Glenn Greenwald has been documenting the yearning of some Congressional Democrats to pass a FISA bill giving telecoms amnesty for lawbreaking they did at the Administration's request -- amnesty that would, by an amazing coincidence, remove the evidence for this lawbreaking from public view. This battle is also being documented here at Daily Kos.

A lot of us feel that it's time for Senator Obama step up to the plate and lead on this issue.

A non-USan efriend asked what the substantive policy differences between the presidential candidates really are. The relentlessly personality-focused news coverage makes it very hard for her to tell them apart, especially from across the ocean. I gathered some links to make it easier to compare the candidates on various issues.

As usual, the most useful information is the League of Women Voters Presidential Primary Voters Guide (pdf). This guide always has the advantage that all candidates are asked the same questions and have to respond in a limited space, so you can actually line them up and compare apples to apples.

I have made a chart, summarizing each candidate's statements. I left in Ron Paul, because he hadn't withdrawn yet when I made the chart, and John Edwards because I would have voted for him if I had a chance. If anyone can point me to official Huckabee campaign answers to these questions, I'll put them in.

Chart on the flip side.

I had this LTE published in the Newark Star-Ledger today. Usually I've been sending my LTEs to the Trenton Times, because it's local, but the Star-Ledger has a much, much larger ciculation (400,000) so I figured I'd aim at the bigger soapbox.

Immigrants do not come to America to take jobs from citizens, much less "steal" them. They come here because American employers hate the free market.

I have a question for people who don't live in NJ.

If your state had a Governor whose friends got indicted right & left, and who then came out as gay as s/he resigned in disgrace, would the people in your state get more worked up about the corruption, or about the homosexuality? Would it bother them more that he had a boyfriend, or that he hired his (unqualified, non-citizen, over-paid) boyfriend to be head of the state's homeland security?

The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, by Andrew Bacevich

I think this is an enormously important book that should be read by everyone who's associated with the American military, or concerned about the role of the military in American politics, or concerned about American military policy. That should cover everybody.

I also think this book might be a good place to start thinking about a DailyKos Defense Policy Project.

Previously: Parts 1&2: What it's like being a pollworker; mood of the electorate as I (over)heard it

Part 3. What I did as a pollworker, in mind-numbing detail.
(yeah, I said there would be stories about people next. I lied.)

I've been voting in Hopewell Township, Mercer County, NJ since 1985, so due to the extreme inconsistency of US voting practices I have no idea what goes on elsewhere. Thus, this report will be mind-numbingly detailed.

I signed up to be a pollworker because Robert Menendez (NJ-Sen) voted for Bush's detention bill. Just as I was in the pit of despair, feeling as though all politicians are morals-free authoritarian suckups, I got an email from Pollworkers for Democracy (they probably got my name from Working Assets) asking me to join their non-partisan voter protection movement. "Now that I can do with a clear conscience," I said, and so I signed up.

The US election system is an incredible mish-mash of state and county-level procedures -- the Carter Center doesn't consider it up to international standards for consistency & transparency. I'm going to write about my experiences as a pollworker in Hopewell Township, Mercer County, NJ.

I'll get into the details of what it's like being a pollworker in later installments (yes, this looks like a series). First I'll talk about the experience in general.

I'm trying to put together my next letter-to-the-editor, which will be about immigration. This is a draft of me putting together ideas to see what works.

What astounds me about the discussion of illegal immigration is the way Americans don't seem to be able to see the role of employers. When I bring it up, people nod and say yes, I suppose so, then it's like their brains skid away to talk about race, language, social services, crime, or whatever. It actually reminds me a lot of the Larry Niven story where the guy has the telepathic power to make people's pupils change size, so they lose interest in him and don't notice or remember that he's in the room (can you say "bogus"?! Whatev.). I need a good example-metaphor-illustration, peeps, something that's suitable for the general public.

I had a LTE published in the Trenton Times yesterday. The editors gave it the title: "Contraception Averts Murder". I think this can be a wedge right through the "pro-life" movement (PLM hereafter, because I'm lazy). Think about it, re-write it, make it your own, spread that meme.

Here's the text of my letter as I wrote it:

If you look around the world, abortion rates are lowest not where abortion is illegal, but where contraception is widely available and there is social pressure to use it. Even with all the division in the US over the abortion issue, I know quite a few individuals who consider themselves strongly "pro-life" and who are also very strongly in favor of contraception.

My latest LTE was printed in the Trenton Times (link to Times' site, but LTEs are not online) today:

When Judge Samuel Alito says he cannot remember belonging to Concerned Alumni of Princeton or what CAP stood for, he cannot be telling the truth.

Just this past week I finished reading The Chosen, by Jerome Karabel, a seriously good book (hope to post a review later this week), and so I naturally surfed around looking for reviews in the TM. Fool that I am, I started with the NYT, which puked forth David Brooks' review (registration req'd, but not $).

I know I'm revealing my naive innocence here, but I am just flabbergasted. Why? Because this review could not have been written by someone who had actually read the book.

My husband and I are turning 50. Looking toward the future, I'm hearing the siren call of Canada -- not just for reasons of political compatibility, but because I don't feel secure about growing old in a country without universal health care (UHC). Because we are self-employed, we might realistically have to rely on Medicare, and what I've heard about Medicare Part D as a barometer of the program fills me with deep foreboding.

Why is the Administration Dickless? (sorry, had to say it, I'm twelve)

I'm sure we all remember how Dick Cheney vanished to an "undisclosed location" after 9/11. Now he's fallen off the radar again. I know I'm not the only person to wonder what in tarnation (see, I can be polite) is going on.

This diary is intended as a place to put questions, research, and theories -- I'll tell you right up front that I don't know where Dick has gone (sorry, it never gets old) or why.

CoffeeCup Software is based in Corpus Christi, TX. They have volunteered to act as a collection and distribution point for donated goods that will go to the 100,000 or so refugees arriving in Texas.

They're looking for goods other than food, water, or medical supplies. Examples: diapers, infant care products, personal care products (shampoo, toothpaste, tampons, etc.), phone cards, batteries, unopened toys, etc.

Details after the jump.

There was a pretty good discussion the other day over at slacktivist's about Letters to the Editor and to one's Congresscritters: how often is too often, is email better than snail mail, etc. I'm reposting my remarks here, in the hopes that others will chime in with their tips, too.

In DNinMI's fine diary Want To Make a Conservative a Liberal? Make Him a Supreme Court Justice and in the subsequent discussion, people who know what they're talking about seem to be using "judicial temperament" as a term of art. What does it mean, and how can you know it when you see it? Did everyone recognize that Scalia, for instance, didn't have it before he was on the court?

The American Medical Assocation recently charged pharmacists with interference in medical care for refusing to fill prescriptions on grounds of conscience.

Is there any evidence for that last sentence?

I sent the following as a Letter to the Editor to the Trenton Times early this morning (before Mrs. Schiavo died all the way); I got the "are you who you said you are and did you send this letter" call, so it will probably be printed within the next week or so.