Just what the hell are they doing to our country??

From AfterDowningStreet.org

And here's Ms. Sheehan's side of the story. If her version is correct, then this is very bad.

Dear Friends,

As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight.

I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country.

Last night, President Bush told us we were addicted to oil, and had to find alternatives.

But Rep. Richard Pombo claims the President is still committed to his plan of drilling our way out our energy problems.

Despite President Bush’s declaration that “America is addicted to oil” and his push for increased renewable energy in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, is confident he has the White House’s support in pushing his own raft of energy proposals that call for drilling for more oil and natural gas in the U.S.

As we have previously reported on Fired Up!, after September 11th, at the request of then-U.S. Attorney for Guam, Frederick A. Black, a report was prepared by the Department of Justice that cited major security concerns related to weak enforcement of immigration laws on Guam and the CNMI. 

Jack Abramoff, who then represented the CNMI, got word of the report from sources inside the Justice Department, and worked to have the report killed.  Bloomberg has reported that Abramoff may have been tipped off about the report as early as October 2001.

Just a few short weeks ago, right-wing bloggers came unhinged at the suggestion that the Bush administration bore responsibility for their failure to enforce mine safety laws.

Today, the Washington Post reveals that there were proposed regulations that could have prevented some of the recent tragedies in the mines, but the Bush administration withdrew those regulations to pursue a more industry friendly course.

After one of the deadliest months for coal mining in years, federal mine regulators last week began formally considering safety improvements to help miners survive underground fires and explosions. Among the proposals: mandatory caches of oxygen tanks and breathing masks inside every coal mine.

The idea may have struck some miners as familiar, because it was. A similar proposal was put forward by the same regulators six years ago, only to be scrapped by the Bush administration shortly after it took office. And the oxygen caches were not the only proposed safety improvement to be withdrawn.
   
In all, the Bush administration abandoned or delayed implementation of 18 proposed safety rules that were in the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's regulatory pipeline in early 2001, a review of agency records shows. At least two of the dropped proposals have now been resurrected in the aftermath of deadly accidents at the Sago and Alma mines in West Virginia.

Crooks and Liars has more video of Chris Matthews displaying his man-crush on the Bush administration.

The most bizarre part of it is how morally agnostic all the pundits on the segment are.  "What Bush is doing is probably wrong, but boy aren't they clever in how they do it."

They feel so smug and smart when they make fun of Democrats for fighting on principle, and then point out how utterly futile their effort is, because those Republicans sure are clever.

GOP lawmakers today called on the Bush White House to reveal the contacts between Bush and felon lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

From the AP:

Republican lawmakers said Sunday that President Bush should publicly disclose White House contacts with Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who has pleaded guilty to felony charges in an influence-peddling case.

More:

"I'm one who believes that more is better, in terms of disclosure and transparency," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. "And so I'd be a big advocate for making records that are out there available."

Think Progress has some great coverage of Senator Hagel expressing his view that Bush ignored the law in his domestic spying program.  Hagel says Bush can't unilaterally decide to violate the law. 

As Think Progress points out:

Hagel joins other prominent conservatives — including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) — who have questioned the legal basis of Bush’s warrantless domestic surveillance program.

There's one thing this story from Newsweek makes clear, the Bush administration has always known that their domestic spying program was outside the law.

The entire system of American Democracy is premised on checks and balances in the system.  It is clear from this story that the Bush team wants to remove ALL check on their power.

They were loyal conservatives, and Bush appointees. They fought a quiet battle to rein in the president's power in the war on terror. And they paid a price for it. A NEWSWEEK investigation.

Keep in mind, this story is about very conservative political appointees who were questioning the Bush administration's actions. 

Courtesy of our friends at MyDD, here's a preview of President Bush's State of the Union Address: