Tomorrow, Sara Taylor, the former White House political director, will be testifying before congress about her role in the firing of the U.S. Attorneys. On Thursday, former White House counsel, Supreme Court nominee, and long-time Bush friend Harriet Miers will be doing the same thing. (Although if past history is any guide, their memories will be extremely foggy.)

Bush’s poll numbers are in the sub-30 percent range. Cheney’s are down below 20%. There is serious talk of impeachment. Bush’s only remaining serious stab at a “legacy”–his immigration bill–went down in flames. The public and even his own party despises his commutation of the sentence of convicted felon Scooter Libby.

And so today, the AP reports that the White House “has called an urgent multi-agency meeting for Thursday to discuss a potential new al Qaeda threat on U.S. soil.”

The story contains all the usual fear-mongering hallmarks of this Administration: the “unnamed White House official” who warns of us of heightened fears of attack even though there’s no “credible evidence” of such; the scary (but vague) words of Homeland Security Czar Chertoff, who says “Summertime seems to be appealing to them. … We worry that they are rebuilding their activities;” and of course the ever-popular reliance on the Administrations always-accurate “gut feelings” (in paragraph 9).

If you plow through the story diligently, you will find, at the very end, this nugget:

Al Qaeda‘s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has spoken out regularly in audio-taped messages in recent months. In the latest recording, posted on the Internet on Tuesday, the Egyptian cleric threatened more attacks on Britain.

On Britain. More attacks on Britain.

So in sum, this Administration, which is monstrosly unpopular, is in the midst of hearings, is desparate to change the subject, has a record of manipulating the national terror levels to win elections and divert attention away from other things embarassing to them, has suddenly called “urgent meetings” at the White House to discuss possible terror attacks, for which there are “no credible evidence” (but there are “gut feelings!”), and the AP is reporting this as straight news without a hint of skepticism?

Personally, I’m outraged in two different directions: that the Administration is so transparently trying to manipulate the nations mood in order to escape the attention that is currently–and rightly–being focused on their many blunders and criminal activity. But I am also outraged by the press once again swallowing this line of Administration B.S. without calling them on it. As Keith Olbermann highlighted in one of his reports several months ago, the Bush Administration has done this over and over again; it is high time that the press called them on it.

Updated: Keith Olbermann, bless him, noticed the exact same thing, and highlighted it in his July 10 broadcast of “Countdown.” Good work, Keith.

Major geekage slowing down; integrating iPhone into life. Is that good? Or scary?

Irritants:

• The email lack-of-folders thing is a major irritant. Suspect Apple is working on it; lots of people on the forums have complained, but haven’t seen word one about a solution yet, and I check in every day.
• One-way calendar connectivity simply bizarre. Can enter calendar items on iPhone and they appear on Outlook; reverse not true. What’s up with that?
• Wish platform were open, and could load own apps onto it. Bet money MacOS eReader would work with only minor tweakage.
• Would love to be able to manage calendar, contacts, and so on through iTunes interface; the sooner I can ditch Outlook, the happier I’ll be.
• Can’t drag-and-drop songs, videos, and whatnot from library to iPhone in iTunes. Why not? Seems weird.
• Screen does indeed get gunky fast; have to carry wipe cloth everywhere.

Joys:

• Audio connection much better than my old Motorola v180.
• Love being able to pull up contacts list and one-touch dial. Yeah, baby!
• Can’t do that two-thumb typing thing, but one-finger typing working well for me for SMS. Email, not so much, but doable for short messages.
• Oh, the screen, the screen! So much better as a movie viewer! So light! So crisp! So easy to use! Automatically bookmarks your place. The portable movie viewer I’ve longed for! (If only there as an expansion slot . . .)
• The interface is killer. It can’t be overstated. You get used to it so fast, you forget how good it is. “Intuitive” is too weak a word. You guess, and you’re right almost all the time. It’s astounding. (And I’m incredibly hard to please when it comes to software.)

Other notes:

• Love how solid the device feels. Doesn’t creak, groan, wiggle, or otherwise feel cheap. Buttons are solid. Case is solid. Battery cover is solid. Plastic battery cover on HTC Universal constantly creaking; not a problem on iPhone.
• People who complain about speed of Edge network spoiled beyond belief. People who compare it to “dial-up speed” deluding selves. Am old enough to have seen handsets plugged into audio jacks at 30 baud; these people have no idea what real “dial-up speed” means. If old enough to remember being excited about 1200 baud modems, then you can complain. Yes, 3G faster. Big whoop.
• Still jonesing for games, and eReader. If this thing had games and eReader, I would be in heaven. But it’s all software; I hold out hope.
• Handbrake conversion tool produces good output (and I’m very picky), but is a little flakey, and a major CPU hog. Oh well; nothing’s perfect.
• Not having stylus is a mixed bag. On one hand: no stylus to lose. On other hand: gunky screen.
• No menus. It takes a little getting used to. Means there’s some functionality that seems “missing” (e.g., can’t create new mailboxes in the email utility). Is this a bad thing? A good thing? Dunno; but there it is.

