Popular programs face budget squeeze
WASHINGTON – The spiraling growth of Medicare and the high cost of renewing President Bush’s tax cuts are squeezing popular education, health, housing and anti-poverty programs in the budget blueprint that he hands lawmakers Monday.

Fight looms over global AIDS program
WASHINGTON – A five-year, $15 billion effort to combat AIDS in Africa and other areas — arguably the most important and popular international program of the Bush presidency — may become a political battleground as it comes up for renewal.

Gates Spins Increased Violence In Afghanistan As A ‘Manifestation’ That The Taliban ‘Has Lost’
In two major reports released this week, retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones concludes that “progress achieved after six years” in Afghanistan “is under serious threat.” “Make no mistake, NATO is not winning in Afghanistan,” said the Jones-led the report by the Atlantic Council. [Thursday], Secretary of Defense Robert Gates attempted to spin the negative downturn in Afghanistan, claiming that “NATO has had a very successful year in 2007″ and that the significant increase in suicide bombings in 2007 was the “manifestations of a group that has lost in regular military terms“:

Military contractors are hard to fire
The Army’s ongoing arrangement with ITT, detailed in an audit from the Government Accountability Office, shows how captive the military has become to the private sector for overseas support. Even when contractors don’t measure up, dismissing them may not be an option because of the heavy pace of operations.

Some Students Protest Mukasey as Commencement Speaker
Some law students and faculty at Boston College Law School are speaking out against the administration’s selection of Attorney General Michael Mukasey as the law school’s 2008 commencement speaker, according to news reports. One student started a group on Facebook called “waterboarding is torture” to discuss the issue. The name of the discussion group refers to the Attorney General’s refusal, during his confirmation hearings, to declare that waterboarding constitutes torture.

Law students protest Jay Bybee
[Thursday], former Office of Legal Counsel head Jay Bybee — who signed off on the infamous August 2002 “torture memo” — spoke at Yale Law School. The Yale Daily News reports that the “speaker had hardly finished his first sentence when about 25 Yale Law School students in the audience stood up and sheathed their heads in black trash bags, in imitation of hooded military prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.”

Today’s Must Read (by Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker)
So, after all that, after all the back room offers and counteroffers and fear-mongering and delaying, the Senate has finally struck a deal on the surveillance bill, and everyone has agreed to it, including Sens. Dodd and Feingold, so there should be no filibustering this time around. They’ll get to voting on it all on Monday. Most crucially, the Dodd/Feingold amendment, which would strip retroactive immunity for the telecoms from the bill, will only need 51 votes to pass. The same goes for the related Specter/Whitehouse amendment, which instead of offering immunity to the telecoms, would replace the federal government as the defendant in all the lawsuits.

Boehner Places Political Loyalty Over Principles, Donates To Doolittle’s Legal Defense Fund (Think Progress)
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has consistently touted reform, claiming he wants to impose a “tougher ethical standard” on the 110th Congress. In June, he forcefully called for the expulsion of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). More recently, he called for a moratorium on earmarks. But Boehner is ethical only when it’s politically convenient. Boehner has donated money to pay the legal bills of Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), who recently announced his resignation because of continuing troubles related to the Jack Abramoff corruption investigation.

US Supreme Court stays Alabama execution
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Supreme Court on Thursday issued an order staying the execution of a convicted rapist and murderer, as part of its decision to review the legality of lethal injections nationwide.

Snipes Acquitted on Major Tax Counts; Convicted of Misdemeanors (by Jonathan Turley)
In a surprising victory, Wesley Snipes was acquitted of federal tax fraud and conspiracy counts, but was found guilty of failing to file tax returns… The acquittal was unexpected given the bizarre tax theory that he believed relieved him of paying taxes — his co-defendants were convicted on the basis of that scheme. Snipes now could face up to three years in prison, and must pay back millions in taxes. Nevertheless, that is a big improvement over the 16 years in prison that he was facing. His co-defendants did not do as well. Eddie Ray Kahn, the founder of a tax protest group, and Douglas P. Rosile, a delicensed accountant, were convicted by the same jury of tax fraud and conspiracy. They face up to 10 years in prison.

Expensive Judicial Races Worry Experts
Mississippi State Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Smith called for the appointment of state appellate judges rather than their election, citing increasingly expensive judicial campaigns and an ongoing federal judicial bribery investigation. Law and policy experts across the country have expressed similar concerns. A recent study found that campaign donations to Louisiana Supreme Court justices by litigants — and not the judge’s underlying philosophical orientation — often sway the outcome of cases, reported the New York Times. The Brennan Center for Justice and the Justice at Stake Campaign have compiled extensive information on judicial elections.
Ever more expensive races of all kinds should be of great concern to all of us.

Clinton, McCain Open Wider National Leads
The latest Gallup tracking poll shows Sen. Hillary Clinton with a 7 point lead nationally over Sen. Barack Obama, 48% to 41%. This is up from just a three point lead yesterday. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain now holds a 20 point lead over Mitt Romney, 44% to 24%, “his largest lead since he assumed the front-runner position following the New Hampshire Republican primary.” Mike Huckabee trails at 16%.

Texas District Attorney Admits to Destroying Emails in Violation of Court Order — Faces Potential Contempt Charge (by Jonathan Turley)
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal has been in the thick of controversy of late. First, he refused to prosecute Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina and his wife after a grand jury indicted them for arson. … Then he was forced to turn over e-mails in case that included embarrassing material, such as the married man’s romantic notes to his secretary as well as racist and pornographic material. Now, Rosenthal has admitted that he destroyed more than 2,500 e-mails after they were subpoenaed — an act that could result in a charge of contempt and potential incarceration.