Larry Craig Changes His Mind, Yet Again. Also, New Torture Questions Arise for Bu$h. Plus, Blackwater.

As many of you know, Senator Larry "Wide Stance" Craig was denied a motion to withdrawal his guilty plea in the now infamous bathroom sex sting in a Minnesota bathroom.

And despite saying he would step down from his Senate seat upon being denied such a motion, he's staying. It's a wonder how anyone would trust this guy after all the promises he's broken and decisions changed.

I'm all for the toe-tapping senator staying because it only helps the left make the case that the Republicans are not trust worthy with power. He is a symbol of everything that has gone wrong with the Republicans over the last half decade. He is a reflection of the disingenuous man who leads his Republican party, President George W. Bush.

The Republicans just can not help themselves with their lust for power and have no ability it appears to follow the rule of law. Mr. "I'm not gay" Craig is just the latest GOP charlatans who thinks the laws do not apply to him.

Is it any wonder then that the Democratic candidates in this up-coming election are polling higher and raising more money then the the Republicon-artists? It certainly is no surprise to me.
NEW TORTURE QUESTIONS ARISE FOR THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION:

GOI: In yet another example of Republicans ignoring the rule of law, the Bush administration is in hot water again regarding the torture of so-called, "detainees:"

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — When the Justice Department publicly declared torture “abhorrent” in a legal opinion in December 2004, the Bush administration appeared to have abandoned its assertion of nearly unlimited presidential authority to order brutal interrogations.

But soon after Alberto R. Gonzales’s arrival as attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued another opinion, this one in secret. It was a very different document, according to officials briefed on it, an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency. The new opinion, the officials said, for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning (GOI: also known as "water boarding," which is pouring water over a bound prisoner’s cloth-covered face to induce fear of suffocation.) and frigid temperatures. (GOI: Often these tactics are combined such as exposing "detainees" to frigid temperatures for an extended period of time and then water boarding them).

Mr. Gonzales approved the legal memorandum on “combined effects” over the objections of James B. Comey, the deputy attorney general, who was leaving his job after bruising clashes with the White House. Disagreeing with what he viewed as the opinion’s overreaching legal reasoning, Mr. Comey told colleagues at the department that they would all be “ashamed” when the world eventually learned of it.

Later that year, as Congress moved toward outlawing “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment, the Justice Department issued another secret opinion, one most lawmakers did not know existed, current and former officials said. The Justice Department document declared that none of the C.I.A. interrogation methods violated that standard. Congress and the Supreme Court have intervened repeatedly in the last two years to impose limits on interrogations, and the administration has responded as a policy matter by dropping the most extreme techniques. But the 2005 Justice Department opinions remain in effect, and their legal conclusions have been confirmed by several more recent memorandums, officials said. They show how the White House has succeeded in preserving the broadest possible legal latitude for harsh tactics.

More than two dozen current and former officials involved in counterterrorism were interviewed over the past three months about the opinions and the deliberations on interrogation policy. Most officials would speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the documents and the C.I.A. detention operations they govern.

But in July, after a month long debate inside the administration, President Bush signed a new executive order authorizing the use of what the administration calls “enhanced” interrogation techniques — the details remain secret — and officials say the C.I.A. again is holding prisoners in “black sites” overseas. The executive order was reviewed and approved by Mr. Bradbury and the Office of Legal Counsel.

“The problem is, once you’ve got a legal opinion that says such a technique is O.K., what happens when one of our people is captured and they do it to him? How do we protest then?” he asked.

GOI: And what has been Bush's defense? It's your fault, he's trying to guilt trip the American people. He's doing this for your own good:

"And by the way," he said, "we have gotten information from these high-value detainees that have helped protect you."

GOI: Mr. President, I would rather die then live safe and sound knowing that my safety was gained by the torture of someone else.

BLACKWATER:

They are mercenaries plain and simple, so why are we surprised when they act like mercenaries? The U.S. military has been using them extensively and wants them to remain in Iraq despite the Iraqi government saying they need to leave. This flies in the face of Bush's promise that we will leave Iraq when they want us to leave. I guess that doesn't apply to their "hired guns." I'm sure that is why they wanted them in the first place. To have a private army that was only accountable to the White House.

---End of Transmission---