This is Glenn Greenwald's take on the statement Obama made this afternoon.

"This statement has so many equivocations and vague claims as to be worthless. In a society that lives under the rule of law, government officials and corporations which break our laws are held accountable by courts of law, not by vague promises from politicians of some future "review" and "recommendation" process grounded in claims that we can trust the Leader to do the right thing, whatever he decides in his sole discretion and infinite wisdom that might be."

This is his conclusion, and I have to say that after reading the whole thing I entirely agree.

I called the Obama campaign yesterday and asked one of the volunteers if the candidate was going to make a a public statement about the FISA vote that is coming up today in the House.

He told me he did not know but that they had been getting lots of call about this subject.

I told him to pass along the message that I believed it was a critical time for Obama to show leadership on one of the most important issues of our time: the shredding of the 4th Ammendment of the Constitution.
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The NYT is reporting this morning that

Nevada’s state teachers union and six Las Vegas area residents filed a lawsuit late Friday that could make it harder for many members of the state’s huge hotel workers union to vote in the hotly contested Jan. 19 Democratic caucus in Nevada.

The lawsuit challenges a decision last year to create at-large precincts inside nine Las Vegas resorts on caucus day. These precincts are critical for hotel workers to vote since the Nevada caucuses are at noon and workers cannot leave work to return to their home precincts to vote... (more under the fold)

I find it interesting that on the same day that Tancredo is "Deported from Republican Primary", an important piece of news that is not being reported prominently by any of the major media outlets, Reuters chooses to report as major news for most of the day in their main website that there is an immigration clash that is hurting McCain because of his support for immigration.

I don't know much about Tim Gaynor, the author of the Reuters piece, but I guess someone forgot to tell him that the politician who represents the biggest symbol of that supposed clash is no longer relevant in the primaries.

He also should take a look at the many polls that show that only 15 percent of Americans rank immigration as one of the top three issues of concern to them, and that "a strong bipartisan majority -- 60 percent -- favors allowing illegal immigrants who have not committed crimes to become citizens if they pay fines, learn English and meet other requirements".

If your are like me (an avid consumer of information) you probably read many blogs and follow several news sites every day.

Since I cannot spend several hours a day reading blogs and news, I subscribe to RSS feeds and use a feed reader (I use Google Reader nowadays). This way I can browse titles and brief descriptions and read only posts that interest me and important breaking news.

DKos is one of my favorites sites and I follow it almost religiously  (follow me under the fold)

I know that many of us have been waiting for that turning point when the undercurrent of rumors about a war with Iran that accompanies our feeling that something really bad is inexorably building up finally reaches the point when the MSM openly becomes part of the buildup. Something a la Judith Miller and NYT stories about Irak to attempt to affect public opinion in a campaign of disinformation.

I am afraid we are finally reaching that point after reading Michael Gordon's piece today in the NYT titled "Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran".

In an email circulated today to registered supporters, the Webb campaign asks:

"Hola! fellow Webb for Senate volunteers...are you interested in Latino voter outreach?"

My answers would be "Are you?, "What took you so long?", " and "Why now when we are only four weeks before election day?".

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Caldwell said today

There is nothing that we definitively have found to say that there are any Iranians operating within the country of Iraq.

Last week Khalilzad told the press that...

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...a full-scale cabinet rebellion last night over the Middle East crisis after his former Foreign Secretary [Jack Straw] warned that Israel's actions risked destabilising all of Lebanon.

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I am sure that most if not all of you either own or have easy access to a computer. I am also sure that any computer available in 2006 has a microphone incorporated, as well as the processing and memory capacity to record plenty of audio. If one prefers an external microphone, they are also pretty easy to get and fairly inexpensive. There are in addition free software programs to record and edit audio, and to convert it into an mp3 file. A few websites offer free storage of media files and easy download by anyone interested in listening or viewing them. Learning a little bit about RSS, although not indispensable, completes the list of ingredients that will allow anyone to start podcasting.

So, why aren't you podcasting? (...follow me under the fold)

Go tell them your opinion.

This basic service has become particularly important for a group of Americans who in many circumstances are short on resources or live in semi-isolation because of either an illness or the reduced mobility that results from aging.

I am obviously talking about our senior citizens.

Although the company manager says

The workers had been told, 'written and verbally,' on the Friday before the protest that their attendance was mandatory on the day of the rally

the workers said Monday that

the women received no such warning. They would not have skipped the morning shift if they knew they would have been fired for attending the rally, said Elena Herrada, an activist trying to get the women's jobs back.

If you would like to help these workers, here is the company's contact information to let them know what you think.

We expect to see some of the largest gatherings of men, women, children, senior citizens, activists, political and religious leaders, union members and pro-immigrant organizations ever organized by immigrants in this country.

Today's republican filibuster that shelved the immigration reform bill worked out in a bipartisan fashion by the Senate during the last few days will certainly resonate loud and clear as immigrants from many countries begin to assemble next Monday.

As Juan Cole mentions in his blog, the Italian magazine Diario has posted an 18-minute video of the city of Fallujah filmed in January of 2005 following the siege and attack by US forces.

The video was apparently shot by a crew of Iraqi government workers sent there to "clean-up" the city before the international press was allowed back in.

I also would like help in putting together a list of bills we would like the Republican Congress to pass as quickly as the Sciavo bill for the benefit of all Americans.

More under the fold.

She cites some of the reasons why Bush is on his way out and she also raises this interesting point:

Food for thought.