Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Pat Roberts and Democrat Jay Rockefeller were on Meet the Press today.

RUSSERT: When will we see phase two of your investigation about the shaping or exaggeration of intelligence by policy-makers?

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Roberts:... And to go back in and to keep going over this over and over again, I'm more than happy to finish this, and I want to finish it, but we have other things that we need to do.

An important issue like this is now being swept under the rug.

MR. RUSSERT: The United States went to war...

That's right, we went to war because of information that the administration pressured to hear, and Roberts thinks we have better things to do, and is not happy to answer Tim's questions about it.

ROCKEFELLER: Pat and I have agreed to do it. We've shaken hands on it, and we agreed to do it after the elections so it wouldn't be any sort of sense of a political attack... If policy-makers are going to misuse or shape or hype or change or try to pressure that intelligence into being something different, they're the ones who decide, the policy-makers, whether we'll go to war or not, not the intelligence community. This is at the core of what we have to be prepared for, to do correctly for the next 30 or 40 years during the war on terrorism.

Transcript

This morning, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) put some serious daylight between himself and Majority Leader Tom DeLay. From ABC’s This Week:

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Think Progress: STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think that this is just attacks on him [Tom DeLay] or attacks on the conservative movement, or are there serious issues here that he has to address?

SANTORUM: …If those things were not out there, obviously they wouldn’t be raising them. And so there are issues that he has to deal with personally…I think he has to come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it and let the people then judge for themselves.

Just a thought. Check out the logic:

Bill uses his talking points memo and Nov 1st, 2004 a day before the election to proclaim that the factor doesn't endorse candidates, however recommends Mel Martinez over Betty Castor.

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Bill: ..So doing the math there's no way on earth that Betty Castor should be elected for any office unless it's in Iran or someplace...

Mel Martinez wins a close election. Tom Delay and Bill Frist jump on the Terri Schiavo bandwagon pressured by the religious right for political gain. A one page memo is ditributed stating: "This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue," said the memo, which was reported by ABC News and later given to The Washington Post. "This is a great political issue, because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a cosponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats." Power Line and the righties try to turn it into forgeries. Brian H. Darling, the legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez, admits to writing the memo. Martinez passes around the GOP Talking Points. Mel is so stupid that he gives Harken the memo by mistake. The polls show that the American people believe the republicans used Terri for political reasons. The Washington Post exposes it. Delay, Frist look like assholes as well as Assrocket, Powerline and every other righy who cried fake. Come 2006 there may be a price to be paid, and all quite possibly because Bill O'Reilly opened his big, fat mouth.

Ellen Goodman writes in the WaPo about the "conscience laws" that allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions based on their consciences:

The pharmacist who refuses emergency contraception is not just following his moral code, he's trumping the moral beliefs of the doctor and the patient. "If you open the door to this, I don't see any place to draw a line," says Anita Allen, law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of "The New Ethics." If the pharmacist is officially sanctioned as the moral arbiter of the drugstore, does he then ask the customer whether the pills are for cramps or contraception? If he's parsing his conscience with each prescription, can he ask if the morning-after pill is for carelessness or rape? For that matter, can his conscience be the guide to second-guessing Ritalin as well as Viagra?

How much further do we want to expand the reach of the individual conscience? Does the person at the checkout counter have an equal right to refuse to sell condoms? Does the bus driver have a right to refuse to let off customers in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic?

Yes, we want people to have a strong moral compass. But they have to coexist with others whose compasses point in another direction. In the debate over conscience clauses, Frances Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice says, properly, "There is very little recognition that the conscience of the woman is as important, let alone more important, than the conscience of the provider."

The point Goodman is making here is one that I haven't seen made very often, and I think it is one of the most important points about this. No one is trying to force women who have objections to birth control and abortion to take birth control or have an abortion. No one has ever tried to force these things on anyone in this country. But the converse is not true - those who oppose women's reproductive freedom are doing everything they can to force a matter of their personal consciences onto everyone else.

I don't understand the reasoning behind these laws. If a pharmacist has reservations about filling any prescription at all, that pharmacist is in the wrong job. The entire job consists of dispensing the medication the doctor has ordered for her patient. That's it.

