That's what it is, that's what we're doing.  You've heard about them before, the secret CIA rendition jets, the archipelago of secret prison camps around the world so we can torture and even kill undocumented and ill defined prisoners.

Hell, were even using the U.S.S.R.'s old concentration camps.

CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons

The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.

I'm sorry, but what the American government is doing is down right . . Un-American.

The Cheney/Rumsfeld cabal simply cannot be allowed to continue this repugnant practice, period.  Even the Mooney Times has had enough.

But an interesting question arises about just what one particular prisoner knew, and when did he know it, and why he was allowed to escape.  Especially now, since he was expected to testify against his interrogators.

I never in a million years thought that the country I grew up to love and respect so much could sink this low.  I only hope that eventually Colin Powell's prediction that the world could watch us and see how a free and democratic people clean up our own mess.  It sure is taking longer than I would like.

If it takes ten years, everyone, and I mean everyone from Bush on down must be made to pay the price or this gift of freedom Washington, Jefferson and Madison handed down to us and for which so many courageous men and women sacrificed their lives will indeed perish from the Earth.

Oh, there'll still be a nation-state called the USA here in the center of North America, but it will be unrecognizable to those of us who remember what America used to stand for:  Fairness, equal opportunity, ruled by laws not men.  A place where the foot of the wealthy and greedy didn't stomp on the necks of ordinary folks trying to make a better life for their families.  A place where we all could own guns, but didn't need guns.

A place where our leaders were accountable and all human beings were treated with dignity and the presumption of innocence applied to everyone, not just the party faithful.  A place that had no place for fascists, even if they do look like the Olsen twins. A place where we didn't steal elections or work so hard to divide so many.

She's such a nice lady. But then again, what's a nice lady like her doing with thugs like she runs with? Add her campaign finance embezzlement problems to the rest of the GOP's enumerated corruption scandals.

* The federal grand jury indictment of Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff;

* Two Texas grand jury indictments of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay for conspiracy and money laundering;

* The federal investigation of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for misuse of insider information in the sale of stock in his family's health care company;

* The arrest and charge of David Safavian, former head of the White House Procurement Office, for obstructing two investigations into whether he aided Jack Abramoff in his effort to acquire government property;

* The indictment of a senior House Appropriations Committee member, Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham, accused of a sweetheart deal with a defense lobbyist that netted him $700,000;

* And, most recently, the indictment of Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff, "Scooter" Libby.

They call this arrogance, the culture of corruption.  I'm calling it just plain stupid.

Stupid for them to try and get away with it and stupid of all the rest of us for letting it continue.

"Senator Ried threw a temper tantrum", or similar smears, will soon be the wingnut take on the Democrats holding their breath and stomping up and down to finally start investigating what really happened in the run up to the war and the White House's apparent complicity or wilful ignorance in disseminating faulty intelligence to bring this nation to a fervor.

Bottom line, Ried got his way.

Senate back in public session

Immediately after returning to public session, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts says Republicans have "agreed to do what we agreed to do."

That, of course was after the GOP leadership took to the microphones to whine about Ried's tactics.  "Stunt" or not, what is "shameful" is not that the Dems had to resort to this maneuver, but that the GOP has stonewalled real accountability and has ignored their obligation to honor the Separation of Powers Doctrine by providing cover for the cabal in this administration for far too long.

Whatever it takes, keep fighting, nice job.

UPDATE:  KOS Details the 23 official attempt the Dems have tried to get the promised Phase II going since March of 2003.  Atrios points to Americablog's account of Frist acting like a baby and Actually Liveblogs the Senate Shutdown here, here, here, here, and has some video here.

HOTLINE BLOG:  Back In Open Session

Did the Democrats' maneuver work?

Here's what Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) just announced on the Senate floor.

"The Majority Leader and the Democratic Leader will appoint three members from their respective parties to meet and report back to the leadership no later that the close of business on 11/14."

They'll report back on the progress of the phase two review on pre-war intelligence. That portion of the review deals with how policy-makers used intelligence and what they said publicly and privately about it.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) defended the probe on the floor of the Senate, saying the phase two report is moving along towards completion. (For a great backgrounder, click here.)

A footnote: several Democratic aides tell us that Sen. Reid and Sen. Jay Rockefeller decided on today's tactic after reading Murray Waas's account on NationalJournal.com of how senior members of Vice President Cheney's staff, including Scooter Libby, may have intentionally withheld crucial documents from the Senate staff. [MARC AMBINDER]

BONUS UPDATE FROM AMERICABLOG

Yikes, even GOP suck-up Matt Drudge is now reporting on [Senator Trent] Lott questioning whether Karl needs to go.

