I'm sure you all recall the early days of the NSA Hoovering up all domestic data warrantless wiretapping scandal, when they referred to it as the "Terrorist Surveillance Program" and assured us that they were only targeting Al-Qaeda operatives.

Naturally, this turned out to be a lie enhanced duplicity technique, because it turns out they were spying on all of us everyday American citizens. Nobody was off the target list, and we were all potential Al-Qaeda operatives.

Now, there's a big hubbub about some sketchy CIA assassination ring, apparently answering to Cheney himself. Nobody's willing to talk about the nitty-gritty details, but it's enough to have even Nancy "off the table" Pelosi spooked or pissed off enough to start publicly discussing how fucked-up it was, whatever "it" was.

The public justification for this shadowy, super-classified, apparently reprehensible death squad?

They were only targeting Al-Qaeda operatives.

Yeah, okay, I'm gonna go ahead and call bullshit. Does anyone seriously doubt that what we'll eventually learn is that they formed a group to assassinate American citizens in the National Interest? Consider this, via TPM:

Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism chief, told TPMmuckraker that because we've been in a state of war against al Qaeda since just after September 11, there would have been no need for a secret CIA program that received special legal authorization...

As for what the program did involve, Cannistraro suggested that it involved Americans as targets, and that it went beyond surveillance, but declined to elaborate. He added that, though Cheney may have directly ordered the CIA to keep Congress in the dark, the veep wasn't acting alone. "The approval was from the president," said Cannistraro.

Hmm, I wonder...

Via ThinkProgress, G. Gordon Liddy on Sotomayor:

LIDDY: Let’s hope that the key conferences aren’t when she’s menstruating or something, or just before she’s going to menstruate. That would really be bad. Lord knows what we would get then.

Nice. I wonder what former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and current Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg think about that?

Interesting times:

(TPM link)

So, as far as I can tell, Rep. Jane Harman [D-Ca] was conspiring with the Israelis to drop some spy charges in exchange for some lobbying on her behalf, and Alberto Gonzales had an NSA warrantless wiretap™ (wait for it) on her phone and overheard the deal.

In exchange for not investigating, Gonzales asked her to attack the NYT's exposé on (wait for it) NSA warrantless wiretapping. The one she had personally requested be held back until before after the 2004 election (Department of With Democrats Like These, anyone?)

And so she goes free, although the Israelis didn't get her that committee chair she wanted in the first place.

One has to wonder just how much dirt Hoover Gonzales and Rove had on everyone in Washington, and more importantly, how many other favors they blackmailed out of people. And it certainly explains some of those bizarre, neo-Maoist ritual apologies.

So, there will probably be some silly incoherent right-wing protests in the future. There is a very real danger, though, that they won't have such an LOL-worthy rallying cry as "Teabag the White House!!11". Well, we need to get out in front of this, gang. I propose that all evil ACORN infiltrators make the following sign, to be used where/whenever wingnuts and cameras come together:

After You Teabag... DVDA!
Don't
Vote
Democrat
Again!

I knew I shoulda taken off work yesterday...

Another day, another guy coincidentally dies after being Tased repeatedly.

Via digby:

A Statesville man died after being shocked multiple times by Tasers at the Iredell County jail over the weekend, sources say.

Anthony Davidson, 29, was unresponsive when he was taken to Iredell Memorial Hospital Saturday afternoon. He was put on life support and died late Sunday night, police said.

His death is the second Taser-related death this year in the Charlotte area. In March, 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner, died after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police used a Taser on him at a Food Lion store in Charlotte.

[...]

The incident began about 3 p.m. Saturday at a Statesville grocery store. Employees at the Food Lion on N.C. 115 told police they tried unsuccessfully to stop Davidson from leaving the store with a full cart of groceries after his debit card was declined. He left the parking lot without the groceries, police said.

When officers caught up with Davidson a short time later, he was carrying an Applebee's gift card from the store that hadn't been paid for, Anderson said.

Officers took Davidson to the Iredell County Jail where he appeared before a magistrate on a larceny charge. Davidson was behaving abnormally from the time officers first encountered him, Anderson said.

While being booked, Davidson became “physically aggressive and was communicating loudly,” Anderson said. That's when officers used one or more Tasers to get him “back under control,” police said.

