United States

NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the current court term. The vacancy will give President Obama his first chance to name a member of the high court and begin to shape its future direction.

The judicial panel hearing Coleman's challenge against Franken in the Minnesota Senate Race has made its decision: Franken is the the winner of the election and should be certified. The procedure is this: A ten day period occurs after which the Governor certifies the election. Unless there is a challenge in the State Supreme Court.

Greg Laden has been covering Al Franken and Norm Coleman extensively. Thanks so much Greg!

In response to litigation filed by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Justice Department today released four secret memos used by the Bush administration to justify torture. The memos, produced by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), provided the legal framework for the CIA's use of waterboarding and other illegal interrogation methods that violate domestic and international law.

18-page memo, dated August 1, 2002, from Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counsel CIA

46-page memo, dated May 10, 2005, from Steven Bradbury, Acting Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counse

20-page memo, dated May 10, 2005, from Steven Bradbury, Acting Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counse

40-page memo, dated May 30, 2005, from Steven Bradbury, Acting Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counse

President Obama promised on the campaign trail that he would have the most transparent administration in history. As part of this commitment, he said that the public would have five days to look online and find out what was in the bills that came to his desk before he signed them. It was his first broken promise, and it's the promise that keeps on breaking. He has now signed 11 bills into law and gone, at best, 1 for 11 on his five-day posting promise. The Obama administration should deliver on the Web-enabled transparency he promised and post bills for five days before signing.

To the thrill of technology and transparency advocates, candidate Obama promised sunlight before signing: "As president," his campaign website said, "Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days."

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Members of Congress are highly skilled political risk balancers, and the president's firm insistence on leaving bills sitting out there, unsigned, after they pass Congress would have a significant effect on congressional behavior. It would threaten to reveal excesses in parochial amendments and earmarks, which could bring down otherwise good bills. Recognizing the negative attention they could draw to themselves, representatives and senators would act with more circumspection, and last-minute add-ons to big bills would recede. A firm five-day rule at the White House would also inspire the House and Senate to implement more transparent and careful processes themselves.

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There should be a standard location on Whitehouse.gov -- a standard URL structure -- where the bills presented by Congress are posted for comment. With a standard location in place, members of the public would know where they could return to look at each bill the president receives.

The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.

Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in "overcollection" of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.

The legal and operational problems surrounding the N.S.A.'s surveillance activities have come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence committees and a secret national security court, said the intelligence officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because N.S.A. activities are classified. Classified government briefings have been held in recent weeks in response to a brewing controversy that some officials worry could damage the credibility of legitimate intelligence-gathering efforts.

The Justice Department, in response to inquiries from The New York Times, acknowledged Wednesday night that there had been problems with the N.S.A. surveillance operation, but said they had been resolved.

As part of a periodic review of the agency's activities, the department "detected issues that raised concerns," it said. Justice Department officials then "took comprehensive steps to correct the situation and bring the program into compliance" with the law and court orders, the statement said. It added that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. went to the national security court to seek a renewal of the surveillance program only after new safeguards were put in place.

In a statement on Wednesday night, the N.S.A. said that its "intelligence operations, including programs for collection and analysis, are in strict accordance with U.S. laws and regulations." The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the intelligence community, did not address specific aspects of the surveillance problems but said in a statement that "when inadvertent mistakes are made, we take it very seriously and work immediately to correct them."

And they call it overcollecting?

In December of 2006, Mexico's new President Felipe Calderón declared war on the drug cartels, reversing earlier government passiveness. Since then, the government has made some gains, but at a heavy price - gun battles, assasinations, kidnappings, fights between rival cartels, and reprisals have resulted in over 9,500 deaths since December 2006 - over 5,300 killed last year alone. President Barack Obama recently announced extra agents were being deployed to the border and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Mexico today to pursue a broad diplomatic agenda - overshadowed now by spiraling drug violence and fears of greater cross-border spillover. Officials on both sides of the border are committed to stopping the violence, and stemming the flow of drugs heading north and guns and cash heading south.

In an e-mail sent to members of the Defense Department's Transportation Command (including Gen. Norton Schwartz, who is now the Air Force Chief of Staff) on February 17, 2006, an anonymous official -- the name was redacted -- wrote:

We may need to definitely think about checking with Southcom to see if we can hold off on return flights for 45 days or so until things die down. Otherwise we are likely to have hero's welcomes awaiting the detainees when they arrive ... It would probably be preferable if we could deliver these detainees in something smaller and more discreet ...

The e-mail chain included a forwarded correspondence that read "US Getting Creamed on Human Rights" and which cited international coverage of the UN Rapporteurs' then-recent report on conditions at Guantanamo. That, "plus lingering interest in Abu Ghraib photos,"read the e-mail, "adds up to the US taking a big hit on the issues of human rughts and respect for the rule of law."

The line fits neatly with the rest of what we know about the Bush administration's philosophy:that perceptions of abuse were worth worrying about; the abuse itself? Not so much.

So when the cops kill your dog, even when you've done nothing wrong, even if the pup was harmless, it's "sorry" the officer felt "threatened" and there's little you can do about it. It's just an animal, after all.

But put a badge on a dog?

During an elaborate memorial, Ringo the police dog received a final send-off Friday befitting canine aristocracy.

A motorcade of 30 police cruisers rolled slowly beneath a giant American flag stretched between fire department ladder trucks.

A floral arrangement spelling out the dog's name was put across the windshield of the cruiser in which the Belgian Malinois traveled with his human partner, Anderson County Deputy Rick Coley.

Taps played softly outside the Clinton Community Center, where more than 100 people gathered to pay their respects.

Among the mourners: some 50 law enforcement officers - Clinton police, Anderson, Scott and Campbell County deputies, state troopers and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers.

A multimedia slide show with pictures of Ringo in action, training and posing with his master or just cavorting, was flashed on the center's Great Room wall.

Is this really necessary?

President Obama has lifted the ban on embryonic stem cell research enacted by Bush, but I'm left feeling that this intervention came many years too late.

As someone who works with stem cells I find this largely an empty, symbolic act, but one that needed to be done anyway. The reality is the damage was done by Bush already, and we're fortunate that it was only a temporary delay in some of the most important research humans have developed to date.

The full text of the memorandum is here. Let's look at some of the details.

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You'll notice that there's no mention here of political party, which is a serious step in the right direction. I am hopeful that the credentials and experience of candidates will be well scrutinized for potential conflicts of interest (like industry ties, or ties to "think tanks" that have better track-records of message control than of attending to scientific data and good explanations for those data).