G.O.P. Hopefuls Differ on Response to Terror Attack - New York Times

TORTURE IS OK THEY SAY
If you watched Jon Stewart this week you saw him make fun of Mitt Romney's "Double Guantanamo" comment. However, as the debate by the 10 Republican presidential candidates at the University of South Carolina in Columbia shows, what these guys think is far from funny. It included arguments for "enhanced interrogation techniques", a euphemism for torture.

For the full debate transcript, click here.
(HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST)

EVEN DOJ STALWARTS REPULSED BY SPYING ON CITIZENS
Yesterday's Frontline on governmental internal spying was informative but rather ho-hum, especially considering that it was put together by someone with the stature of Hedrick Smith. That James Yoo was highly placed in the Bush Administration is understandable. That he is a lawyer is downright scary. But even Big Brother Boosters have to concede that the concerns, like those voiced in the program, come from all sectors of this society.
In that vein, at Tuesday's hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey provided new details about an internal Justice Department rebellion against the White House's warrantless surveillance program in 2004. In remarks that drew stunned looks from senators, Comey - no smelly workshirt ACLU liberal he - described an White House effort to circumvent him in seeking reauthorization for the secret eavesdropping program while Comey was serving as acting attorney general.

READ THE NEW YORK TIMES STORY ABOUT THE INCIDENT
READ THE NEW YORK TIMES STORY ABOUT COMEY
(LAW.COM)

Dick-George Tenn-Tom

DICK-GEORGE, TENN-TOM
Richard M. Nixon visited Mobile in 1971. He shook 100 feet of hands, lost a cuff-link, and shared a stage with his biggest political rival, Governor George Wallace. "Dick-George, Tenn-Tom" is a sardonic look at their rivalry, the creation of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, and the attempt on Wallace's life less than a year later. The film mentions the protest activities of some University of South Alabama students, one of whom was me.
(Suggested by Kyle Craig)

FRANCE'S NEW PRESIDENT'S ETHNIC ROOTS
By the time Hungary became a real democratic republic in 1989, Alattyan was a sleepy village of about 2,000 souls with little memory of its feudal past, and Nicolas Sarkozy was mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, a deputy in the French National Assembly and a rising star in French politics with little interest in his feudal roots.

In "FRIEND OR FAUX"Olivier Roy says that Nicolas Sarkozy may not be what the French call a “libéral,” but he’s no neocon, either.
(NYTIMES)

GOOGLE GETS INTO DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE
In case you missed the news, Google just introduced another free life-changing service. Call (800) GOOG-411 and it will look up any business number for you, purely by voice, and connect you, for free.
(Suggested by David Nihart)

UNFLUENCE NOW!
You don't have to be a fan of C. Wright Mills' Power Elite or decry the idea of interlocking corporate directorates to enjoy this site. It lets you track who is giving money to your candidate.
(UNFLUENCE, unearthed by Kyle Craig)

Lois Romano - Survivors of Tulsa Race Riots Seek Help From Congress for a Wrong Never Righted - washingtonpost.com

TULSA REPARATIONS EXPLORED
A Congressional hearing this week heard testimony this week urging members to pass legislation that would clear the way for survivors of the nation's worst race riots to sue for reparations."Olivia J. Hooker, six years old during the 1921 Tulsa race riots, said her mother told her "your country is shooting at you."
(WASHINGTON POST)

CHIP DRAGO COLUMN ON THOMAS' TRAVAILS
If you don't already get Chip Drago's column, you miss out on some really interesting insider stories. Chip is an ex-Register reporter (as am I) and does an excellent job of dispassionately picking up on the inner workings of the Mobile political scene. Most times the stories are mundane crap no one (but the rest of us who are living in the crap) really cares about and, of course, given Chip's passive style, you read into it based upon what you know and what you want to believe. They are shot little pixel shots of the big picture here. For example, this little article on Thomas is interesting, not only because of the topical nature of the piece, but because he puts the whole thing into the context of Thomas' rise to power, Demo/Repub politics, who is hacking at his heels, and (perhaps) why.
(MOBILE BAY TIMES)

