It is a forgone conclusion that even if every Democrat were to win this fall, they would have their hands full between pushing a progressive agenda and undoing Bush Damage.

One of the areas in which I expect them to drag their feet is in the area of civil liberties. However I have some thoughts on why this should be expected and what is being done, and more importantly what else we can do to move the conversation on Civil Liberties. The battle over civil liberties will be won in three particular arenas: the media, the courts (no getting around these), our voting booths, and the local level.

And the good news is--we already have groups working at each of these tiers.

Follow over the jump for more.

It is safe to assume the current Democrats and incoming Democrats will not do much to undo Bush's damage to the constitution without some serious poking and prodding. Hopefully the Ron Paul Republicans, our friends on this issue, will help them along a bit.

But I think we need to do everything we can to strategize and keep people informed about abuses to our civil liberties and about attempts to roll back the damage done to them during the last 8 years.

To help this effort along I started a Civil Liberties Google Group. Our brief agenda and link is below. Please join.

Given the state we are in--military tribunals, stripping of the fourth amendment, government secrecy it was nice to see the NYT editorial board come out swinging:

Last week was hardly the first time that we have found ourselves scratching our heads in anguished confusion about what, exactly, President Bush is trying to achieve by trashing the Constitution at Guantánamo Bay.

Thank-you. It would be nice to see the Democrats in office furious over the Republican's trampling of the constitution. Really. Why is this so hard? Republicans hammer Democrats for not being patriotic and for not inculcating American values. Here is what the democrats need to say....

Guantanamo Bay, torture, secret trials and permanent incarceration are not American. Terrorism is ugly. We must be tough but when we sacrifice the constitution and we sacrifice our American Values and the rights that the Revolution was fought for--we lose America, and we sacrifice America's standing in the world.

At work I occasionally check the internet headlines at work to see what is going on in the world. It is much like popping the window open for a breath of fresh air. Or in this case to get a whiff of the bullshit wafting through the air waves in the form of comments made by W. concerning China and human rights abuses.

I think this is tied to the concept of American Exceptionalism, the irrational belief that the U.S. is somehow better or different than other countries no matter what.

In short it is a sickness based on fucking arrogance.
More below.

So not only has Obama's plan for withdrawal been vindicated by Iraqi leaders, his argument that force alone can not quell terrorism has just been vindicated by a study done by the Rand Corporation. Not only this--but the Rand study suggests that the "War on terror" is not an optimal strategy for fighting terrorism, but we must rely more on policing and courts.

Here is the :

Based on an analysis of 648 terrorist groups that existed between 1968 and 2006, the report concluded that a transition to the political process is the most common way such groups end. But the process, found in 43 percent cases examined, is unlikely with al-Qaida, which has a broad, sweeping agenda, the report said.

The second most common way that terrorist groups end, seen in about 40 percent of the cases, is through police and intelligence services apprehending or killing key leaders, Jones said. Police are particularly effective because their permanent presence in cities helps them gather information, he said.

By contrast, the report said, military force was effective in only 7 percent of the cases.

More below

It seems that the FBI feels too constrained by current policies regulating who they can and can not investigate. Currently they need such things as evidence, or allegations that wrong doing has been committed.

The gist is this:

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is considering letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims, Arabs or other racial and ethnic groups.

Law enforcement officials say the proposed policy would help them do exactly what Congress demanded after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: root out terrorists before they strike.

Preemptive investigations hmm? More below jump/with action.

Just a quick diary here. The DNC and Obama need our help. We know McCain's fundraising has been weak, and Obama's has been stellar, but currently McCain + RNC has about $100 million dollars.  The RNC was quietly raising funds while we battled it out in our primary. So please give anything you can!

If you need more of a push remember:

Remember the DNC and Obama are NOT taking money from lobbyists and need small donors!

Remember the DNC and Obama and our friend Dean are running a 50 state strategy!

Remember Obama isn't afraid to attack McCain-- this is the year that our gloves come off!

Below the jump is a video from Obama's manager, David Plouffe detailing the situation I just described.

Before you watch the video, and recommend this diary (so everyone sees it and dumps money into the Democratic coffers) give your own donation. Whatever you can:

DNC
Obama

I am not surprised when FOX lumps anyone with whom they disagree into the dubious category, far left. We know they are simply a right-wing bull horn. However I a more surprised when the NYT tosses labels around without any connection to reality. While I do not think that the NYT is perfect by any means, I assume they will at least do their research. A mistaken assumption perhaps?

Today the NYT ran a story entitled Obama Supporters on the Far Left Cry Foul. It discusses recent frustration with Obama's move toward the so-called center, and suggests that this disillusion is occuring over on the far left. The article resorts to typical straw men and reductive categories rather than discussing the complex and nuanced positions of the American Voter.

Its claims that only the far left opposes the Iraq war, and only the far left opposes telecom immunity, and that only the far left supports gun control the are dubious at best, and at worst are outright contradicted by polls in the reality-based community.

More on the flipside.

Like most here at our Dkos community I was furious over the passage of the FISA bill and telecom immunity and the way this capitulation was billed as a compromise. Well today I read two pieces of news about the ongoing battle against immunity and the current form of the FISA bill which made me feel (slightly) better: EFF and the ACLU will be fighting on going legal battles attempting to address he unconstitutional nature of the FISA bill.