Just before that he was standing up behind Frist and the gang, crying the blues.  I wonder what really was said in that closed Senate meeting to get Lott to find his inner angel; or did he just leap from a sinking ship?  But even questioning the tenure of King Karl's reighn is damn near high treason comming from a GOP leader.

WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, Ohio Republican Rep. Michael Oxley, could announce his retirement as early as Tuesday, sources close to the congressman said on Monday.

Reference:  Reuters.com

Oxley represents that wide open swath of territory betwwn Findlay and Mansfield, norwest of Columbus between Interstate-75 and I-71. He's been entrenched there since 1981. My son was born in '81 and he's voted in two Congressional elections to give you some perspective on how long it's been since this district was Oxley's fiefdom.

This District's election results have forvored the GOP incumbant, often by more than a two to one margin, every time he ran. In fact, the last time a Democrat was elected from there was 1936. Only four men, all Republicans, have represented the district for 70 years.

This my friends is the very definition of Republican Stronghold.  It will certainly be an indication of whether Howard Dean et al. are serious about running competitive races in every district because if you look at the data, and the mood of the country, this one is ripe for the picking with Oxley out.

Trends!

Last year Oxley's margin of victory was lowest of his career, although 59% is nothing to sneeze at. But it is encouraging that during a presidential election in which he had large coattails, the total number of votes he won by, 48,037, was the second slimmest margin he ever got. He's usually in the 60-80 thousand vote range, always receiving over, usually well over 100,000 votes.

Here are the numbers:

YEAR 2004	VICTORY MARGIN 48037	PER-CENT OF TOTAL VOTE 59%
2002	62275	68%
2000	80902	67%
1998	48482	64%
1996	67455	65%
1994	139841	100% (unopposed)
1992	54738	61%
1990	39430	62%
1988	160900	100% (unopposed)
1986	77434	75%
1984	115181	78%
1982	47523	65%

Mind you, last year Oxley recieved more votes than he ever has, 3,000 votes more than he got in 1988 when he ran unopposed.  Even a thousand more votes than he got in 1984 when he had Reagan's coattails and enjoyed the largest percentage of total votes cast in a competitive race, an awesome 78%.

BUT, and this is a big caveat, last year was the first time a Democratic challenger got more than 100,000 votes, and at 59%, Oakley had to count on massive voter turnout to win.  Even though he got more votes than he ever imagined, his percentage of victory was at its lowest.

If done right, starting right now, this district could turn blue, which is such a pretty color, don't you think?

UPDATE:  HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING tells us exactly why this is such great news.  The Democratic Party simply cannot let this opportunity slip away.

Finally!   Josh Marshall is putting All his reporting on the forged Niger documents at the heart of Plamegate in one place.

Thanks Josh!  He's been out in front on this from the start but has left it up to others to connect the dots in a concise synopsis.

Part I is up now.  I definitely smell the tangy aroma of cordite in the air -- I think we're getting closer to the smoking gun.

I've never put all the reporting in one place; and until now there was still a good bit of information I wasn't at liberty to report. This is the first of a series of installments I'm going to publish here at TPM in which I will lay out the story as I understand it based on my own reporting and research.

This first post is a nice primer to get anyone who hasn't been following the story up to speed.  Here's a sample of what he calls intriguing details:

For instance, the State-CIA IG [Iraqi Group] report briefly noted a murky story about contacts between SISMI [Italy's clandestine service] and the CIA in the summer of 2002. That summer SISMI had approached the CIA about an operation they intended to run against the Station Chief of Iraqi intelligence in Rome. The plan was to send disinformation about the Iraqi Station Chief back to Baghdad via a third country. And the subject of the disinformation was to be trade between Iraq and Niger. (The Americans did not object but declined to participate.)

Matthew Yglesias points to where Josh might be going in his preview of a "feature forthcoming in The American Conservative":

Enter Michael Ledeen, the Office of Special Plans’ man in Rome. Ledeen was paid $30,000 by the Italian Ministry of the Interior in 1978 for a report on terrorism and was well known to senior SISMI officials. Italian sources indicate that [Italian Military Intelligence Chief, Gen. Nicolo] Pollari was eager to engage with the Pentagon hardliners, knowing they were at odds with the CIA and the State Department officials who had slighted him. He turned to Ledeen, who quickly established himself as the liaison between SISMI and Feith’s OSP, where he was a consultant. Ledeen, who had personal access to the National Security Council’s Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley and was also a confidant of Vice President Cheney, was well placed to circumvent the obstruction coming from the CIA and State. . .

