http://firedoglake.com/2008/04/24/our-high-horse/#more-22413

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We sing many praises, Republican, Independent, Democrat alike about how we're the greatest country on earth because of our "freedom", the "last best, hope of earth" as it was said by Lincoln so long ago. We declare and praise our Constitutional due process protections. But this statistic, by itself stares us in the face and tells you all you need to know about how deeply we actually believe in the principals we so glibly espouse.

But sadly, tragically, and most of all embarrassingly, we are in no position to brag about "freedom" to anyone. We have, in many ways aggressively or passively allowed ourselves to be self-terrorized into a virtual police state. The term "police state" is not used lightly. It does describe how badly we have been manipulated by our politicians and media -- but mostly it demonstrates how blithely we all have allowed ourselves to be manipulated.

The United States comes in first, too, on a more meaningful list from the prison studies center, the one ranked in order of the incarceration rates. It has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in population. (If you count only adults, one in 100 Americans is locked up.)

The only other major industrialized nation that even comes close is Russia, with 627 prisoners for every 100,000 people. The others have much lower rates. England’s rate is 151; Germany’s is 88; and Japan’s is 63.

The median among all nations is about 125, roughly a sixth of the American rate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042303249.html?hpid=moreheadlines

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I have no idea who's on about what, BUT

DERBIG I laughed at 3 out of your 4 posts on this page! Are you on a roll, or what?

Did Proximate Wanker make a funny?

bigot

"Charles Krauthammer makes Dr. Stranglelove look like Dr. Patch Adams."

Sounds like a bit of wheelchairist comment to me.

- Proximity Warning Friday, April 25, 2008 05:23 AM

That was a JOKE, right?

Good enough?

...and I believe it is, one can only hope Obama is smart enough to take advantage of the disconnect between McSame's "fear-mongering as usual" approach, and Obama's broader appeal to rationality.

Let's hope the SuperDelegates declare on June 3/4 (or whatever the date is).

Brace yourselves for another "GG hates the Jews" thread.

http://therealnews.com/id/1406/20080426/Israel+rejects+Hamas+truce+offer

or click sig for linky

Israel rejects Hamas truce offer:

Hamas offers a six-month 'calm,' but Israel signals it won't follow suit

New Post up.

Glenn has a new BFF in the "liberal media".

Were you referring to Obama's comments about the necessity, given firm intelligence about Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts, to take him out with or without the cooperation of the Pakistani government?

You remember Osama Bin Laden, don't you, eedjit? Or are as as brain dead as your dimwit-in-chief?

Take your RWA talking points and shove them. Right before you shove off yourself.

"Problems with the link". Moron.

You're the one equating a tactical strike to hit Osama Bin Laden w/ an "invasion". It's the difference between the cruise missile strike that attempted to "decapitate" Saddam at the beginning of the Iraq War, and the total clusterhose the followed. Even you ought to be able to grasp that distinction.

I just won tix to see Diane Reeves and a band inc. Chuck Mangione at Bass Hall in Fort Worth. So, not a total loss this evening.

Not interested in a "debate" with a RWA distortionist. Go back to the Freeperistas where you belong.

You used three of my favorite words in one post!

risible, calumny, & aggrandize, if you care...

Via TPM...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/washington/01justice.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=washington&adxnnlx=1209650808-vIxgOGcDA0eX+JwGzLMPog

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Justice Dept. Will Share Interrogation Opinions

By SCOTT SHANE and DAVID JOHNSTON

Published: May 1, 2008

WASHINGTON — In a partial concession to Congressional pressure, the Bush administration agreed on Wednesday to show the Senate and House Intelligence Committees secret Justice Department legal opinions justifying harsh interrogation techniques that critics call torture.

The decision, announced at a Senate hearing where Democrats sharply criticized the administration’s secrecy on legal questions, did not satisfy other members of Congress who have pushed for the documents for several years, notably Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A spokesman for the Justice Department said officials were discussing whether to share part or all the opinions with Mr. Leahy’s panel.

At the hearing, a department official, John P. Elwood, disclosed a previously unpublicized method to cloak government activities. Mr. Elwood acknowledged that the administration believed that the president could ignore or modify existing executive orders that he or other presidents have issued without disclosing the new interpretation.

...the new batch of FISA-related data coming down the pike. (Lots of stuff @ Kos, FDL, and elsewhere).

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Breakins_plague_Justice_Department_whistleblowers_0430.html

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Break-ins plague targets of US Attorneys

Larisa Alexandrovna, Muriel Kane and Lindsay Beyerstein

Published: Thursday May 1, 2008

The Permanent Republican Majority Part VI

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA – In two states where US attorneys are already under fire for serious allegations of political prosecutions, seven people associated with three federal cases have experienced 10 suspicious incidents including break-ins and arson.