Vice Admiral Robert Harward, head of JTF-435, continues his process of “training” Afghan personnel to take command of Afghan prisons, in an attempt to deflect responsibility away from the author of US detention abuses, General Stanley McChrystal.

I have trouble counting to 8 – the number of Republicans who would be needed for passage. And that’s assuming that hawkish types like Joe Lieberman and Jim Webb don’t bolt.

As you’ll no doubt understand over the next week or so, bmaz and I have been comparing the case of David Passaro, the only CIA-related person to be prosecuted for detainee abuse, with what happened in Gul Rahman’s death at the Salt Pit. Passaro, a CIA contractor obviously trained in SERE-based interrogation techniques, was convicted of assaulting an Afghan, Abdul Wali, with his hand, foot, and flashlight, while interrogating him at the Asadabad firebase in Eastern Afghanistan in June 2003.

I’ll have a lot more to say about Passaro’s case in upcoming posts (short story, though, is his defense tested many of John Yoo’s favorite theories and lost). But for now, I wanted to point to two passages in this filing, which requests electronic communications evidence related to Wali’s interrogation and death. One thing it requests are transcripts of satellite phone calls from the Field.

The report of the Examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy case explains how the company used accounting tricks to hide its financial position, and how the accountants went along. No system will work if managers and professionals can play games with regulations and avoid personal liability.

Today, the New York Times announced that Malcom McLaren, the man behind the Sex Pistols–and Adam & the Ants and BowWowWow–has died of mesothelioma at a hospital in Switzerland. He was 64.

The troubles of Sen. John Ensign have finally dawned on Republican leaders in Nevada. They realize that having a corrupt, indicted leader at a time when they’re trying to take down the state’s Democratic Senator with candidates who have embraced that same indicted figure would be devastating. So gradually, they’re backing away from Ensign.

The Quitter teamed with up Michele Bachmann yesterday in Minnesota yesterday and drew a crowd of 10,000. Chris Bowers thinks that means the Quitter is going to be the GOP’s nominee if she wants it, but I don’t think she does. Too much work.

I jumped on a White House conference call with Barbara Lee (D-CA), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, yesterday. The topic was the youth summer job program, which the House has passed but the Senate has yet to take up. I get an advisory in my inbox that there’s another call with Lee today, where she’ll be joined by Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) and Biden economic advisor Jared Bernstein.

What’s going on?

A new Gallup poll shows record levels of disapproval with most current members of Congress. When asked “Do most members of Congress deserve re-election,” only 28% responded “yes,” while 65% said “no.” That is lower than the previous record 29% set in 1992, and with a much wider gap between Yes and No than seen [...]

In a fairly impressive feat of organizing, Marcy Winograd, the progressive challenger to Jane Harman in California’s 36th District, was able to pull Harman’s state party endorsement after amassing enough objections from state party delegates