. On Sept. 9, 2002, Ledeen set up a secret meeting between Pollari and Deputy National Security Adviser Hadley. Two weeks before the meeting, a group of documents had been offered to journalist Elisabetta Burba of the Italian magazine Panorama for $10,000, but the demand for money was soon dropped and the papers were handed over. The man offering the documents was Rocco Martino, a former SISMI officer who delivered the first WMD dossier to London in October 2002. That Martino quickly dropped his request for money suggests that the approach was a set-up primarily intended to surface the documents.

Panorama, perhaps not coincidentally, is owned by Prime Minister Berlusconi. On Oct. 9, the documents were taken from the magazine to the U.S. Embassy, where they were apparently expected. Instead of going to the CIA Station, which would have been the normal procedure, they were sent straight to Washington where they bypassed the agency’s analysts and went directly to the NSC and the Vice President’s Office. . . .

Guess who's coming to dinner. :-)   While most of the country gets dazzled by the flashbulbs from the paparazzi hyping the state visit by Prince Charles and Kamilla, Berlusconi's visit will not go unnoticed by those of us truly paying attention.

Wanna bet that when the Berlusconi and the Chimperor get together behind closed doors the Prime Minister's first question to Bush will be whether tthey are going to burn Pollari?  At a minimum they'll have a chance to get their stories straight since the SISMI chief looks to be in as much trouble as Libby.

Pollari was to face parliament this week on allegations that he planted forged documents with U.S. and British intelligence agencies on Iraq's alleged attempts to buy uranium from Niger.

The bogus information led to the CIA's appointment of former Ambassador Joe Wilson to investigate the African deal and then to the outing of Wilson's wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame, who sent him.

Notice any similarity between Cheney calling Libby "one of the most capable and talented individuals I have ever known," and this statement by Berlusconi:

"I have esteem for Gen. Nicolo Pollari," Berlusconi said, and "I have followed his work with trust."

In case you missed it, or have trouble translating from the Italian, that's called "circling the wagons."

{. . . and why do I keep having this urge to type "LiDDy" instead of Libby?]

Doesn't "possible classified-information-related offenses" sound a whole lot like the weasel words Bush first used to get out from under the awful truth that there were no . . .

"weapons of mass destruction-related program activities?"
That's a real long way from,

"SADDAM HUSSEIN IS BUILDING NUKES! HE'LL HAVE THEM ANY DAY NOW!! AND HE'S COMING TO KILL US ALL USING REMOTELY-CONTROLLED DRONES!!!!"

Hat Tip:  Firedoglake, my newest "must read."

From The Washington Monthly

LIBBY'S DEFENSE....Scooter Libby's lawyer has outlined Libby's probable defense against Patrick Fitzgerald's perjury charges: he forgot.

Did Scooter hire the guy who told us all that You can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes!

You say.. "Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?" First.. get a million dollars. Now.. you say, "Steve.. what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, 'You.. have never paid taxes'?" Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: "I forgot!" How many times do we let ourselves get into terrible situations because we don't say "I forgot"? Let's say you're on trial for armed robbery. You say to the judge, "I forgot armed robbery was illegal." Let's suppose he says back to you, "You have committed a foul crime. you have stolen hundreds and thousands of dollars from people at random, and you say, 'I forgot'?" Two simple words: Excuuuuuse me!!"

The punch line, of course, will be when Shrub answers, "Oh, no, You're Pardoned.   Pardon Me."

I grew up near John F. Kennedy High School.  J.F.K. was a smallish Catholic School with a decent football team but no stadium.  They used ours, and maddeningly enough, every other year when my team played theirs, they were considered the "home" team in our own crib.  The school honored one of their own, the nation's first Catholic President shot down in his prime.

Up the street about a mile and a half was Niles McKinley High School, fitting since the city was the President's birthplace.  Canton McKinley, however, had a vastly superior football program.

When I occasionally travel to the courthouse downtown on Madison Street, I cross Adams, Jefferson and Monroe Streets after I get off the highway at Washington.