A nurse who screened Davidson afterward told officers he needed further medical screening because he appeared to be “under the influence of some type of impairing substance.”

Paramedics took Davidson to the hospital Saturday. His condition continued to decline and he was unresponsive when he arrived, Anderson said. He was admitted to intensive care and was taken off life support about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

[...]

Davidson's family said they weren't aware of him using or having a problem with drugs or alcohol... They said police told them Davidson fell while being subdued and may have hit his head.

An autopsy is scheduled later this week, Moore said.

Last month, the officer involved in the Charlotte Taser incident was cleared of criminal charges [So much for the Milgram Dodge, eh?] but was suspended for five days [wow!] for violating the department's policy when he continuously shocked Darryl Turner for 37 seconds, a factor that contributed to his death.

They tased him to "get him back under control". Everything I've been told by Taser defenders leads me to believe - and I have no reason to doubt them - that they think Tasers are necessary to prevent the use of lethal force.

There is no discernible reason why lethal force should have been used to "control" an unarmed suspect who is "physically aggressive" (can we see the video?) and "communicating loudly". I'm pretty sure everyone can agree on that. So why the hell did they Tase him? I am sympathetic to the argument that a Taser is less harmful than a billy club to the head, but the guy was in handcuffs, for christ's sake.

As Atticus Finch said to Jem, "Never point a gun at a man unless you intend to shoot him, and never shoot a man unless you intend to kill him," or something to that effect. A Taser may be less likely to kill than a gun but certain people will die from it and that fact seems to be ignored an awful lot in these discussions. Shooting someone with a Taser should be a direct, 1:1 substitute for shooting them with a bullet, without exception.

The naked guy standing in the shower with a towel did not require a bullet. Baron Pikes didn't require a bullet. The guy who wouldn't sign his speeding ticket didn't require a bullet. The Polish guy in the Vancouver airport didn't require a bullet. The kid with a broken back did not require a bullet. This guy did not require a bullet. I'm not convinced anyone who has died after being Tased has required a bullet. I'm sure that it makes the cops' jobs easier and safer for themselves if they Tase more people instead of wrestling them to the ground; I don't care. I'd like my job to be easier and safer, but I don't get to make the rules. The police do not have a right to a completely submissive citizenry and they should be prevented from trying to create one.

And if you don't think that's an accurate description of this cavalier attitude:

Taser-related deaths across North Carolina prompted a coalition to study Taser use. The N.C. Taser Safety Project surveyed the state's 100 sheriff's offices and found that 70 issued Tasers to some or all of its deputies, but many agencies lack clear policies about when and how they should be used.

...then what is? Replace "Tasers" with "guns" and it sounds like a story from Baghdad, doesn't it?

[Bonjour, mon general! --lambert]

An imminent threat

So, yesterday morning, a 16-year-old boy in Ozark, Missouri fell off a 30-foot I-65 overpass for unknown reasons. When the police arrived on the scene, they promptly administered first aid Tased him 19 times because he wouldn't "comply" with their orders to stand up. (Thank god for Tasers, otherwise they'd have had to put him down like a broken racehorse, eh?)

Mace ended up in intensive care at a hospital. His parents believe the actions of Ozark police officers contributed to his injuries and slowed doctors’ abilities to speed his recovery.

The official explanation:

“He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him. He is making incoherent statements; he's also making statements such as, ‘Shoot cops, kill cops,’ things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers,” said Ozark Police Capt. Thomas Rousset.

Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what he said after falling off a fucking bridge. They must have felt very threatened indeed by a possibly-paraplegic child. No word on whether he announced to the world that he was high on crack and PCP yet.

I don't even know what to say anymore. It really is a gaslight scenario. I wish I could at least attribute this to racism or something, but it appears these cops are bona fide sociopaths. _{Subliminal Stanley Milgram: No, they're not! Subliminal me: Harumph...}

I can't say I'll be surprised with they start Tasing motorcycle crash victims. We Are All Violently High On Crack And PCP Now.

This is the actual bag that will be given to attendees at this year's DNC.

Somebody call for the Bucket Brigade?

