Today's coverup of surveillance crimes and Barack Obama  —  What we learned in December, 2005 that George Bush and the telecoms were doing — listening in on the private conversations of American citizens without warrants — is a felony under clear U.S. law, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine for each offense.

He quit rather than lower flag for Helms  —  RALEIGH - L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.  —  Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly …

One nation, not just speaking English  —  After a substantial speech decrying the current state of bankruptcy law in the United States, Barack Obama took a few questions from the audience in Powder Springs, Georgia on Tuesday morning.  One young woman asked whether there was anything …

Pemberton GOP: Airbrushing Racism Since...  So the Pemberton and Burlington County GOP got caught today.  Take a look at a before screen shot of the Pemberton GOP website and see if anything looks out of place...  Ah, what a tasteful municipal party message.

Jesse Ventura To Run for Senate?  —  In an interview with NPR's David Welna that ran today former Gov. Jesse “The Body” Ventura, Ind-Minn., sounds like he may run for Senate, challenging incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., whom Ventura defeated for governor in 1998, as well as Democratic nominee …

FISA: Final Votes On The FISA Amendments Act  —  digg it  —  From Sen. Chris Dodd this morning: … The Senate is scheduled to come back into session at 2:15 pm ET.  The votes on final passage for the FISA Amendments Act will occur shortly thereafter.  As usual, we'll be watching...

Maliki's Withdrawal Card  —  A year ago, the conventional Beltway wisdom had it that Iraq was a failed state.  Today, the same wisdom holds that it is less chaotic but still fragile, dependent entirely on a U.S. presence to survive.  But judging by recent comments from Nouri al-Maliki, even this view may be out of date.

My Plan to Escape the Grip of Foreign Oil  —  One of the benefits of being around a long time is that you get to know a lot about certain things.  I'm 80 years old and I've been an oilman for almost 60 years.  I've drilled more dry holes and also found more oil than just about anyone in the industry.

Killing Iranians, or The Problem With Straight Talk  —  The press corps and many an American voter fell for McCain because he's a little edgy, has a real sense of humor, and will say unexpected things.  This works great when you're driving around New Hampshire in a bus and holding town hall meetings …

Senate agrees to Sept. 26 adjournment date  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has agreed to the House target of adjourning Congress by Sept. 26, giving it only a few weeks to finish an agenda that, Democrats say, has been backed up because of Republican opposition.

Pat Buchanan Advertises His Book On Neo-Nazi Radio Show  —  You read that right.  On June 29th, MSNBC personality and three-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan appeared on a neo-Nazi radio program to promote his new revisionist history of the Second World War, Churchill, Hitler …

INTELLECTUALS LIE, THE POWERLESS DIE  —  THE greatest lie intellectuals tell us is that “the pen is mightier than the sword.”  That's what cowards claim when they want to preen as heroes.  —  Billions of words have been hurled at Sudan's government.  The misery in Darfur not only continues but deepens.

QUITE A STATEMENT  —  People say a lot of things about Social Security — a lot of it nonsense.  But I haven't heard something like this in a long time.  John McCain says that Social Security, as originally conceived more than 70 years ago, is an “absolute disgrace.”