I resent the hell out of someone who went to pharmacy school telling me what is right or wrong. Pharmacists aren't preachers, teachers or judges - they take pills out of big containers and put them into smaller ones, stick labels on them and dispense them. And even for those pharmacists who still compound drugs, the question remains the same: Who the hell came up with this notion that that somehow makes pharmacists society's moral and ethical arbiters?

How much further do we want to expand the reach of the individual conscience? Does the person at the checkout counter have an equal right to refuse to sell condoms? Does the bus driver have a right to refuse to let off customers in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic?

Yes, we want people to have a strong moral compass. But they have to coexist with others whose compasses point in another direction. In the debate over conscience clauses, Frances Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice says, properly, "There is very little recognition that the conscience of the woman is as important, let alone more important, than the conscience of the provider."

The point Goodman is making here is one that I haven't seen made very often, and I think it is one of the most important points about this. No one is trying to force women who have objections to birth control and abortion to take birth control or have an abortion. No one has ever tried to force these things on anyone in this country. But the converse is not true - those who oppose women's reproductive freedom are doing everything they can to force a matter of their personal consciences onto everyone else.

I don't understand the reasoning behind these laws. If a pharmacist has reservations about filling any prescription at all, that pharmacist is in the wrong job. The entire job consists of dispensing the medication the doctor has ordered for her patient. That's it.

I resent the hell out of someone who went to pharmacy school telling me what is right or wrong. Pharmacists aren't preachers, teachers or judges - they take pills out of big containers and put them into smaller ones, stick labels on them and dispense them. And even for those pharmacists who still compound drugs, the question remains the same: Who the hell came up with this notion that that somehow makes pharmacists society's moral and ethical arbiters?

If the government is going to allow pharmacists to make these kinds of decisions for everyone, then it will eventually have to allow the clerks at Blockbuster the right to refuse to rent movies that they object to. Because if there is a difference between the moral standpoint of a pharmacist who doesn't believe in birth control and the moral standpoint of a clerk at Blockbuster who doesn't believe that there should be nudity or violence in movies, then what is it? Both are matters of personal ethics. The only question is whether or not some people are going to get the privelege of imposing their personal ethics on the rest of us. IT'S COMPLETELY BACKWARDS - IF SOMEONE HAS A MORAL OBJECTION TO SOME ASPECT OF HER JOB, GET ANOTHER FUCKING JOB. Read More...

Nooz you Can Yooz    Happy Furry Puppy Story Time

I obviously need to beg for people to send me weird links more often, because S8N (Satan? A license plate? I dunno.) has dropped a link that combines two of my enduring loves: campy pro wrestling and insane reactionary rhetoric. More like this, please! I have an

If the government is going to allow pharmacists to make these kinds of decisions for everyone, then it will eventually have to allow the clerks at Blockbuster the right to refuse to rent movies that they object to. Because if there is a difference between the moral standpoint of a pharmacist who doesn't believe in birth control and the moral standpoint of a clerk at Blockbuster who doesn't believe that there should be nudity or violence in movies, then what is it? Both are matters of personal ethics. The only question is whether or not some people are going to get the privelege of imposing their personal ethics on the rest of us. IT'S COMPLETELY BACKWARDS - IF SOMEONE HAS A MORAL OBJECTION TO SOME ASPECT OF HER JOB, GET ANOTHER FUCKING JOB. Read More...

DeLay's Backers Launch Offense

via WaPo: Allies and friends of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) have concluded that public attention to his ethics is unlikely to abate for months to come, and they plan to try to preserve his power by launching an aggressive media strategy and calling in favors from prominent conservative leaders, according to Republicans participating in the strategy sessions....read on

Officials working with DeLay said he is trying to lock in support by sowing the message that an attack on him is an attack on the conservative movement, and that taking him out would be the Democrats' first step toward regaining control of the House and Senate. These officials said they believe the attacks are part of a strategy by , to use the ethics process to try to regain power...read on

So, as usual it's all the Democrats, Media Matters and Geoge Soros's fault that Tom Delay has all these problems. Hell, Al Franken actually drugged Tom with roofies, stuck his hand up Delays butt and controlled him like a puppet man; making Tom sprout threatening remarks about the judiciary. It wasn't really Tom when he said that Terri Schiavo was a gift from God. No..Power Line has uncovered that the voice on the tape is non other than Rich Little's, and are getting ready to break that story wide open.

via Josh Marshall:

Shays says DeLay's a handful, calls the Majority Leader an "embarrassment" who won't survive through this term as head of the caucus.

