The FBI, it seems, has been keeping an eye on any number of domestic organizations that appear to have little to do with its stepped up counterintelligence assignment - shades of Cointelpro, “Commie” hunting, black-bag jobs, and a variety of other notorious activities from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s that made the bureau the scourge of any protester who might disagree with prevailing government policy in a demonstrative fashion. The difference, of course, is that the word “terrorism” has been substituted for “communism,” according to Capitol Hill Blue contributor Dan K. Thomasson, former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.

Read the full Capitol Hill Blue column

The good news is, all this sunshine being shown on the illegal and unnecessary spying by the press will have the effect of making the Bush administration back off to some extent - no matter what they say in public.

The bad news is, we are wondering how many federal agents are spending the holidays shredding documents to cover up all the crimes committed at the president’s behest and in the name of national security?

Any pesky reporters not too busy with family and partying for the holidaays to check this out?

“My New Year’s Resolution for 2006 is to do everything in my power to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney,” writes Bob Fertik of Democrats.com.

“I will support John Conyers’ bill (H.Res.635) to investigate and impeach Bush and Cheney. I will express my support for impeachment by calling and writing the media, and by educating my friends and neighbors. In the 2006 election, I will work to elect candidates who support impeachment, and work to defeat Members of Congress who do not.”

Read Bob’s blog here.

If you agree, why not share your Resolution with your representatives and senators?

IMPEACHMENT IS POSSIBLE

Even before the NSA wiretapping scandal broke, a Zogby poll found that 53 percent of Americans thought Bush should be impeached if he had lied about the war - and 57 percent believe he lied.

Impeachment polls
Bush lied polls

Since the wiretapping scandal, even libertarians and conservatives have started suggesting impeachment. The list includes former Reagan official Bruce Fein, Norm Ornstein of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute, law professors Jonathan Turley and Geoffrey Stone, and even Barron’s editor Thomas Donlan.

CONYERS LEADS THE WAY

Congressman John Conyers has compiled Bush’s impeachable offenses in a must-read report: “The Constitution in Crisis.”

Conyers has introduced two bills (H.Res.636 and H.Res.637) to censure Bush and Cheney for withholding evidence from Congress, and a third bill (H.Res.635) to create a select committee to investigate the Administration’s intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, and retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment.

The following articles highlight some of the findings in Conyers’ report:

Bush Administration Refuses to Comply With FOIA Request on Pre-War Intelligence

White Phosphorous: The U.S. Used It; The U.S. Says It’s Illegal

White House Leaked Classified Intelligence to Make its Case for War

Rumsfeld Admits to “Ghosting” Detainee

DEMOCRATS TALK IMPEACHMENT

Senator Barbara Boxer is consulting four Constitutional scholars about impeachment. Civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis announced his support for impeachment. Urge your favorite Democrats to join these brave leaders in openly discussing impeachment.

IMPEACHMENT AS CAMPAIGN ISSUE

Impeachment is becoming a campaign issue as well. With your support, www.ImpeachPAC.org has raised $46,261.70 to support pro-impeachment candidates. Our first endorsed candidate, Tony Trupiano of Michigan, is proudly campaigning on his support for impeachment. Please send Democratic Congressional candidates here.

CITIZENS IMPEACHMENT COMMISSION FORMING

We are also forming a powerful Citizens Impeachment Commission of prominent Americans who are willing to lead the fight in the year ahead. Our commission already includes activists Medea Benjamin, Gene Bruskin, Tim Carpenter, David Cline, Steve Cobble, Karen Dolan, Jodie Evans, Mike Ferner, Bob Fertik, Kim Gandy, Doris “Granny D” Haddock, Tom Hayden, Doug Kreeger, Bill Mitchell, Bill Moyer, Michael Rectenwald, Cindy Sheehan, David Swanson, Jonathan Tasini, and Kevin Zeese; former government officials Elizabeth de la Vega, Larry Johnson, and Ann Wright, Historians and Legal Scholars John Bonifaz, Marcus Raskin, Lawrence R. Velvel, and Howard Zinn, and Talk Show Hosts/Editors/Bloggers/Pundits/Authors David Allen, Dave Allsopp, The Bulldog Manifesto, Tom Engelhardt, Thom Hartmann, Laura Flanders, Justin A. Frank, Doug Ireland, Rob Kall, Susie Madrak, Mark Crispin Miller, Brad Newsham, Liza Sabater, and Jeff Tiedrich. And we’re just getting started!

