by Jed Lewison [courtesy of Daily Kos]

A conversation between Michele Bachmann and one of her staffers:

Staffer (approaches gingerly): Congresswoman?

Bachmann (looks up from computer screen, revealing that she was posting a comment on a freeper board as "CensusBoycott2009"): Yes?

Staffer: I just received word that three members of the GOP caucus have asked you to give up your Census boycott.

Bachmann (shakes head): I just knew it.

Staffer (confused): Knew what?

Bachmann: Obama's socialist mind control is already working. He's taken over the Republican Party.

Staffer (horrified): Oh no! What do we do? You're the only thing standing between us and insanity!

Bachmann (soothing): Don't worry. I have a plan. But we must be careful. And we cannot admit the real reason I am boycotting the Census.

Staffer: You mean we have to stop telling the truth about how they plan to round up Americans and put them in FEMA camps, just like the Japanese in World War II?

Bachmann: Oh yeah, I'd been meaning to tell you about that. Michelle Malkin cleared that up for me -- it was actually a good thing to put them in internment camps, so that's not why I'm against the Census anymore.

Staffer: So why are you against the Census?

Bachmann: If I told you the truth, your life would be in danger.

Staffer: From The Obamessiah?

by BarbinMD [courtesy of Daily Kos]

In the latest edition of Time, Michael Scherer has an article on Vice President Joe Biden's efforts "to ride herd on the stampede for dollars known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," and today at the Swampland, Scherer notes that:

One interesting fact that didn't make it into the story. Since March, Biden has talked, usually in conference calls, to dozens of mayors and 47 of the 50 state governors about the Recovery Act. The three governors who have not yet been on the line, though they have been invited: Alaska's Sarah Palin, Texas' Rick Perry and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal. You can draw your own conclusions.

We can also probably conclude that Mark Sanford would have made the list if he hadn't been busy milking his so-called rejection of the stimulus money for every drop of publicity he could get ... or hiking the Appalachian Trail.

by emptywheel [courtesy of Firedoglake]

Mary pointed me to DOJ's latest attempt to prevent CREW from accessing the materials relating to Cheney's interview with Fitzgerald and the FBI. I'll get into what a load of crap the DOJ argument is later. But first, I want to lay out what the FOIA declarations say about the Cheney interview itself.First, the date.

by DarkSyde [courtesy of Daily Kos]

Just when you thought it was safe to venture out again, the zombie lies about global warming claw their way out of the grave. Like its slowly shuffling namesakes, most of this undead propaganda is so easily out maneuvered it would be laughable, if it wasn’t finding traction among the usual suspects on the cusp of a Senate debate -- guaranteed to be brimming with desperate GOP antics -- over a historic climate and energy bill.

by TBogg [courtesy of Firedoglake]

I agree with Jason Zengerle that you have to feel kind of bad for McCain strategist Steve Schmidt even if he did have a hand in picking the Nome Nitwit as McCain's running mate.

by mcjoan [courtesy of Daily Kos]

That "holy grail" CIA torture report that is reportedly wil undercut claims that torture provided any useful intelligence, the one that was supposed to have been released yesterday, and a few weeks before that, might be held now until August 31.

At least, that's what the administration has requested. The ACLU, the organization that brought the FOIA case which resulted in the order that the document be released will challenge that request. Spencer has the details, including the documents:

The Justice Department argues that the volume of material it needs to go through in the CIA’s 2004 inspector general report is just too great to meet any pre-August 31 timetable. Not only is the IG report itself 200 pages, that’s just one of 319 documents under review as part of the case.

The ACLU replies that the CIA and the Justice Department have already missed three deadlines for the agreed-upon disclosure, and lawyer Amrit Singh writes that she’s “disturbed by the clear trend emerging in the government’s repeated delays in disclosure of documents critical to a complete understanding of the CIA’s interrogation program.” She says that instead of delaying, Judge Alvin Hellerstein should order the “expediting the reprocessing and release of all CIA documents at issue.”

Spencer also has this statement from the ACLU's national security chief Jameel Jaffer:

by TobyWollin [courtesy of Firedoglake]

Every job created in the last ten years is not gone; and with the unstimulating package we got, it doesn't look like we're going to have any new ones either.

by Jane Hamsher [courtesy of Firedoglake]

Can you give $5 to help keep GritTV going? (Though I'm sure she wouldn't refuse more.)

Enjoy a special edition of GritTV with our good friend Joel Silberman. 

by emptywheel [courtesy of Firedoglake]

CIA wants to stall all summer before it releases the IG report.