UPDATE And Kudos to TalkLeft for the Fourth Amendment tote. -- Lambert

So it turns out that there's a bit of history behind the latest Taser killing. Officer Nugent arrested (and Tased, natch) the late Baron Pikes's own father in 2007; said father is currently imprisoned for a drug-related offense. I can't find any more details than this, but it got me to thinking.

What happened to Baron Pikes was no less than cold-blooded murder:

After consulting about the case with Dr. Michael Baden, a nationally prominent forensic pathologist, Williams ruled last month that Pikes' death was a homicide. On the death certificate, he listed the cause of death as "cardiac arrest following nine 50,000-volt electroshock applications from a conductive electrical weapon."

"God did not just call this young man home," said Williams, who has served as parish coroner for the past 33 years. "If somebody can tell me anything else that killed this otherwise perfectly healthy young man ... I'd like to know it." [...]

"This case may be the most unnecessary death I have ever had to investigate," Williams said. "[Pikes] put up no fuss, no fighting, no physical aggression. ... He just didn't respond quickly enough to the officer's commands."

What I'm wondering is, was it premeditated?

Via Booman, read the whole thing.

Back in the great state of Louisiana, Baron "Scooter" Pikes was spotted by the police while walking peacefully down the street. Given his outstanding warrant for possession, one Officer Nugent gave chase, and Pikes was cornered. Due to his failure to submit, Nugent tased him. Nine times. In 14 minutes. While Pikes surrendered and begged him to stop.

Pikes died shortly thereafter. He was a healthy man of 33 years. Nugent claimed that, in an apparent Bob Woodward-style near-death confession, he told them (in between the screams of pain and death rattles) that he was high on crack and PCP (never heard that one before!) and had asthma. The coroner found no evidence for any of these claims and ruled the death a homicide, but hey, what are you gonna believe, hearsay from a hardly-impartial participant or hard science from a 33-year veteran?

In an apparent goodwill gesture to shock Pikes back to life, Nugent admitted that he tased Pikes twice while he was unconscious and in custody.

I really wish I could link to the part of the Milgram experiment wherein the actor "dies" and the unwitting partipant shocks him again, and again, and again. Gee, I don't know why. A person administering an electrical shock that they are told is, well, maybe-sorta-safe, but they definitely won't be held responsible if things go awry... nah, never mind, there's no similarity there whatsoever. I don't know what I was thinking.

...who needs friends?

I'm by no means accusing anyone of Glennuendo, but in the spirit of CD's last epic post, we should all keep our eyes out for shit like this, in which wingnuts parrot Holocaust denialists in order to tar Obama. Say what you want about how his presidency will be a boring tour around the Lekture circuit, but if this happened on our side there would be an immediate effort to tie these bloggers to McCain (campaign contributions?) and force him to issue a public apology. The ADL would jump down his throat and it would become an albatross that would go down in history as sinking McInsane's campaign (well, one of many.)

We don't have to go that exact route but this shouldn't go unnoticed because, again, the wingnuts will be nastier than ever over the next 5 months. Don't ever forget that.

***BREAKING***

After extensive audio-visual analysis and comparisons to old films archived in the labyrinthine bowels of the Mighty Corrente Building, we're going on the record to reveal that Barack Obama's top campaign official, David Axelrod, has been quietly replaced by Smokey the Parrot.

Judge for yourself with this footage from today's press conference in Montana:

The Obama camp has yet to issue an official explanation, but an anonymous source assured us that the crackers and newspaper will be funded entirely by small private donors.

UPDATE: The Obama camp has blamed the odd appearance and behavior of their spokesman on a "microphone malfunction"; apparently, unable to hear the questions from the assembled reporters, David Axelrod began reading from Senator Obama's prepared remarks for tomorrow's scheduled rally in South Dakota. To back up their claims, Obama '08 cites the voice of David Gregory saying "Hello? Hello?" at 13 seconds. The veteran reporter's questions were, unfortunately, drowned out by the chorus of kissing noises from the rest of the Washington press corps.   Read more…

Sez Booman, it's really not that bad once you learn to submit:

Barack Obama knew better than to rely on the existing infrastructure, created by the blogosphere, to fight back against the Bush administration and the media. We are too stridently partisan to be messengers of a new kind of politics. He had to step around the gatekeepers of the blogosphere, much to their chagrin. Barack Obama's greatest accomplishment is the organization that he created. He used our tools and his own message. And he won. He could not have won any other way. And that makes him both our greatest representative, and someone who doesn't really need us at all. All of you should go join up on his website and meet your neighbors that are supporting him, and get organized. For presidential stuff, there is no reason to use the blogosphere at all. Use Obama's own tools.