I had some trouble when they renamed Washington National Airport after Ronald Reagan, but I got over it since, after all, George Washington could claim the whole city as well as an entire State as his namesake.  Not being a big fan of Reagan, I was a bit put off when they named an aircraft carrier after him to join the ranks of the Lincoln and Teddy "Big Stick" Roosevelt -- but hey, I'm sure there was just as many folks on the other side none too pleased to see former sub skipper Jimmy Carter get his name emblazoned on the stanchion of the latest class of nuclear attack boat.

Should any future historians ponder the whereabouts of the monuments to George W. Bush's legacy, I trust they will find nothing save the water sewage treatment plant in lower New Orleans.

Bob Cesca is relishing the idea of Scooter exonerating himself in a long ugly trial lasting through the '06 Midterms.  He wants the media circus with all the trappings.  Rove sweating bullets on the stand, Bush calling the judge "Stretch," and Cheney being, well . . . Cheney.

So do I.

He also bring up the legal fee factor, which Libby's cohorts ensured would be paid and unavailable for discharge under the new bankruptcy rules.  Too bad, really.

I'm betting that the first thing Scooter does after pleading not guilty is waive his right to a speedy trial.  That way he can delay things just long enough on the crowded federal docket to get past next November before his sentencing hearing.  That's when the pardon comes from Shrub, just like his old man did for the Iran/Contra conspirators.

Scooter scoots, well after Rove testifies and keeps his ass out of the sling by honoring his sweetheart deal with Fitzgerald.

Don't think the fix isn't in.

But that's not Boy Scout Fitzgerald's fault.  He's up against some of the most vicious players (and survivors) of D.C. gamesmanship ever to cash a check on K Street.

I mean, just look at what a more partisan prosecutor can do if he really wants to do a hatchet job on the White House:

According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had ten sexual encounters, eight while she worked at the White House and two thereafter. The sexual encounters generally occurred in or near the private study off the Oval Office -- most often in the windowless hallway outside the study. During many of their sexual encounters, the President stood leaning against the doorway of the bathroom across from the study, which, he told Ms. Lewinsky, eased his sore back.

Ms. Lewinsky testified that her physical relationship with the President included oral sex but not sexual intercourse. According to Ms. Lewinsky, she performed oral sex on the President; he never performed oral sex on her. Initially, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President would not let her perform oral sex to completion. In Ms. Lewinsky's understanding, his refusal was related to "trust and not knowing me well enough." During their last two sexual encounters, both in 1997, he did ejaculate.

According to Ms. Lewinsky, she performed oral sex on the President on nine occasions. On all nine of those occasions, the President fondled and kissed her bare breasts. He touched her genitals, both through her underwear and directly, bringing her to orgasm on two occasions. On one occasion, the President inserted a cigar into her vagina. On another occasion, she and the President had brief genital-to-genital contact.

Whereas the President testified that "what began as a friendship came to include [intimate contact]," Ms. Lewinsky explained that the relationship moved in the opposite direction: "[T]he emotional and friendship aspects . . . developed after the beginning of our sexual relationship."

As the relationship developed over time, Ms. Lewinsky grew emotionally attached to President Clinton. She testified: "I never expected to fall in love with the President. I was surprised that I did." Ms. Lewinsky told him of her feelings. At times, she believed that he loved her too. They were physically affectionate: "A lot of hugging, holding hands sometimes. He always used to push the hair out of my face." She called him "Handsome"; on occasion, he called her "Sweetie," "Baby," or sometimes "Dear." He told her that he enjoyed talking to her -- she recalled his saying that the two of them were "emotive and full of fire," and she made him feel young. He said he wished he could spend more time with her.

Ms. Lewinsky told confidants of the emotional underpinnings of the relationship as it evolved. According to her mother, Marcia Lewis, the President once told Ms. Lewinsky that she "had been hurt a lot or something by different men and that he would be her friend or he would help her, not hurt her." According to Ms. Lewinsky's friend Neysa Erbland, President Clinton once confided in Ms. Lewinsky that he was uncertain whether he would remain married after he left the White House. He said in essence, "[W]ho knows what will happen four years from now when I am out of office?" Ms. Lewinsky thought, according to Ms. Erbland, that "maybe she will be his wife."

Courtesy Digby

Gawd.  That thing reads like a Harlequin Romance, or something you read when you're bored looking at the pictures in Penthouse.  Compare that for one minute with the professionalism displayed by Fitzgerald and you'll want to revoke Starr's license.

And you wonder why we called Ken Starr (to quote just a sample from the mental giants on the right) "an evil horrible out of control thug?"

I take back what I called Pat Fitzgerald.  He's no boy scout.

He's an Eagle Scout.

Talk Left gives us the analysis.