Open Thread and Diary Rescue

This evening's Rescue Rangers are Yashua, jlms qkw, hhex65, Wes Opinion, YatPundit and noddem, with jennyjem as editor.

But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
~Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.
~Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

Here are some diaries to read after you've beaten the midnight deadline.

• DWG debunks the lies commonly used by the United States to defend torture in Myths about torture by the Bush administration. (hhex65)
• April 15th, the day we pay our fee for living in a civilized society. coryDMI celebrates in Happy Tax Day, From a Progressive Perspective. (hhex65)
• 174winchell says it's silly season in politics in I've Got One for John McCain. (Yashua and YatPundit)
• Why is it that when someone dies on the job at a construction site it’s simply the cost of doing business? That’s the question Tasini attempts to answer in the diary Falling From The Sky: More Construction Workers Die. (Wes Opinion)
• Elitism is no sin, as Asinus Asinum Fricat points out in I'm a Bitter Elitist! (YatPundit)
• Mugabe nullifies an election and America shrugs. Jay Elias notes it's just Something Else Bush Stole From Us. (hhex65)
• Two diarists consider the words of long-dead poets: Aqualad08 recognizes an original Kossack in Walt Whitman: "Obama was right"; lucid condemns silence in The dead man will not say that he so deems it. (jlms qkw)
• snout asks, Kossacks....Where is your spine? (Yashua and YatPundit)
• Aaron Krager lists all the good that could be done with the money that economist Joseph Stiglitz projects the war in Iraq will cost the US in How Would You Spend 3 Trillion Dollars? (Wes Opinion)
• statistician suggests turning the conventional wisdom of taxes and recessions on its head in The Deficit and the Recession. A Way to Cope? (YatPundit)
• spudly reviews David Mamet's essay and our lifelong political trends in Night of the living "brain-dead liberal" (jlms qkw)
• BLin22 offers a charming "on the road" story in My amazing weekend in Bucks County. (Yashua and YatPundit)

Enjoy and please promote your own favorite diaries in this open thread.

Conspiracy to Lie to Congress?

Via mateosf, FBI director Robert Mueller and his agency might be in some serious trouble.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has just published a report on the misuse of a National Security Letter by the FBI. Using the Freedom of Information Act, they obtained FBI documents showing that the FBI purposely delayed an investigation in the 2005 London bombings. From the EFF blog:

FBI documents show that, over the span of three days in July 2005, the Charlotte Division of the FBI first obtained educational records pursuant to a grand jury subpoena, and then -- at the direction of FBIHQ -- returned the records and sought them again pursuant to an improper NSL.

The improper NSL was refused by the university, but the FBI finally obtained them pursuant to a second grand jury subpoena. Later in July 2005, FBI Director Robert Mueller used the delay in obtaining these particular records as an example of why the FBI needed administrative subpoena power instead of NSLs in testimony.

The misuse of the NSL was not formally reported until February 2007, a short time before Inspector General Glenn Fine’s report on the abuse of NSLs was due before Congress. While the Inspector General's report identified dozens of instances in which National Security Letters may have violated laws and agency regulations and were not reported, this is the first time documents have shown that top FBI executives were aware of a misuse before it was officially reported. It took almost two years before the incident was formally reported.

Ryan Singel at Wired fills in a few gaps:

At issue is the FBI's probe of a former chemistry graduate student at North Carolina State University who was then suspected aiding the deadly attack.  The student has since been cleared of any involvement.

The agent investigating the student in the Charlotte, North Carolina field office obtained a grand jury subpoena demanding some university records on the student. But he was then advised by superiors in Washington DC to return the papers and draft an NSL demanding the documents instead.

Under the USA Patriot Act, FBI counterterrorism investigators can self-issue such letters to get phone records, portions of credit reports and bank records, simply by certifying that the records are relevant to an investigation. Unlike subpoenas, NSLs do not require probable cause, and at the time obliged the recipient to not discuss the demand with anyone, ever. In contrast, gag orders attached to grand jury subpoenas have expiration dates.

FBI agents have relied heavily on the power, issuing more than 100,000 NSLs in 2004 and 2005 combined. The first audit of the FBI's use of the power found the agents became sloppy in their use of the power and one HQ office went rogue and issued hundreds of fake emergency requests for phone records.

The FBI knew that the university records were not obtainable via an NSL, and the university properly rejected that request--a request that had already fulfilled once, legally in response to a grand jury subpoena. And which was fulfilled, again, when the FBI field office came back with the proper subpoena after the whole exercise in NSL futility.

An exercise that has all the appearances of having been set up for Robert Mueller to appear two weeks later before a Senate committee.

Mueller, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, portrayed the university as intransigent and said the incident showed the FBI needed the power to force the turnover of all sorts of records without having to involve the court system.

"Now in my mind, we should not, in that circumstance have to show somebody that this was an emergency," Mueller testified on July 27, 2005. "We should've been able to have a document, an administrative subpoena that we took to the university and got those records immediately."

Some of the declassified documents suggest that Mueller was himself misled by underlings, and wasn't told that the records had already been turned over in response to a subpoena.

It would appear officials in the FBI, at very high levels that may or may not have included Mueller, conspired to lie to Congress. That would be a felony. It also raises the question of whether there are other violations of NSLs that have never been reported and that the FBI might still be trying to keep under wraps.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has an already scheduled hearing about NSLs. It's been postponed from tomorrow to the following Wednesday, April 23, and hopefully the witness list will be expanded to include Mueller. He's got some explaining to do.

White House Admits Bush Will Hurt GOP Candidates In '08

Finally, an honest answer from Dana Perino.  During today's White House press briefing, Perino refused to comment on John McCain's proposal for a "gas tax holiday" and said:

I think that Senator McCain can make his case. And he's our nominee, and we're very excited about it. And I think that getting the White House involved every day in the '08 -- day-to-day '08 election is not the best use of our time, and certainly not good for the candidates.

The White House has finally admitted that associating themselves with the disastrous policies of George Bush will hurt GOP candidates in the upcoming election.  And there is no candidate it would hurt more than John McCain, given that he is running for George Bush's third term.

WA-08: Scaring the Crap out of the Republicans

Netroots hero Darcy Burner proves time and again that she's got the goods as a candidate. She does it with solidly progressive and forward-looking policy stands, and she does it with outstanding political skills, which include an ability to raise money. Lots of money. Via e-mail from her campaign:

Bellevue, WA (April 15) – Darcy Burner, the Democratic candidate for Congress in Washington State's 8th Congressional District, today reported having raised well over half a million dollars over the first three months of 2008, a result that is expected to place her first among challengers in Western states and among the top tier nationwide.

Burner will file documents with the Federal Elections Commission showing a total of $516,740 raised over the January to March quarter, putting her total raised over this election cycle at $1,374,866. After accounting for expenses, Burner reported $921,615 in the bank, up from $607,000 at the beginning of the year....

Burner's fundraising represents a major improvement over the pace she set during the last election cycle, when she lost narrowly to incumbent Republican Dave Reichert. Burner raised $334,000 in the first quarter of 2006, and this election cycle has banked more than two-and-a-half times the $357,000 she had saved at this point in the previous race.

Since declaring her intention to seek a rematch with Congressman Reichert in mid-March of 2007, Burner outraised the incumbent for three consecutive quarters to close out 2007, despite President Bush hosting a $1,000 and $10,000 a head fundraiser for Congressman Reichert last August. Congressman Reichert's close ties to the Bushes was again demonstrated in February, when First Lady Laura Bush hosted a private, high dollar fundraiser for Congressman Reichert at a Medina mansion that raised about $90,000, according to recent FEC filings.

The vast bulk of Burner's fundraising has come from individuals rather than PACs or political party committees – about $456,500 this quarter, or more than 88 percent of the total raised. Burner received 4,859 contributions from 4,416 individuals in the first quarter. Burner has received 11,615 contributions from 8,871 donors who have given over the course of the current campaign.

That's people powered politics, and may of you can be thanked for it. You can also take satisfaction in helping to keep the Republicans running scared. Incumbent Dave Reichert trailed Darcy in cash on hand at the end of last cycle by $144,000. Even with that $90K he picked up from Laura Bush's visit, he's going to be hard pressed to close the gap. Who knows when we'll see his numbers, much less what violations are going to show up this time.

Seven months out, Burner couldn't be in better shape. This is one to watch.

On the Web:
Darcy Burner for Congress
Blue Majority ActBlue page

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