Dear God. I've held back on the Obama cult accusations for a while now; many of my friends and family support him. But Booman... wtf? I don't even know where to begin with this. It is the Borg. No, wait, it's the Heaven's Gate cultists leaving behind their earthly bodies to merge with the higher consciousness.

Actually, I've got it! It's like in the Matrix, where the humans created the machines and then after they fought it out the machines kept the humans alive as tiny generators, feeding them the liquified remains of their brethren.

Not because they had to. Not because we even deserved it, as strident and partisan as we were. But because they're merciful!

So, come on, everyone. Leave your individual thoughts behind. Take the blue pill and relax. Ignorance is bliss!

Via TeddySanFran @ FDL, the question everyone should be asking right up to election day:

So, the question is: will the ad run on Monday?

...

Is John McCain powerless? Is he impotent?

Bwahaha. Yes, these are important questions. I hope that some of our more accessible talking heads *cough* Ezra *cough* will be able to raise them on the air. As in:

Really, what people are asking right now is, why hasn't McCain been able to gain traction with Democrats? Are we looking at an impotent campaign here, you know, one that's never going to get any stronger towards November?

or

Well, McCain's been taking criticism lately, and he hasn't shown that he's really strong enough to deflect any of it... is this the emergence of an impotent candidate?

or

"Say, do you think McCain takes Cialis because he's impotent?"

You get the picture. Simple yet devastating. Can we pull it off?

I'm sure this may come as a shock to you, but military is hiring bloggers to work as moles, "verbally attack[ing] specific person[s] or promot[ing] a specific message."

Wait, sorry, wrong link.

Here's the article.

In the red corner... Richard "Hillary Clinton Shot Vince Foster" Mellon Scaife.

In the blue corner... Hillary Clinton.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall...

via.

Via Digby:

Delahunt: You said if an opinion was rendered, that would insulate him from any consequences.

[Mike Mukasey, Attorney General of the United States, before the House Judiciary Committee today]: We could not investigate or prosecute somebody for acting in reliance on a justice department opinion.

...

Delahunt: If that opinion was inaccurate and in fact violated a section of US Criminal Code, that reliance is in effect an immunity from any criminal culpability.

MM: Immunity connoted culpability. [Well, is anyone culpable? -scar]

...

Delahunt: I find that a new legal doctrine. The law is the law.

According to the AJC, white males might just swing the primary election!

We shall overcome...

Was just perusing CNN.com, and this particular set of candidate mugshots jumped out at me. How about you?

Notice anything curious?

...and she was holding an iron. That's the only conclusion I can draw from this headline:

"Clinton responds to seemingly sexist shouts"

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign stop was interrupted Monday when two men stood in the crowd and began screaming, "Iron my shirt!" during one of her final appearances before the New Hampshire primary.

Clinton, a former first lady running to become the nation's first female president, laughed at the seemingly sexist protest that suggested a woman's place is doing the laundry and not running the country.

Yes... That suggestion does seem awfully sexist... [strokes chin thoughtfully]

seeming[2,adjective]

Main Entry: seeming
Function: adjective
Date: circa 1557

: outwardly or superficially evident but not true or real

Via Our Gray Master:

The latest National Intelligence Estimate concluding that Iran discontinued its nuclear weapons program four years ago has claimed one casualty: CNN has postponed speculative documentary "We Are Full Of Shit Were Warned -- Iran Goes Nuclear."

The two-hour spec, which was slated for Dec. 12 under the "CNN Presents" banner, was "set partially in the future," featuring a what-if scenario as former government officials -- playing fictional cabinet members -- debate how to deal with the Iranian threat.

That special was "based on a different set of rules and a different set of conditions," said CNN veep-senior exec producer Mark Nelson, noting that the surprising NIE report "changed everything."

