The only Arab democracy in the world could not last even three years.

When the Iranian-trained terrorist group Hezbollah invaded Lebanon and used it as a staging ground to attack Israel, the world solemnly promised Israel and Lebanon that Hezbollah would be stopped. The United Nations Security Council voted to disarm Hezbollah and sent in tens of thousands of troops to Lebanon in order to convince Israel to give up its right of self defense under international law.

Israel accepted the word of the world. Boy was that a mistake. Israel knows better than to trust the United Nations or the world. But the Bush Administration forced it to do so.

The real victims: the Lebanese. This week, in a stunning coup d'etat, Hezbollah killed just enough Lebanese to take over the Government and ensure the end of democracy in Lebanon forever. And those tens of thousands of UN troops stood by blankly. I guess they were too busy playing in their bunks than fulfilling their UN mandate.

Going beyond the obvious (AIDS conspiracy, Farrakhan...)

I have no problem with Reverend Wright's argument that "difference does not mean deficient" nor his cogent analysis of African and European rhythm and music patterns.

But when Wright suggests that Black children need to learn differently from Whites, he brings us periously close to a reversal of Brown v. Board of Education.

Yesterday, General Petraeus wouldn't budge from his position, which was really quite simply stated:

We have no idea how long we'll be fighting in Iraq.
We have no idea how much it will cost.
We have no idea whether we'll win or lose.
We have no idea how many will die.
We have no idea how to define victory.

Oh, and our enemies keep changing.

First we give money and arms
to the Sunnis (supported by Al Qaeda)
against the Shia (supported by Iran).
And lo and behold, the Sunni become more powerful and dangerous!

Then we gave money and arms
to the Shia (supported by Iran)
against the Sunni (supported by Al Qaeda).
And lo and behold, the Shia are becoming more poweful and dangerous.

Maybe we should help the Sunni (Al Qaeda in Iraq) again?

Rinse and Repeat for 100 years.

And don't forget the intra-Sunni and intra-Shia battles too, upon which we have to take sides!

Rinse and repeat for 100 years.

(Tune in at 5 pm EST for live discussion of this at RadioInsideScoop.com)

Paul Waldman, co-author with David Brock of Free Ride: John McCain and the Media, will appear today at 5 pm Eastern (4 Cent. 3 Mtn. 2 Pac.) on Mark Levine's Inside Scoop radio show to discuss his book.

In this excerpt from the book, we see how the media have promoted John McCain for a long time, from his days with the Keating Five to his more recent flip-flops kowtowing to the Bush Administration.

Kos listeners are encouraged to call in, comment on the blog, and ask tough questions.  The toll-free number to dial in is 888-488-MARK (6275)

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon's right-wing rag, the Washington Times, originally reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice knew about the State Department's illegal spying on Obama's passport files YESTERDAY.  Now, without even admitting it has changed its story, the same web article has quietly changed the word "yesterday" to "today."

Google it quick before the evidence goes away, but I saw it with my own eyes.  The original report said "yesterday."

Now it says 'today'.

Something's going on here.

I have repeatedly tried over the past month to get an answer from my Senator from Virginia, Senator Jim Webb, or anyone on his staff as to why he voted to give Bush dictatorial powers to spy on Americans at will.

To reiterate, Webb and 19 other Democrats voted:

1. to retroactively legalize ALL unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping Bush has ever done in violation of the Fourth Amendment, by giving telecommunications companies the same amnesty the Federal Government has to disobey the law at will; and

2. to prospectively give Bush dictatorial powers to spy on ANYONE at ANY TIME without ANY CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTION WHATSOEVER by making clear that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, for the first time since it became law in 1978, does not require the President to exclusively act within its dictates.  

This means that the President is under no restrictions except the Fourth Amendment. But since he is immune from suit under the Fourth Amendment, we are all, in effect, helpless.

The vote of Webb - and 19 other Democratic Senators (and all Republicans) - assures that if Bush electronically "breaks in" to the Watergate Complex to steal DNC secrets and covers it up, Bush gets off scot-free.

Nixon, at long last, is vindicated.

THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED. SEE BELOW.

If you haven't read the story "Obama worked with terrorist" by now, you will soon. The right-wing attack, the first major swift-boating of Barack Obama, comes directly from Aaron Klein of the far-right conservative online publication World Net Daily and the Republican Orthodox Jewish Press. Then, "M. Sliwa Public Relations," representing the World Net Daily, spread it to tens of thousands of emails in the boxes of American Jews and other strong supporters of Israel.

M. Sliwa is Maria Sliwa, the sister of right-wing New York City talk show host Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and a strong supporter of the Republican Party who regularly speaks at Republican fund-raisers and national conventions. Curtis Sliwa himself advocates violence (against talk radio hosts Opie and Anthony).

It shouldn't surprise any of us that prominent Republicans are spreading the charge.  But what is the substance of the accusation?  And is it true?

If you read the DailyKos last week, you know I have tried repeatedly to talk to my Senator Jim Webb or his legal staff to get an explanation as to why Webb voted the way he did on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill. See Last Week's Diary.  Well, I got an "answer."

Webb had stated he was against giving President Bush amnesty for all of Bush's illegal and unconstitutional violations of the Fourth Amendment in demanding telecommunications companies secretly surveil without a warrant millions of American citizens who had committed no crime.

Webb had also said he wanted "exclusivity," i.e. a requirement that the new surveillance law actually bind the President, as the current FISA law does.

Yet Webb did exactly the opposite.  He voted for a bill that pardons the President for his past crimes, hides those crimes so that Americans can never discover them, and makes clear that the President is NOT BOUND BY ANY LAW in this field.

I am an ex-Congressional attorney.  I used to work on House Judiciary matters for the second-ranking Democrat on the Committee. I am currently a television and talk radio host.

For three days now, I have called and emailed Senator Webb's office trying to get an explanation for his vote to allow Bush full retroactive amnesty ex post facto to spy on innocent Americans in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

Needless to say, his vote upset me, not only because I respect the Constitution of the United States but because I helped elect Jim Webb and he ran on a campaign of strict respect for the Constitution. Here's Jim Webb during his campaign:

MARK LEVINE: How far up in the chain of command do you think this corruption goes? Does it go all the way up to FBI Director Mueller or, as [caller] Dave suggests, even higher?

AGENT MICHAEL GERMAN: Well, when I wasn't getting any help after reporting it to the Assistant Director for Counter-Terrorism, I reported it [the White Supremacist/Islamic Terrorist alliance] directly to Robert Mueller and that's when things really started to get back for me. So clearly he knew about it early on in January of 2003.

Listen to two-minute radio clip here.  Transcript reprinted below.

More on the story reported last night on the Daily Kos and at RadioInsideScoop.com.

On the progressive radio talk show Mark Levine's Inside Scoop on Washington, Mark interviewed former undercover FBI Agent Michael German, who regularly infiltrated white supremacist organizations. German was fired for exposing the FBI fraud and incompetence that compromised a serious investigation into new ties between white supremacist and Islamic terrorist organizations. This astonishing 55-minute interview can be heard in its entirety by clicking here.

The FBI has been routinely destroying evidence, lying in official reports, and covering up this corruption which goes all the way up to the Director of the FBI, Robert Mueller. This is no conspiracy theory.  The authenticity of Agent German's harrowing account has been attested to by no less than Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. [See body below.]

Ask your Senator to back the Whistleblower Protection Act (HR 985)!