Admiral Mike McConnell, the fellow nominated to replace John Negroponte as the Director of National Intelligence, can expect to be questioned on his work at Booz Hamilton Inc.

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon has already warned the retired Admiral and encouraged him to be prepared to answer questions.

“I’m going to bring it up,” Wyden said. “I made it clear that I was going to be asking questions about issues relating to his work with contractors.”

Good. This is government oversight in action, people.

Geeks everywhere, witness the birth of the caffeinated doughnut and rejoice.

That cup of coffee just not getting it done anymore? How about a Buzz Donut or a Buzzed Bagel? That’s what Doctor Robert Bohannon, a Durham, North Carolina, molecular scientist, has come up with. Bohannon says he’s developed a way to add caffeine to baked goods, without the bitter taste of caffeine. Each piece of pastry is the equivalent of about two cups of coffee.

Dude, how awesome is that? Doughnuts and Mountain Dew for everyone!

We all know there were some peace movement gatherings in Washington D.C. this weekend. Mostly, all went well and calm.

But there were a few exercises in stupidity…

The Hill.

Anti-war protesters were allowed to spray paint on part of the west front steps of the United States Capitol building after police were ordered to break their security line by their leadership, two sources told The Hill.

Yes. The Capitol Police allowed protesters to paint the steps of the Capitol. The police stood by while these folks defaced a government building.

And yet, on Monday…

Fox News.

Nine anti-war protesters were arrested Monday when they gathered in a House office building to read off the names of American and Iraqi war dead.

U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said the nine were charged with unlawful assembly. Several dozen protesters congregated around a courtyard pool inside the Rayburn House office building, throwing yellow roses onto the ice as they recited the names of Iraq war victims.

You’ve got folks that were just reading names and (GASP!) tossing flowers into a frozen pool arrested and yet a group of people paint on the Capitol and it’s ok? What sense does that make?

I’m all about freedom of speech and the freedom to protest. I fully support the weekend marches and protests. However, it is illegal to deface government buildings and those protesters should’ve been stopped and arrested by the Capitol Police.

In what world is it appropriate to allow the graffiti and not the flowers?

Yesterday the Illinois Senator and Presidential hopeful submitted a plan for American withdrawal from Iraq. Titled the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007.

The text of Senator Obama’s speech can be found here.

This plan would not only place a cap on the number of troops in Iraq and stop the escalation, more importantly, it would begin a phased redeployment of U.S. forces with the goal of removing of all U.S. combat forces from Iraq by March 31st, 2008 - consistent with the expectations of the bipartisan Iraq study group that the President has so assiduously ignored.

The plan appears to make sense…Bring the majority of American military folks home, allow some to remain for force protection and emergent threats, gateways are built in to allow the re-deployment to be slowed or halted should the government in Iraq begin to do those things that it should and a re-aiming of military assets towards al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

Obama’s plan is not to end the “war on terror” but instead to refocus on the original target: al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden.

TPMCafe’s Election Central has more.

This is a very big gamble by Obama, and it’s clearly designed to put some heavy pressure on the other Dems in the primary to come up with something similar.

It is a pretty big gamble. If this goes the wrong way it can very clearly and distinctly end Obama’s run for President and possibly his career in the United States Senate.

I’m torn on my perspective on this. Is he doing it because it’s the right thing or because it’s politically expedient?

Glenn Greenwald posts on the history of Republicans and their beliefs on Congressional War Powers. It appears that they have reversed a path set upon in 1993 when they restricted President Clinton’s use of the military in Somalia.

Recently, Congressional Republicans have declared that they do not have the power to dictate to the Executive Branch when, where and how to use the military. This directly contradicts what they did in 1993.

But if one goes back and reviews that debate, it is quite striking that Republicans back then certainly did not seem to believe that Congress lacked the ability to restrict the President’s power to deploy troops. They argued exactly the opposite - that they had that power — and they used it to force Clinton out of Somalia (all excerpts are available here, by searching “Somalia):

Glenn’s post is long and detailed and includes many of the stirring speeches given on the floor of the Senate during that tumultuous time.

