is below the fold

Big fan of front pagers that I am, I slavishly read FP posts, mumbling things like "no shit" under my breath, and usually click on the yummy links provided, for there's always a "there" there.
So, when  BarbinMD promised the utterly nauseating spectacle of Rudy Giuliani in a dress, I couldn't resist.
But there was another surprise just down the page - It seems Flip Romney wants to know how he should think about tax policy.
So he's asking for it.
In more ways than one.

My suggestion on the flip

One of the greatest benefits of a site like DailyKos is the wide range of topics coming from a progressive (read realistic) perspective that is largely absent from the corporate media's version of events. As I've lurked, responded, and written here, I've learned incredible amounts about many issues, notably economic ones. I've become an aficionado of the posts of bonddad, Jerome, and others, and generally take their dire predictions seriously. My wife and I have been curtailing our spending and paying down debt whenever we could.

Turns out it wasn't enough.

Two very interesting stories on the BBC this morning point to further bad news for the Iraq Coverup campaign, and continuing disintegration of Operation Change the Name.
One of them could spell the end of the road for lame poodle Tony Blair, and the other could mean another formerly tame pet, namely Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is going feral. Together, these stories constitute a new chapter, which could be called (hat tip to Frank Zappa)
"The Poodle Bites, the Poodle Chews It"

More after this word from Halliburton and the Republican Party.... BOOO!!

OK, all you undecideds, listen up.
The World Series is over, and maybe you can pay a little attention to another national pastime, the upcoming midterm national elections.  
What? Oh. The NBA is in preseason, hockey is back, and of course, it's football season.  
Right.
So let me put this in terms you can understand.
America's team is in real trouble, and you can help them out.

Are you ready for some (political) football?
With LOTS of yummy links?

Follow me to the sports section, inside