The House passed a bill Friday that would provide congressional authorization for President Bush's warrantless domestic spying program.

Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, charged: "Hidden in the fine print are provisions which grant the administration authority to maintain permanent records on innocent U.S. citizens, granting the administration new authority to demand personal records without court review, and terminating any and all legal challenges to unlawful wiretapping."
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Today a staggering amount of personal information is being collected by the government on millions of Americans. This information is being used to compile a massive social network of American citizens that we are told is for the purpose of identifying terrorist cells. But others say it is easy for terrorists to avoid being caught up into this type of data-mining. I find it curious that what may be of little value in uncloaking terrorist cells is precisely the type of data-mining you would dream about for political election microtargeting.

This week, my Dad, US Senate candidate Jack carter was invited to post at Harry Reid's blog Give `Em Hell, Harry.  Today, he wrote a great piece about oversight and the importance of the 2006 elections.

I'll try to excerpt it, but you really, really should read the whole thing.

One would have to be irrational to conclude that Cheney coldly took out his shotgun and purposely let loose on poor old Harry Whittington to divert the easily divertable-- and inordinately short-- public attention span away from the far more serious matters he and Bush are having troubles with. But one would have to be incredibly naive to have not allowed it to cross one's mind.

Today's WASHINGTON POST goes into some detail about how last week's much ballyhooed congressional investigation into the Bush Regime's illegal spying scandal is losing steam inside the Beltway-- though not among actual Americans. (You remember that one, right? The real serious one that made everyone start talking about impeachment and made Karl Rove threaten the prostrate ass-lickers who make up the Republican Senate Caucus, particularly McCain, DeWine, Snowe, Hagel and a small gaggle of other fake moderates, with imperial displeasure and excommunication? Think, think... it was before Cheney shot Whittington in the face, neck and chest and left him to die for 2 hours before calling for medical help. The one where the pathetic, senile, old chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Pat Roberts (R-What's-Wrong-With-Kansas), pretty much said whatever Bush does is by definition legal...

Yesterday, while the blogosphere was focussed on the testimony of Alberto Gonzalez in the NSA wiretapping hearing, a major event was going on in Nevada.  Jack Carter announced that he is officially entering the race to become Nevada's next US Senator.  All of us kids were there (Jack is my Dad), as well as my grandparents, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.  It was a fun day, with events in Henderson (outside of Las Vegas), and in Carson City.

The day kicked off with an event at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Henderson, NV.  We got there early and hung out in the "clutch" (the back room) meeting with some of the folks that helped put the event together and getting our instructions from the campaign manager.  For me, it was the first time I'd met some of the folks involved in my Dad's campaign, and it was really interesting to put faces to names.  When we entered the event room, it was packed.  The organizers had put out chairs for 200 people, and there were another couple hundred standing around the sides and in the back.  (Read on for Dad's speech and more.)

The following has been posted over at DKos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/31/ 15419/7016

It seems Russ Feingold has caught AG Alberto Gonzalez in a lie during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January, '05. Ole' AGAG denied knowing anything about warrantless wiretaps, even though he was signing off on such a program every 45 days, and said that he would notify Congress if any such thing came up.

Feingold has sent AGAG a letter demanding an explanation. I don't think that's enough. See Extended Entry: