It hasn't been a good week for the memo writing world.

First, there was the publication of Hillary Clinton "pollster" Mark Penn's "strategy memos."
My favorite part:

4. Requirements for any Launch

1. Functioning political and fundraising operation
2. Basic Message about how you would change America, combined with willingness to listen and refine
3. The outline of major policy directions
4. National and local press strategies
5. Plan for 1st visits to key states
6. Web operation ready to go
7. Response war room for attacks/research operation
8. fwp (first woman president plan)

Yes, I definitely think you should have a Basic Message about how you would change America. That'll be $1,000,000, please!

Next up, our vaunted Department of Homeland Security with its equally brilliant memo warning employees about types of behavior that could be espionage:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in a memo to employees obtained by The Associated Press, said employees should suspect espionage if:

— Someone asks an employee for classified and sensitive information or access to systems.

— Someone asks an employee traveling overseas to bring back an envelope or package.

— An employee has regular contact with a person suspected of being part of a foreign intelligence service, terrorist group or foreign criminal enterprise.

— Someone makes a request that makes a department employee uncomfortable or compromised.

— A department employee has a personal relationship with a foreigner that seems suspicious.

— There is suspicious behavior with a foreigner inside or outside of the department.

Hmm, really? "Someone asks an employee for classified and sensitive information or access to systems." You think that's bad?

That's the current state of business communications in this country. First the Penn strategy memos that say "Our strategy is to strategize," and now a DHS memo saying to detect espionage, be on the lookout for espionage.

After Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast in August 2005 the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) purchased more than $85M worth of basic supplies for storm victims. For more than two years, until last month FEMA let the supplies sit in warehouses at a cost of $1M/year.

During that two year period local government officials and non-profit relief organizations in Louisiana and Mississippi made repeated public pleas for donations of the exact sort of items FEMA had already purchased and were even stored locally.

That these supplies people have needed for years just sat in warehouses until mid-June of this year is bad enough, but FEMA was able to find a way to make this story even more sad and depressing the way only George Bush's administration can.

Rich's op ed today is entitled If Terrorists Rock the Vote in 2008  and focuses on how irrelevant the twin themes previously used by Karl Rove are now, the fear of terrorism and the fear of gays.  Obviously his title refers to the former, relevant to discuss now because of Charles Black's comments in Fortune that another terrorist attack would be to McCain's benefit.  But would it?  Would not it undercut ideas like "fighting them over there means we don't have to fight them here", or "if we leave Iraq the terrorists will follow us home" or "the policies of Bush have kept us safe" or any of that rot?  To me that has always been obvious, that another attack would equal failure of the Bush approach, and undercut support for Republicans.  Let's look how Rich demolishes this Rovian argument, one of several services he does for us as he serves as the little boy in the fable of the Emperor's new suit of clothes.

I'm using my diary today to send thoughts, wishes, and prayers to our fellow Americans in Iowa.  I know this isn't new news, but the devastation is terrible and promises to only get worse.  I also have a major nit to pick with Michael Chertoff, but that is hardly surprising, is it?

From FixedNews.com, Michael Chertoff, speaking before a two day television conference:

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff warned Thursday that the radical Islamic group Hezbollah "makes Al Qaeda look like a minor league team," and poses the greatest threat to national security.

"Someone described Hezbollah like the A-team of terrorists in terms of capabilities, in terms of range of weapons they have, in terms of internal discipline," Chertoff told FOX News.

Through my tireless work and inside contacts I have obtained exclusive video of this Hezbollah A-Team, training to attack the United States:

So Americans the next time you are asked to take off your shoes in an airport, remember it is all in service to the greater good of protecting America against the threat of George Peppard and Mr. T

With hurricane season beginning on June 1, the Disaster Accountability Project will be reporting this week and next on inadequacies in government preparedness. This is the first report of the series, published on the DAP Blog (author: Claire Trimble) and cross-posted here with permission.

The Sierra Club recently tested five "Katrina cottages" being used in Mississippi and found all to contain higher levels of formaldehyde than is recommended for long-term exposure by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Normal levels of indoor formaldehyde run between 10-20 parts per billion but three of the five cottages contained over 100 parts per billion. This level is even higher than the 77 parts per billion average tested in the 516 trailers this year by the CDC.

[cross-posted at And, yes, I DO take it personally]

holy crap...! REALLY HARD QUESTIONS about guantánamo, the geneva convention, endless detention, torture, etc., etc...! chertoff can only offer slippery non-answers and standard talking points...

take a look at the clips below and weep for what's become of television news journalism in the good ol' u.s. of a... sami zeidan at al jazeera does the honors...

Like so many, I'm utterly heartbroken to hear that Senator Kennedy has  been diagnosed with an aggressive malignant glioma.  My thoughts and prayers, and those of countless others, are with him.  My life is only a blip on the radar of the universe of lives he has touched.  I just wanted to share my experience and say thank you.

UPDATE: I will forward your comments and well wishes to my contact in his office tomorrow morning.

They want our children to fight their unholy wars and they're willing to promise anything; do anything -- including breaking U.S. and international law -- to have them.  

Unwilling to suffer the consequences of reinstating the selective service, the Bush administration has stooped to a new level in order to continue prosecuting their perpetual state of imperialist war. If you recall, they're already lowering standards to meet recruitment goals. The U.S. military has regularly circumvented the traditional minimum requirements for all enlistees, including having a high school diploma and a clean criminal record. But that's not enough. They need more warm bodies. Now, they’ve resorted to an even more usurious modus operandi to maintain recruitment goals.

Way back in 2004, "Dick" Cheney warned us what would happen if that elite liberal John Kerry got elected: "If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again -- that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."

             
^{When the people in our gov't start to look like ghouls and vampires, it's time to start asking some questions....}

This week, "He Who Looks Like He Sleeps In A Coffin" said that he thinks we, the people, are way too picky about those silly little things called "Rights". You remember, as in "Bill Of"? We're apparently getting caught up in the minutiae of "democracy" and "by the people" and all those other buzzwords from that pre-9/11 mindset.

When Joe Lieberman is actually trying to pry information out of DHS, you know we've got a serious problem:

WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., are seeking detailed explanations from the Department of Homeland Security regarding a new initiative to secure federal information technology systems.

In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the Senators reiterate their support for the Administration’s heightened attention to cyber security as evidenced by creation of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI). The CNCI, formally established in January, is intended to strengthen the federal government’s ability to secure the electronic networks and databases upon which it relies.

But, given the Administration’s request to triple DHS’ cyber security budget over the past year, the Senators are asking for specific information on issues ranging from the secrecy of the project to its heavy reliance on contractors to the lack of involvement by the private sector, which controls the vast majority of the nation’s cyber infrastructure.

While making it absolutely clear that he supports the administration on cyber security, even Lieberman doesn't have enough information on this one. His letter contains 17 questions, many of them multiple point, trying to determine information that they've been trying to get at since they first asked for a briefing five months ago.

The program is another potential assault on our privacy rights. This is a wide-ranging program in which the entire intelligence community--including the NSA--will be tasked with monitoring the nation's computer networks. Why should this be such a concern to even Lieberman? Wired sum that up:

Why might citizens be worried about privacy and civil liberties? Consider that the whole initiative appears to have been launched after the Director of National Intelligence told the President Bush that a cyber attack might wreak as much economic havoc as 9/11 did.

Consider that the NSA, which currently protects classified networks, wants to expand into protecting all non-classified federal government networks. Consider that Congress is set to legalize the NSA's monitoring rooms in the nation's phone and internet infrastructure.

For its part, the FBI says it also needs access to the internet's backbone, while the Air Force is hyping its own efforts at cyber defense and offense. Meanwhile, THREAT LEVEL's sister blog Danger Room reports that DARPA is getting in on the hot cyber-action, with a project to make a fake internet to develop new cyber attacks and defenses....

Now it seems the only question is whether the government will be able to turn the net into a controllable, monitorable and trackable pre-internet AOL-type service or whether the chaotic net will live on as just another frontier for the military-industrial complex to start an arm's race and rake in billions of government dollars.

This attempt to expand the reach of the intelligence agencies--given their proven and blatant disregard for following the law--deserves to be questioned, and both the House and Senate Intelligence committees should pick up the theme and join Lieberman in asking these important questions.

Yet another reason the Protect AT&T Act--or any other intelligence desire of this administration--should not be granted. Chertoff's five-month refusal to cooperate with Lieberman, of all people, proves that these people cannot be trusted with our privacy.

How disgusting is this?

Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation "embarrassing," and some members of Congress vow to fix it.

Does anyone really believe this is an accident? It's not just Mandela who's on the list, but all members of the African National Congress (ANC). You know, those wicked terrorists who wanted to end Apartheid.

What have we become? As FairyTale commented, "what we have always been."

Mr. El Erian is Mohamed El-Erian, one of the top investment managers in the world.  Mr. El-Erian, a French citizen, in spite of sitting for his interview and passing the required english, history, and civics tests, has had his application for U.S. citizenship delayed for the last two years. It appears that he finally got fed up and joined 6,550 others who have had to resort to the courts to settle what, in my mind, should be a fairly routine bureaucratic process.

More on Mr. El Erian's suit against heckuva job Chertoff, et. al. after the break.

Short story: you have none. To prove that point, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has declared that fingerprints aren't "personal data."

QUESTION: Some are raising that the privacy aspects of this thing, you know, sharing of that kind of data, very personal data, among four countries is quite a scary thing.

SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Well, first of all, a fingerprint is hardly personal data because you leave it on glasses and silverware and articles all over the world, they’re like footprints. They’re not particularly private.

Silly people, going around gloveless, leaving damning evidence everywhere we go. Serves us right if we end up like Brandon Mayfield:

On May 6, 2004, FBI agents descended on his law office, his home, and the family farm in Kansas to search for evidence that Mayfield was a terror mastermind. Media leaks let it be known that he was responsible for the Madrid train bombings of March 2004, which killed 191 people. The evidence was said to be a fingerprint found on a plastic bag of detonators at the scene. Federal agents threw Mayfield into the Portland city lockup not as a defendant but as a "material witness."

But not only had Mayfield been far from Madrid at the time of the bombing, he hadn't even left the United States since 1994. The FBI, however, insisted that his Army fingerprint matched a digital photo of the print from the Madrid bag. The Spanish police, who had the original fingerprint, were never convinced that Mayfield's was a match. But that didn't stop the FBI from swearing to a judge that it was.

The case collapsed when, after Mayfield had been held for two weeks, the Spanish police identified an Algerian, Ouhnane Daoud, as the real holder of the fingerprint. The feds released Mayfield.

Arrest first, on the basis of shoddy evidence and illegal surveillance, ask questions later. Because, after all, according to the Bush administration's Justice Department, the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against "unreasonable searches and seizures," has "no application to domestic military operations." We still don't know how the administration defines "domestic military operations" or whether the memo in which John Yoo declared the suspension of the Fourth Amendment is still operable. The current Attorney General refuses to answer those questions.

What we do know is that this administration has operated above and beyond the law, demonstrating not just a disrespect for the right to privacy of American citizens, but a denial that those privacy rights even exist. Consider this example from last month's WSJ bombshell about the resurrection of Operation Total Information Awareness:

Since many people routinely post details of their lives on social-networking sites such as MySpace, he said, their identity shouldn't need the same protection as in the past. Instead, only their "essential privacy," or "what they would wish to protect about their lives and affairs," should be veiled, he said, without providing examples.

By leaving our fingerprints around willy-nilly, by participating in online communities, we've all forfeited our Fourth Amendment rights according to the Bush administration philosophy. So if those details of our private lives, including our fingerprints, should fall into the hands of the FBI or NSA--with or without probable cause--we're fair game.

That this Congress would even consider granting any of the Bush administration legislative goals is baffling, but particularly that they would be willing to give them an inch on issues that go to the core of our Constitutional protections, like the FISA law or the NAO, is just jaw-droppingly insane. Particularly when the Attorney General still won't answer questions about their activities. Of course, there's also the issue of his being a liar, so trusting what he tells them is a dicey proposition to begin with.

It's time for the Congress to invoke the "Thurmond Rule," only they must apply it to everything the administration wants, not just judicial appointments. There needs to be a complete moratorium on passing any significant administration legislative proposals for the remainder of Bush's term.

While we're all distracted by the Clinton-McCain tag team on Obama and therefore on Democratic chances in November, the Bush Administration is quietly attempting to strangle privacy rights and move one step closer to the inescapable Big Brother society.  Not content with torturing whomever they want to obtain usually inaccurate information (including by crushing the testicles of children) and listening in on any phone call or email they please without even a warrant from a rubberstamp court, they are now attempting to requisition military satellites for use on domestic targets in potential violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.

    Securing the nation’s borders is so important, Congress says, that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, must have the power to ignore any laws that stand in the way of building a border fence. Any laws at all.

Remainder of diary deleted for copyright violation. mcjoan

Fox. Henhouse.

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.

Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications....

Democrats say Chertoff has not spelled out what federal laws govern the NAO, whose funding and size are classified. Congress barred Homeland Security from funding the office until its investigators could review the office's operating procedures and safeguards. The department submitted answers on Thursday, but some lawmakers promptly said the response was inadequate.

Here we go again. "It's all legal," they say, "because we say so." But they've also classified it, of course, so that Congress can't do proper oversight.

Jane Harman says the experience with having been burned on the NSA warrantless wiretapping has made her more of a skeptic, and she wants answers from Chertoff on the legal underpinnings of this program. Implementation of it has been delayed since last fall while Congress tried to pry that information from the White House. Chertoff sent a letter Thursday to Harman and Bennie Thompson, chairs of the Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee, but both say his answers are inadequate, and want more.

Chertoff is stonewalling.

DHS officials said the demands are unwarranted. "The legal framework that governs the National Applications Office . . . is reflected in the Constitution, the U.S. Code and all other U.S. laws," said DHS spokeswoman Laura Keehner. She said its operations will be subject to "robust," structured legal scrutiny by multiple agencies.

Is the legal framework for the NAO in John Yoo's October 23, 2001 memo? The one that said the 4th Amendment could be suspended? By no means should this program be allowed to go forward until we know what was in that memo. Put the NAO on the shelf with the FISA rewrite and wait until we've got a new administration to determine if it's even worth implementing.

Back in October 2006, Keith Olbermann did a segment on his Countdown show that highlighted the loss of Habeas Corpus and many of our rights included in the Bill of Rights through the use of executive orders, presidential directives and signing statements written by George W. Bush.

KO nailed it; as usual, in his own unique [poignant] but humorous way. I’ll never forget how he talked about each individual right and how if you take even one of those rights away the others seem to fall by the wayside as well. It was heartbreaking to watch him crossing off each right on a chart until only one right was left. (at the moment, I forget which one it was) He then scribbled out the ‘s’ in "Rights."

Well, this time it’s [the cadaverous one] DHS Sec. Michael Chertoff who’s working hard to decimate our cherished Fourth Amendment.