For those who missed it, Jane was on The Rachel Maddow Show tonight, discussing John Brennan and Robert Gates.

Woot!

FDL book salon welcomes the man who first exposed the NSA's inner workings, James Bamford, to talk about his latest book on the agency The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America.

Not only was the Bush case for war against Iraq based on forgeries, but so was their case for war against Iran.

Because the Jack Bauer fantasies are just too damned tame:McCain, 72, wants to use the OSS, the CIA's predecessor, as the model for a modern-day agency for covert action, psychological warfare, and paramilitary operations. He has said he wants a group that will ``take risks that our bureaucracies today are afraid to take,'' such as sending agents to infiltrate terrorist groups.

Bart Gellman's Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency has been rightly celebrated for its detailed depiction surrounding the March 10, 2004 hospital confrontation over the warrantless wiretapping program. But it most valuable as a catalog of the ways Dick Cheney worked the federal bureaucracy to achieve his goals.

Just when you think you cannot feel more sick to your stomach:...Ron: Now this is from the Vice President's Office is how you remembered it--not from the president?
Rob: No, no, no. What I remember is George saying, 'we got this from'--basically, from what George said was 'downtown.'
Ron: Which is the White House?
Rob: Yes. But he did not--in my memory--never said president, vice president, or NSC. Okay? But now--he may have hinted--just by the way he said it, it would have--cause almost all that stuff came from one place only: Scooter Libby and the shop around the vice president....

On Monday, we will have the next installment of First Monday -- a series of discussions on the rule of law, coordinated with the Alliance for Justice. This coming Monday, August 4th, at 3:00 pm ET/noon PT, our guest will be Vince Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and some folks from the ACLU -- all of whom have been working diligently over the last few years for civil liberties for American citizens and those we detain and to restore the rule of law. So, mark your calendars -- it's going to be a great discussion....

All this time, the fevered left has speculated that BushCheneyCo used its illegal warrantless eavesdropping powers on their political enemies. Not so, says Jane Mayer on Bill Moyers last Friday (via Digby).

People often ask me how they can learn more about national security and foreign policy -- in particular, how the U.S. has gone so far astray in those critical areas of governance and leadership. The problem is, a good overall examination of these issues, an explanation for neophytes as well as political junkies, has been hard to find.

As Congress prepares to make the Bush administration's dream of retroactive telecom immunity come true, I can't help but think of the vast legal gulf between the telecoms who will never need to defend themselves, and the Gitmo detainees who may never get the chance to.