Below the jump are two quick snips of this news to tuck you in for the evening....

There is a new law entering congress of which every woman, man, and blogger should take notice.  Called the Global Online Freedom Act  (H.R. 275) it will prevent U.S. companies from carrying out or facilitating the suppression of online speech in repressive countries. In short, GOFA will do the following, according to Amnesty International:

The Global Online Freedom Act of 2007 has been proposed in Congress to help stop U.S. companies from teaming up with foreign governments to violate human rights.

Now who wouldn't support that?
More over the jump.

This message will be very short.

Point 1: I recieved notice that I will be receiving my economic stimulus refund soon. While more money to me is always nice, the politics of it make me ill--why is it that every time Republicans see a problem the first thing our of their mouth is lower taxes, tax cut, tax refund?

Point 2: I absolutely love Darcy Burner and company's Responsible Plan to End the Iraq War

Here's the idea:

What if we take our stimulus refund, and donate it to the authors of the Responsible Plan?

Authors listed  here.

AN EMAIL FROM DFA:

 
Last Tuesday, our Primaries Matter campaign delivered results and helped lead Donna Edwards to a resounding 24-point victory over Bush-Democrat Al Wynn in MD-04. Ed Fallon is the next DFA-List endorsement and he's taking on Bush-Democrat, Rep. Leonard Boswell in IA-03.Contribute $20.08 right now and support a Democrat with the backbone to stand up for progressive values.

http://www.actblue.com/...

Ed Fallon is a true progressive and he has a record of beating out-of-touch Democrats in Iowa. In 1992, he beat 10-year incumbent Gary Sherzan with 63% of the vote and became a State Representative. When the conservative party establishment tried to primary Ed out of the state legislature, Ed won again with 68% of the vote.

Now, with your help, Ed will beat Bush-Democrat Leonard Boswell. Here's a breakdown of some of the important differences between them.

I tend to dislike presidential diaries, but I have reached my breaking point. While I have been an Obama supporter, I have-up to this point-been fully willing to vote/campaign/volunteer for whoever gets the primary nomination including Hillary.

But that might change.

Recent news that Hillary's rich buddies might launch their own 527s has turned my stomach. After the flip I will briefly tell you why.

Freedomworks is at it again. This diary is second in what I plan to be an ongoing series of watching Freedom Works and Freedom's Watch. Both groups style themselves as grassroots groups, answering the conservative call against MoveOn. Yet neither group is grassroots powered, and both have ties to powerful conservative think thanks and powerful conservative leaders. In this diary I will briefly discuss the powerbrokers behind FreedomWorks and then look at one of their causes-- Natural Gas, and how they are using liberal frames to get people to act on behalf of natural gas.

As I have said elsewhere
I think if McCain wins the nomination, he will spur a grassroots conservative movement. FreedomWorks and Freedom's Watch will be two groups to watch closely. I also think that watching the right, particularly the so-called grassroots right is farmore important than all the candidate diaries. If we only watch ourselves, we will see nothing.

More below.

This is the first in what I hope will be a series on Freedom's Watch. This group is supposedly the conservative answer to Moveon.org. They pretend to be a conservative grassroots organization, but are as DC as you can get. I am an active member of MoveOn and am on Freedom Watch's email list and will try to keep the DKos community posted on their activities.

Up to this point Freedom's Watch has not been a major player in public opinion and has no where the word-of-mouth power that MoveOn has. But that might be about to change in the 08 campaign, and if they emerge as a major play--we must be vigilant.

Conservatives are notoriously good at turning politics into a lock-step-machine like process--whether it is the Get Out The Vote, or the Right-Wing-Noise-Machine, or following Karl Rove's commands for eight years despite the fact that they nearly all backfire.

Just as progressives seem to be uniting and talking to each other on major issue (whether at Netroots Nation/Take Back American Conventions or uniting labor and green energy) at the same time conservatives seem to be falling apart (can anyone say Republican Primary?).

The collapse of the Conservative lock-step was interestingly epitomized at the Republican debate when Mitt Romney attacked McCain for being like Nixon.

My friends conservatives are cannibalizing each other. Quotation and more below.

Every once in a while you get an email which just makes you laugh. Today I opened my email box and saw an email with the subject line:

One Year To Victory

When I opened it up I saw who it was from:

Republican National Committee

I just about bust a gut. Do these freaks actually think they stand a chance at victory? Now I am cautiously optimistic, but you gotta read their email.

They are either desperate or sooo out of touch. Below the jump is their email to me.

We all know by now that millions of China-produce toys have been recalled by manufacturers due their lead-taint.

We all know that Bush and many Republicans have opposed the SCHIP health bill which would have covered millions of children.

We all know the debacle which No Child Left Behind has been.

The intersection of these three issues constitutes a moral imperative for progressives and Democrats, and exposes an incredible weakness in the Republicans/Conservatives: What happened to family values?

Below are my initial thoughts on this 'story' and how it can be used to a) mobilize an understanding of progressive family values b) expose the Republicans as rhetoricians who fail at every turn to provide and protect our families c) enable us to offer a clear progressive alternative as a coherent package.

Granted the Dems are not perfect in all of these issues, but we can show that we are a hell of a lot better than the RepubliCons/Conservatives.