Bush's Economic Pom-Poms

"But the American Civil Liberties Union, which had sued to obtain the document under the Freedom of Information Act, maintains that it was released 'as the result' of that lawsuit, and that otherwise its existence would not be public."

Here's a list of some of the documents the Justice Department still refuses to release, including:

• An Oct. 23, 2001, Office of Legal Counsel opinion describing presidential authority for domestic military operations dealing with terrorism.

• An Aug. 1, 2002, Office of Legal Counsel memo spelling out interrogation techniques the CIA could apply to detainees.

• Documents and e-mail messages regarding the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.

• Records related to videotapes portraying the CIA's interrogation of detainees.

Lara Jakes Jordan writes for the Associated Press: "The Bush administration has delayed delivering documents to Congress explaining how a multibillion-dollar loophole exempting overseas work from scrutiny was slipped into a rule intended to crack down on fraud in government contracts.

"A House panel will hear April 15 from White House and other administration officials about the loophole, which drew protests from Democrats and Republican lawmakers alike and been disavowed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

"'If this loophole was a bureaucratic mistake as some in the administration have claimed, then our requests should be easy to meet,' Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said in a statement Monday. 'This should be simple. Someone in the administration made this change and it should be easy to explain why. A delay only raises more questions.'

"Jane Lee, a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, which oversees the government's contracts policy, said the office is working with the committee regarding the request and plans to provide a response to the inquiry 'in the near term.'"

Warrantless Surveillance Watch

Ellen Nakashima writes in The Washington Post about "little-known electronic connections between telecom firms and FBI monitoring personnel around the country" that "are used to tell the government who is calling whom, along with the time and duration of a conversation and even the locations of those involved. . . .

"Wiretaps to obtain the content of a phone call or an e-mail must be authorized by a court upon a showing of probable cause. But 'transactional data' about a communication -- from whom, to whom, how long it lasted -- can be obtained by simply showing that it is relevant to an official probe, including through an administrative subpoena known as a national security letter. . . .

"Anxieties about whether such electronic links are too intrusive form a backdrop to the continuing congressional debate over modifications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs federal surveillance. . . .

"'When you're building something like this deeply into the telecommunications infrastructure, when it becomes so technically easy to do, the only thing that stands between legitimate use and abuse is the complete honesty of the persons and agencies using it and the ability to have independent oversight over the system's use,' said Lauren Weinstein, a communications systems engineer and co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility, a group that studies Web issues. 'It's who watches the listeners.'"

Cheney's Security

Christopher Lee writes in The Washington Post: "The man code-named 'Angler' by the Secret Service will probably continue to receive the agency's protection long after he leaves office next year.

"The Secret Service is preparing to provide Vice President Cheney with agents, transportation, advance work and other security-related trappings of executive power for six months after the Bush administration packs up and moves out in January, the agency's director, Mark Sullivan, told Congress last week. The expected cost: $4 million.

"Although presidents and their spouses are entitled to Secret Service protection long after they depart the White House... [e]xtending Cheney's detail would require a directive from the president or a joint resolution of Congress....

"Cheney, a principal architect of the administration's foreign and national security policies, has been an unusually high-profile No. 2 -- and would remain a target long after his term."

'Angler' Wins a Pulitzer

One of the six Pulitzer Prizes won by The Washington Post yesterday was for Angler, the June series of articles about Cheney by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker.

The Pulitzer jury called it a "lucid exploration of Vice President Dick Cheney and his powerful yet sometimes disguised influence on national policy." In its entry letter, The Post wrote that the series presented an unrivaled view of the inner workings of the White House and a revealing portrait of Cheney's "outsized and until now unsuspected influence on some of the president's signature domestic policies."

Karl Rove Watch

Former Alabama governor Don Siegelman, who is out of prison pending appeal of federal corruption charges, told CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday that his prosecution by the Justice Department was influenced by Karl Rove.

"What we need," Siegelman said, "is Karl Rove to get himself over to the Judiciary Committee and put his hand on a Bible and take an oath and give testimony. And he can either tell the truth or take the Fifth. Either one will satisfy me."

Faiz Shakir writes for ThinkProgress that Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, told MSNBC's Dan Abrams last night that Rove will testify if subpoenaed by Congress: "Abrams noted Karl Rove refused to testify when subpoenaed by Congress in the U.S. Attorney scandal, but appears willing to do so in this case. Siegelman responded, 'Well, then let's don't waste any time.'"

Dubya, the Movie

Stephen Galloway and Matthew Belloni write in the Hollywood Reporter: "President George W. Bush is a foul-mouthed, reformed drunk obsessed with baseball, Saddam Hussein and the conflicted relationship with his dad. At least that's how he's portrayed in the script for Oliver Stone's upcoming feature 'W.'

"But how accurate is that depiction?

"As the film preps for its April 21 start date, The Hollywood Reporter sent a copy of the screenplay to four Bush biographers for their comments. . . .

"Reactions to the script from the biographers were mixed. They said specific scenes are largely based in fact but noted that the screenplay contains inaccurate and over-the-top caricatures of Bush and his inner circle.

"'It leaves you with the impression that the White House is run as a fraternity house with no reverence for hierarchy, the office itself or for the implications of policy,' said Robert Draper, author of 'Dead Certain: The Presidency of George Bush.' 'Everybody calling everybody else nicknames and chatting about whether to go to war as if they were chatting about how to bet on a football game really misses the mark of how many White Houses, including this one, are run.'"

Draper also insists: "This notion that his schedule is driven by what's on ESPN is ludicrous."

In Slate, Juliet Lapdos has the "juicy bits" of the screenplay, including:

"Page 3: Cheney suggests that Iraq may just be the beginning. 'Anyone can go to Baghdad. Real men go to Tehran,' says the VP. Pleased with this witticism, W. clinks his bottle of nonalcoholic beer against the VP's coffee mug."

And "Page 25: When press secretary Ari Fleischer reports that Helen Thomas is asking around 'about secret plans for military actions in Iraq' and wondering 'what makes Saddam any different from other dictators,' W. flips out: 'Did you tell her I don't like [expletive deleted] who gas their own people?! Did you tell her I don't like [expletive deleted] who try to kill my father?! . . . Did you tell her I'm going to kick his SORRY [EXPLETIVE DELETED] ASS ALL OVER THE MIDEAST?!'"

Cartoon Watch

Mike Luckovich on what Bush and Cheney have done to the country.

Tony Auth on who's happy with the progress in Iraq; Tom Toles on babysitting Iraq; Kevin Siers on a defining moment.

And a new Walt Handelsman animation casts George and Dick as Edith and Archie singing about the good old days.

Bush: "They called Katrina a disgrace."

Cheney: "I shot my buddy in the face. We had your grandma's phone calls traced."

Both: "Those were the days!"