"He is an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party," Rep. Christopher Shays (R) of Connecticut told a constituents at a townhall meeting in Greenwich on Saturday.

"Do I think Tom DeLay will be the majority leader by the end of this term? No," Shays went on to say. "I don't think Tom DeLay is going to survive."

Somebody finally gets honest on the Republican side

Fafblog!

Oh no! I have been kidnapped - kidnapped by judges run amok! For years they been usin their terrible laser-beam eyes an super-strength to hold the Constitution hostage but now they're takin over the world startin with ordinary mainstream Americans like me. Who can stop them now!

"I have powers beyond reason!" says Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor destroyin the National Guard with her judicial fire breath. Florida circuit judge George Greer laughs an uses his mind beam to topple the Empire State Building; the Avengers are crushed. I do not know how judges have become this powerful but I believe it involves mysterious cosmic radiation or the yellow sun of Earth.
"Kneel before Greer!" says Florida circuit judge George Greer. I am forced to kneel on accounta Congress refuses to set limitations on his kneel-forcin powers.
"Oh you won't get away with this judges," says me. "Tom Delay will stop you an save the day!"
"Who is this Tom Delay?" says Judge Greer.
"Oh you'll find out an when you do!" says me.
"Come to me, Tom Delay!" says Judge Greer. "I defy you! Come and kneel before Greer! GREER!"

Oh, where is Tom Delay! Why isn't he savin us! Tom Delay! Can you hear me? Where are you! Where are you!

Wal-Mart's Hypocrisy on Health Care   David Sirota

It Seems Likely the "Nuclear Option" Actually Will Be Used

The Democrats do have one final weapon in their arsenal. If Republicans try to remove the filibuster option, then Democrats can try to make the Republicans play by all the Senate's Rules, construed literally. That, in turn, would bring the Senate's business to a halt - save for the barest essentials - and thus, Congress' business as well, for the House cannot pass laws without the Senate.

The Senate operates largely by "unanimous consent," which enables it to waive the myriad rules of procedure. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D NV) has made clear that should the Democrats destroy the filibuster option, he will not "enter into any consent agreements" except regarding matters that affect U.S. troops or are necessary for the continuity of government operations.

In effect, the Democrats have the option of nuclear winter. If they don't rely on this counter-tactic - with the hope of restoring Republicans to their senses - they might as well pack up and go home. No longer would there be an opposition party in the Senate...read on

It's a long piece and well worth reading. Dean also says: "When the rest of the country understands that it was Frist who was responsible for the destruction of the Senate, his chances for the Presidency will be over."

(Update) Santorum: Frist will go nuclear : Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, has reassured conservative activist leaders that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is committed to triggering the “nuclear option,” stripping Democrats of the power to filibuster judicial nominees.

Quiz: Which TV news room lead into their broadcast with this?

"Tonight another high speed chase. Also tonight, the crowd is still trying to see the Pope, and a local man is last on line.... Rare infections here in Los Angeles...The news is just minutes away..."

MSNBC, FNC, CNN.....

This was a news teaser on NBC right after Law and Order

While protestors were out in force in Iraq today,

3 Palestinian teens were killed by Israeli troops.

The two sides offered dramatically different versions of the shooting, which shattered weeks of calm and added to tensions surrounding plans by Jewish extremists to march on a disputed holy site in Jerusalem on Sunday....read on

``These kids were not playing soccer,'' said the commander, whose name was withheld under military regulations. ``You don't get there by accident.'' Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a spokesman for the Palestinian Interior Ministry, called the Israeli account ``completely false.''