If nothing else, read Senator John McCain’s 1993 speech and compare that with his recent thoughts on the Iraqi occupation.

A key excerpt…

Our continued military presence in Somalia allows another situation to arise which could then lead to the wounding, killing or capture of American fighting men and women. We should do all in our power to avoid that.

I think we’ve all been looking at the Iraqi occupation under the wrong context. We’ve been looking at it through the lense of Vietnam when we should be looking at the events through the lense of “What if we stayed in Somalia?” The circumstances are the same and I believe that if American forces remained in Somalia it would’ve looked a lot like Iraq does now.

Glenn closes with an accurate statement that leads to an interesting question…

The Constitution hasn’t changed since 1993, so I wonder what has prompted such a fundamental shift in Republican views on the proper role of Congressional war powers.

Indeed. What has prompted such a shift?

From C|Net News.

Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, according to current and former officials. That database can subsequently be queried for names, e-mail addresses or keywords.

…

That kind of full-pipe surveillance can record all Internet traffic, including Web browsing–or, optionally, only certain subsets such as all e-mail messages flowing through the network. Interception typically takes place inside an Internet provider’s network at the junction point of a router or network switch.

Essentially, they get a warrant and the internet service provider allows agents access to record all internet activity from that provider. With the service provider’s full recording of the internet traffic, the FBI has a massive database of information to sort through.

This is bad news bears, my friends, and is even worse than the NSA wiretapping programs. The FBI (the government) will now have access to financial records, emails, websites, everything that you and I have been doing on the internet.

Maybe my tinfoil-hat is on too tight, but I have serious concerns about this…

We already know that the government has been cracking down on dissent. Many anti-war organizations and protesters have been surveilled, arrested or detained. The ability to absorb, record and then sort internet traffic will allow the FBI (the government) to target protesters and other anti-war organizations even more accurately than before.

I understand that a warrant is required, but that warrant targets an individual, not everyone that uses a particular internet service provider. Everyone that uses the same provider as the targeted individual is at risk here and that’s not right. What happens if cellular providers are then required to give access when the target of warrant just happens to use Cingular or Alltell or Sprint? Will the government be allowed full access to all text messages and telephone traffic for that entire network?

Isn’t this just one of many tactics that go too far? Hasn’t this administration crossed the line too many times?

Paul Ohm from the article.

“The question that’s interesting, although I don’t know whether it’s so clear, is whether this is illegal, whether it’s constitutional,” he said. “Is Congress even aware they’re doing this? I don’t know the answers.”

Word of the Day

homily \HAH-muh-lee\, noun:
1. A sermon; a discourse on a religious theme.
2. A moralizing lecture or discourse.
3. An inspirational saying; also, a platitude.

Quote of the Day

Assuming either the Left Wing or the Right Wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.

Pat Paulsen

Comic of the Day

Brevity by guy & rodd

Lifehacker brings the sandman.

Yahoo! Food posts the top 10 foods that facilitate a good night’s sleep.

Looks like I need to do some shopping.

Yahoo says.

Bananas

Chamomile tea

Warm milk

Honey

Potatoes

Oatmeal

Almonds

Flaxseeds

Whole-wheat bread

and the most famous…

Turkey

will help you get your sleep.

Yahoo also has a recipe for lullaby muffins on the list.

Does someone at CNN.com read the humble Brock Log?

CNN.

The secrets people reveal

Frank Warren doesn’t want to talk about himself.

He’ll admit that he started PostSecret.com, his Web site of postcard-submitted, artistic, sometimes enigmatic personal admittances, after he went through a period of personal travails. But he dismisses any further probing.

You’ll recall that not more than three days ago, I wrote about PostSecret.com.

Says Wil.

Caesar ruled as dictator, but he was largely careful to maintain the appearance of consulting the Senate — stacked with his supporters — and respecting the government’s traditions.

Sounds eerily familiar, doesn’t it?

Uh. Yeah.