A different set of rules?!

Via John Cole:

Donnell Williams had just gotten out of the bath tub, wearing only a towel around his waist, when he turned the corner to see guns pointing right at him.

“I ain’t never been so scared,” says Williams.

Police forced entry into Williams home while responding to a shooting, but it turned out to be a false call. They had no idea at the time the call wasn’t real and that Williams is hearing impaired. Without his hearing aid he is basically deaf.

“I kept going to my ear yelling that I was scared. I can’t hear! I can’t hear!”

Officers were worried about their own safety because at the time it appeared Williams was refusing to obey their commands to show his hands. That’s when they shot him with a Taser.

Okay, so, I can understand what happened here. They thought they were dealing with a guy with a gun. Training, etc, etc. I've got one problem with this defense, though:

Yes, of course it's true. It's on the internets! And her foes are using it to spread rumors about her!

You see how I did that? It's a neat trick, huh? Now, as the rules of second-hand prestidigitation require, I'll tell you where I learned it.

From this abomination on Page 1 of the WaHo.

Foes Use Obama’s Muslim Ties [sic] (Wouldn't "scare quotes" have been appropriate here? - scar) to Fuel Rumors About Him

By Perry Bacon Jr.

In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama’s biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Muslim world.

Since declaring his candidacy for president in February, Obama, a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, has had to address assertions that he is a Muslim or that he had received training in Islam in Indonesia, where he lived from ages 6 to 10. While his father was an atheist and his mother did not practice religion, Obama’s stepfather did occasionally attend services at a mosque there.

Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a “Muslim plant” in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Koran, rather than a Bible, as did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress, when he was sworn in earlier this year. […]

The rumors about Obama have been echoed on Internet message boards and chain e-mails.

In case you're wondering, that last part is the one sentence in the article that could be remotely construed as reality-based. All the rest is devoted to verbatim, 1996-vintage, tenth-generation inbred wingnut chain mail about how "HILLARY OBAMA is going to force EVERYONE to become a LESBIAN! MUSLIM!"

Anyway, if you've heard any facts that foes of Deborah Howell (or any other WaHo employee) are using to fuel rumors about them, please feel free to post them here, or on the WaHo's site. After all...

Get a load of this:

The head of the federal agency investigating Karl Rove's White House political operation is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call.

Scott Bloch runs the Office of Special Counsel, an agency charged with protecting government whistleblowers and enforcing a ban on federal employees engaging in partisan political activity. Mr. Bloch's agency is looking into whether Mr. Rove and other White House officials used government agencies to help re-elect Republicans in 2006.

At the same time, Mr. Bloch has himself been under investigation since 2005. At the direction of the White House, the federal Office of Personnel Management's inspector general is looking into claims that Mr. Bloch improperly retaliated against employees and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination.

Recently, investigators learned that Mr. Bloch erased all the files on his office personal computer late last year. They are now trying to determine whether the deletions were improper or part of a cover-up, lawyers close to the case said.

So, to recap: Karl Rove is accused of retaliating against employees and then illegally deleting the evidence. The man in charge of investigating him is accused of retaliating against employees and then deleting evidence.

Fuck. This. Shit.

Wait, though, it gets better!

The world's safest and most useful tool is working impressively again, in Utah. (All you taser fans in the crack den *cough cough* get out your lotion, because this stuff is hot.)

Tasered in front of wife and baby? Check.
Tasered for a speeding ticket? Check.
No threat and no warning? Check.
Sarcastic approval from other cops on the scene? Check.

Digby says it all:

Police in the country are now allowed to torture speeders by the side of the highway in order to get them to comply. The only difference between this officer slugging the speeder in the stomach and putting 50,0000 volts of electricity in him is that the latter doesn't leave any marks. The intent, the pain and the goose-stepping authoritarian message are exactly the same.

Word to the wise. Do not ever question the police, no matter whether they are violating your rights, ignoring the constitution or breaking the law. It is perfectly legal for them to torture you on the spot if you do.

I'm feeling so free I can hardly breathe.

Via Froomkin:

Why is it taking White House officials so long to restore millions of deleted e-mails from the backup tapes they claim to have?