ACLU: Justice Dept. Institutes 'Racial Profiling as a Matter of Policy'

clipped from www.aclu.org New FBI guidelines governing investigations were released today after being signed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The guidelines replace existing bureau guidelines for five types of investigations: general criminal, national security, foreign intelligence, civil disorders and demonstrations.  The ACLU has been vocal in its disapproval of the overly broad guidelines, citing both the FBI’s and DOJ’s documented records of internal abuse.   The new guidelines reduce standards for beginning “assessments” (precursors to investigations), conducting surveillance and gathering evidence, meaning the threshold to beginning investigations across the board will be lowered.  More troubling still, the guidelines allow a person’s race or ethnic background to be used as a factor in opening an investigation, a move the ACLU believes may institute racial profiling as a matter of policy.

The piece goes on:

“The attorney general today gave the FBI a blank check to open investigations of innocent Americans based on no meaningful suspicion of wrongdoing,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “The new guidelines provide no safeguards against the FBI’s improperly using race and religion as grounds for suspicion. They also fail to sufficiently prevent the government from infiltrating groups whose viewpoints it doesn’t like. The FBI has shown time and time again that is incapable of policing itself and there is good reason to believe that these guidelines will lead to more abuse.”

Poll: Obama Leads Wisconsin

clipped from strategicvision.biz Below are the results of a three-day poll of likely voters in the state of Wisconsin. Results are based on telephone interviews with 800 likely voters in Wisconsin, aged 18+, and conducted September 26-28, 2008 by telephone. The margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. 1. If the election for President were held today would you support the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joseph Biden or the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin? Obama/Biden 49% McCain/Palin 40% Other 2% Undecided 9% 6. Which presidential candidate do you believe would be best able to handle the economy, Barack Obama or John McCain? Barack Obama 56% John McCain 37% Undecided 7%

This one's a little personal. If I see one more electoral map that shows the Badger state as a toss-up, I'm going to hurt someone. Wisconsin isn't going McCain, it hasn't gone GOP since the Reagan landslide.

Other fun results; Bush is really unpopular here -- only a 15% job approval rating. More evidence that McCain's done here.

He's still spending money here, though. You can't watch TV for an hour without seeing a McCain ad.

Glad to see him blowing that cash on a lost cause.

Griper Blade: How Important Can It Be?

Congress and the President have no higher responsibility than protecting the American people from enemies who attacked our country -- and who want to do so again. Terrorists in faraway lands are plotting and planning new ways to kill Americans. The security of our country and the safety of our citizens depend on learning about their plans. The Protect America Act is a vital tool in stopping the terrorists -- and it would be a grave mistake for Congress to weaken this tool.
-President Bush on renewal of legislation revamping the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, October 10, 2007

Back in October, it was of supreme importance that the "Protect America Act" -- a revamp of FISA -- be renewed. Democrats passed Bush's legislation, which legalized his previously illegal warrentless wiretapping of calls with a party outside the US, but included a "sunset provision," where Bush wanted the retooling to be permanent.

That sun sets next month and, once again, Bush's warrantless wiretapping will become an issue -- this time, in the middle of a presidential primary. Expect a crap storm. But remember this:

Associated Press:

Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.

In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal and intelligence investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies...

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Griper Blade: Lions Led By Asses

December 14th, 2004 was White House Happy Day. George Tenet wore the medal that made him look somehow like Dracula as the cameras flashed. A national hero was riding off into the sunset.

"Early in his tenure as [Director of Central Intelligence], George Tenet was one of the first to recognize and address the growing threat to America from radical terrorist networks," President Bush told the crowd of reporters and photographers. "Immediately after the attacks of September the 11th, George was ready with a plan to strike back at al Qaeda and to topple the Taliban. CIA officers were on the ground in Afghanistan within days. Seasoned American intelligence officers, armed with laptop computers, Afghan clothes and a visionary plan, rode horseback with the fighters of the Northern Alliance, identified key targets for our military and helped to free a nation." Bush said that Tenet had "brought justice to America's enemies and greater security to the American people" and that he was "a fine public servant and patriot."

They don't give those Presidential Medals of Freedom out to just anyone, you know. You've got to blow up the Death Star or something. Which makes a declassified report on September 11, 2001 a little embarrassing...

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