Even some top administration officials could tell that domestic spying program was illegal

Yet another fine media criticism action alert from FAIR (find FAIR in my "deeper than news" links at right) describes yet another underreported story and suggests contacting some media about it. Here's what struck me as the central point:

Many legal experts have long considered the administration's warrantless wiretapping program to be illegal and indeed unconstitutional (as U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled on August 17, 2006). But the fact that such views were shared by top officials at Bush's Justice Department is a very important development in the story.

Hillary Clinton's role on the board of Wal-Mart

Found this New York Times story on the Raw Story blog (find Raw Story in my "news" links, to the right). Here's what struck me as the central point:

Fellow board members and company executives, who have not spoken publicly about her role at Wal-Mart, say Mrs. Clinton used her position to champion personal causes, like the need for more women in management and a comprehensive environmental program, despite being Wal-Mart’s only female director, the youngest and arguably the least experienced in business. On other topics, like Wal-Mart’s vehement anti-unionism, for example, she was largely silent, they said.

There Is No War On Terror

Robert Dreyfuss makes the case:

President George W. Bush, Vice President Cheney and the entire Republican election team are scrambling to make their so-called war on terror the focus of the next seven weeks. As in 2002 and 2004, they’re counting on their ability to scare Americans with the al-Qaida bogeyman. And while the trauma of 9/11 has begun to dissipate and American voters seem less susceptible than ever to the scare tactics used by the White House, for the past five years the Democrats have been singularly unable to develop an effective counter to the Bush administration on terrorism. So, for that reason, here are 10 important facts about terrorism that opponents of President Bush should understand.

[Let's hope he's right about the voters. And if you haven't noticed it before, also look to the right, below the links, here on Frogs in Water, for the item headed "Terror threat overstated."]

Let's not expect more from the Dems than they're able to give

Some comments about Springsteen's current tour, posted here, seem relevant to the discussion taking place in the comment section of another blog. The comments are in response to this post.

Meanwhile, what I thought as I read some very thoughtful comments there, such as this one, is that what's missing from this discussion is a recognition of how split the loyalties of the Democratic Party are.

It's hard to go all out to be the party of the poor and hardworking when what that majority of the population needs is at odds with what the power structure of the nation favors. For example, universal health care and safe, affordable medications might save countless lives and help lots of people keep our heads above water. But to directly take on the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and that whole new layer of commerce that stands between doctors and patients (managed care, companies that exist solely to bill insurance companies on behalf of doctors, etc.) would cost the party oodles of campaign contributions--and that money would instead be turned against it to fund the same kind of snow job that got us into the war on Iraq.

Those of us who want universal health care outnumber those who oppose it by about three to one, but that isn't enough to make the party stand firmly for genuine universal health care. Its loyalties are divided between the voters and the funders.

This point is worth remembering both when we talk about what the party oughta be doing and when we decide how much of our own effort to put into the party and how much of it to put into being the pressure groups outside the party that force it to do what's right. Howard Zinn said it's not who's sitting inside the White House that counts as much as who's sitting outside it.

I say don't expect the Democrats to be any more than tepid on important issues. They can't afford to be. But strategic and sustained mass pressure can force politicians to act. That's the meaning of the bumper sticker "If the people lead, the politicians will follow."

Double standards for illegal behavior

"Illegal behavior" and "disrespect for our laws":
Bad—if you come from another country and do very hard, poorly paid work . . .
But if you're the president, the vice president, or one of their "advisors" . . .

Just how far down on the administration's organizational chart is the line that separates those who have to follow the law from those who don't? What do they call that line?

And how long has it been since these guys quit repeating the mantras "moral relativism" and "personal responsibility"?

Gimme an H! Gimme a Y! Gimme a P-O-C-R-I-T-E!

Try some links

There is so much good information and commentary already out there that I've been concentrating on putting up links to my sources of information and other good stuff instead of reposting or rehashing what's already been said better than I could say it. I urge you to follow some of these links. (If you don't see them, look for a link below that says "Home" and follow it to the page where my links are.)

How Building a Saudi City Made a Lefty Out of Dick Underhill, VFP

By Greg Moses
08/10/05 "Peacefile"—Back in the 60s you could say two things about Navy and Air Force veteran Dick Underhill: he liked to do the work that nobody else wanted to do, and he was a Goldwater Republican. Today as Underhill shuttles in and out of Crawford, Texas, running supplies and tending to lists of thing to do in support of Cindy Sheehan, you could still say he likes to do the work that nobody else wants to do, but you couldn’t call him a Goldwater Republican anymore.

“You have heard about PTSD, haven’t you?” asks Underhill in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon from his Austin home. “That’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Well, I have a name for something else that I call PASD. That’s Post Awareness Stress Disorder. It’s what happens to you when you’ve been raised all your life to believe the story that the slaveholders and merchant pirates who founded the USA were good people and that the government of the USA is the best in the world. When you find out that’s not true at all, it does leave you under stress.”

Read up on and stand up against the "USA 'PATRIOT' Act"

Moving Ideas has issued a report, "USA PATRIOT Act 2005: Big Brother is Watching." According to the announcement on Common Dreams: "The report lays out the problems with the original PATRIOT Act and explains the expanded powers that have been proposed. The report includes links to in-depth analysis from policy experts as well as ways for activists to get involved and take action."