Please encourage prominent citizens you know to sign up here.

The effort President Bush authorized shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, to fight al Qaeda has grown into the largest CIA covert action program since the height of the Cold War, expanding in size and ambition despite a growing outcry at home and abroad over its clandestine tactics, according to a story to be published in the Friday Washington Post.

GST is compartmentalized into dozens of highly classified individual programs allowing the CIA to capture suspects with help from foreign intelligence services, to maintain secret prisons abroad, to use interrogation techniques that some lawyers say violate international treaties, and to maintain a fleet of aircraft to move detainees around the globe. Other compartments give the CIA enhanced ability to mine international financial records and eavesdrop on suspects anywhere in the world, including inside the United States.

Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor: Anti-Terror Effort Continues to Grow

The maintsream press and broadcast media continue to hit this story around the edges, never quite nailing the story down in a way that will turn the independents and libertarians in a way that will create a sea change in public opinion in this country and save us from Bush-style GOP rule for the rest of our lives.

I wasn’t going to even bother posting this next story, and I won’t include the link, because it would require you to decline no less than 10 cookies to read it. But here’s enough of it to make my point.

United Press International, the old wire service I’ve done a lot of work for over the years, moved a story today that ran on Web sites including Science Today, under the headline:

U.S. divided on Bush’s wiretapping

An online poll published Thursday shows 49 percent of U.S. voters believe President George Bush has authority to order wiretaps without court approval.

The Zogby Interactive poll, taken Dec. 20-21, found 45 percent of those asked say he does not have the constitutional authority.

Bush’s decision to skip getting warrants after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks was revealed Dec. 16, and the administration has since been defending the move by saying time was too short to wait for court approval.

The Christian Science Monitor found a similar split on public opinion in interviews in San Diego.

Retired construction worker Robert Hobbs said he isn’t concerned about having his phone tapped.

“If you aren’t going to do anything, you don’t have anything to worry about,” he said.

However, Rosey Bystrak, who works for an architectural firm, disapproved of Bush’s unilateral orders.

“Bush thinks he’s a king and not a president, so it doesn’t surprise me,” she said.

Back during the 1960s, UPI gave the AP a run for it, especially on covering civil rights stories. Now, however, UPI is owned by the Rev. Sun Yung Moon, which also owns the conservative Washington Times.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the story, except that it is incredibly lazy. John Zogby is widely known among academic and journalism circles as a pretty liberal guy and one of the least accurate and trusted national political pollsters.

So if he is finding 49 percent in favor of Bush on the spying issue, it is probably higher. Another poll or two over the next few days as the issue fades will most likely show the Bush administration winning the PR wars, in part because they are merciless in how they go about winning.

Oh, you don’t believe me? Try this story on for seismology.

The Freest Press Money Can Buy?

We are way beyond the law or ethics now folks. These bastards simply have no shame in them - no conscience. It is a zero sum game to them. Like Vince Lombardi once said about football, “winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing.”

So my question to you is, what are you willing to do to turn the situation around and win? Please sign in and tell us, if you have any brains or balls at all.

Hoover police and elected officials are trying to drive Hispanics out of the city through a pattern that includes racial profiling, illegal searches and unlawful incarceration, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court by attorney George Huddleston III on behalf of Anel Mancero-Ramirez of Alvaro Obregon, Mexico.

Huddleston told the Birmingham News he wants the court to order the practices stopped and declared unconstitutional and the lawsuit asks for monetary damages. Hoover officials declined to comment.

Hispanics file suit against Hoover

Speaking of saving the world by making condoms fun, Brazilian artist Adriana Bertini intends to turn condoms, which she considers the best form of protection against AIDS, into an everyday object that both men and women use as naturally as a piece of clothing.

Thousands of condoms come together to form a sumptuous evening gown, an elegant trouser suit, a flamboyant sheath dress or even a wild samba outfit. It’s a feast of sartorial delights with only one common ingredient: latex.

“My clothes are a militant act,” Bertini says. She is becoming known in her native country and in international activism circles for her unique contribution to the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic devastating Brazil and Africa.

“I felt the need to create a new form of thinking, to try to wake people up to the reality of the situation, to make them aware of the risks they face with HIV and AIDS,” she said. “You understand, condoms must become as basic as a pair of jeans and as necessary as a great love.”

Bringing condoms out of the closet

Now that’s what we call making art that makes a difference.