Keith Richards: `I Snorted My Father'

THAT'S NO BOOGER, THAT'S MY DAD
Keith Richards, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist, has acknowledged snorting his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.
(BREITBART.COM, unearthed by Connie Acevedo)

mediabistro.com: TVNewser

...BECAUSE HE CAN
Bill O'Reilly ordered his producers to cut retired Col. Ann Wright's mic off during an interview on Friday, leaving Wright, an expert on the Geneva Convention who was being asked about the Iranian (British) hostage situation, visibly trying to continue to explain herself but not being heard.
(MEDIABISTRO)

Barr shifts in support of medical marijuana | ajc.com

CONGRESSMAN DOES ABOUT-FACE ON POT
A former Republican congressman and anti-drug crusader, has become a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project. Once termed "the worst drug warrior" on Capitol Hill by the Libertarian Party, Georgia's Bob Barr joined the Libertarians last year because, he said, of the GOP's move "toward big government and disregard toward privacy and civil liberties. Barr's move puts him in the unusual position of lobbying to overturn a law he sponsored.
(ATLANTA JOURNAL)

Newseum | Today's Front Pages | Map View

EXTRA!EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
A friend of mine just sent me this link and it is SO COOL! This link is a map with today's newspaper's front pages. But there is so much more on this site. Check it out!
(NEWSEUM: The interactive Museum of News, unearthed by Drew Walch)

TORTURED TV
Human Rights First has mounted a campaign to challenge a growing and troublesome trend: TV shows like "24," "Lost" and "Law and Order" often depict torture as an effective and even heroic tool for interrogating suspects. The impact is far from fictional: U.S. soldiers, under pressure to get information but confronted with conflicting rules of interrogation, have imitated the gruesome techniques they see on TV.

HERE'S WHAT THEY'RE DOING:

Human Rights First has arranged a series of meetings for the Dean of West Point and three seasoned Army and FBI interrogators with prominent TV producers and writers.

The Executive Producer of "24" recently announced that the show would "tone down" its use of torture. And the star of the show, Kiefer Sutherland, said that he would work with the Army to train soldiers.

They are in production on a training film that shows, through TV clips and interviews with experienced interrogators, that the methods you see on TV would not work in the field.

PLEASE CONSIDER GOING TO THEIR SITE AND MAKING A DONATION TO THIS CAMPAIGN

American Journeys in Mobile, Ala. - Travel - New York Times

AZALEA TRAIL FEATURE STORY
WHEN thousands of athletes from around the world pull on their running shoes in Mobile, Ala., tomorrow and set out through the streets in the 10-kilometer Azalea Trail Run, they will race past antebellum mansions, ornate old commercial buildings, majestic churches and storefronts topped by lacy cast-iron balconies and grillwork. The run, now in its 30th year, is timed for late March to coincide with the bloom of azaleas and dogwood, one of the prettiest seasons in Mobile, an easygoing port town spread along the banks of the Mobile River and bell-shaped Mobile Bay.
(NYT, unearthed by Marsh Acker)

Daily Kos: Republicans fail to learn the Vote Vets lesson; still voting to kill troops

VOTE ON TROOP ARMOUR SUBJECT OF BLOG EXPERIMENT
You want proof that we're living in a changing world? The blogs DailyKos and KagroX wrote a post about Republican "Troop-Killers". They are attacking a recent vote by GOP members of the House Appropriations Committee (which includes Alabama's Robert Aderholt) unanimously opposing a requirement that the troops sent to Iraq be properly protected with armor. (Check out the YouTube video on this link.) Here's the twist. As a way to continue to push this story and trying to hold Aderholt and company accountable for this vote they have proposed a coordinated day of action that runs primarily through local blogs like this one.