Yesterday, with Scooter Libby getting his sentence “commuted,” he has been pardoned completely, but in a spectacularly spinnable, political way. First of all, he gets out of jail time for committing a felony. Second, don’t even think for a minute that the other parts of his sentence are going to bother him in any way. His “probation” amounts to paperwork. His fine will be paid by his “legal defense fee,” paid for by his rich friends.

So in sum, he gets off scot free for lying to cover up whatever crimes the Vice President (and who knows who else) committed.

And all the Republicans who are talking about how this is a good thing, that it’s good that a “nice guy” isn’t facing jail time? This “nice man” is a convicted felon. This “nice man” lied to federal prosecutors in order to cover up possible crimes by the Vice President of the United States, who may now get away with them. And finally, most of these same happy Republicans are the same ones who were right out in front of the crowd talking about what a heinous crime it was for Bill Clinton to lie about getting a (consensual!) hummer from an intern.

They should be ashamed of themselves. But of course they aren’t; people like that never are. Heaven’s no! The Wall Street Journal, the folks at the National Review, and so on, all know better than the jury, the judge (appointed by George Bush!), the prosecutor (appointed by John Ashcroft!), and the three-judge review panel (one of whom was the genius who overturned the Oliver North conviction, and gave us Kenneth Starr!)! Yessir, Libby got a raw deal from The Man!

What a crock. Libby had every single advantage he could possibly have, and he was still found guilty.

This is an easy one: Libby is a convicted felon. Bush is more than a hypocrite, he is a profound hypocrite. Bush has said:

• He would fire anyone that had anything to do with the “outing” of Valerie Plame. He didn’t. (He didn’t fire Libby, and Karl Rove and Dick Cheney still work at the White House.)
• He said that his Administration would not just do what’s legal, but what’s moral. Libby is a convicted felon; in other words, he behaved neither legally, nor morally.
• He didn’t even follow his own rules with regard to pardoning and commuting sentences.

Bush, who blatted on and on about bringing “a new tone” to Washington, who gets all high and mighty about what a good Christian he is, and how he is doing God’s work, and justifies his unjustifiable war in Iraq by citing God, is an immoral, hypocritical liar who believes that he and anyone who works for him is above the law. That is your President, ladies and gentlemen. And all you people who harshed on Natalie Maines for what she said about Bush at the beginning of the Iraq war? She was right, and you all were wrong; it is embarrassing that he is from Texas.

My level of disgust with this knows no bounds. I hope Fitzgerald goes after Cheney. Not for revenge, but for the good of the country. How long can this country survive if everyone thinks that the law doesn’t apply to the people on top?

“Law if often but the but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” — Thomas Jefferson

Plumbing the depths now. Interesting discoveries:

• No way to create separate mail folders on the iPhone itself. Apparently *.mac account holders get their mail folders copied across; the rest of us, SOL.
• Calendar synced just fine the first time; since then, nothing. All new entries not being synced. Happening to plenty of other people, too.
• Nice feature: if you are listening to music or a video on speakers, and plug in the headphones, volume automatically drops. Good idea!
• Application called “Handbrake” does a good job converting DVDs to iPhone-understandable format.
• Little flakey picking up in-house network; works fine near modem, not so good farther away.
• Headphones not convenient. How do all you iPod users deal? Wrap them around arm? Tuck them in pocket? They get tangled all the time!

Pathetic nerd day. Spent day obsessively loading songs and videos onto new toy. How obsessive? Took time to make sure all album titles were correct on ripped albums, and tried to get all album art ported over. (Didn’t work on all albums, for some reason, even albums that are definitely there on iTunes. Issue goes on The List.)

How obsessive is Doug? Spent time changing “Weather” display. Spent time modifying world clock to list favorite cities. That’s obsessive geekdom, ladies and gents. When wife gets home, she will make fun of me. If not, another 100 relationship points.

Downloaded a bunch of TV episodes from iTunes; watched an episode of “Monk” and an episode of “Kim Possible.” Yes, I’m pathetic. Battery life quite impressive. Next up: I can finally watch Heroes.

Sent text message to sister the Apple fanatic to brag. She didn’t answer. What’s the point in bragging if you can’t create envy?

Spent time Web surfing. Had to tweak home network issues a little bit; always forget my password is Hex. Download speed impressive. Web surfing is very nice; experience is much superior than that on my Archos 604 wifi; sorry, Archos. Two reasons: Safari on the iPhone is better than on the Archos, and the iPhone screen is simply vastly superior. Also, the zoom in/out function rocks.

Spent time setting up email, which was a pain only because it meant I had to set up email on yet another of my laptops (I have three). Oy. But when it was done, it works fine on the iPhone. I can see why the BlackBerry addicts get, um, addicted. Doubt I will, though; most of that account’s email is junk.

Bought a slip-case for the gadget. Pretty bogus that Apple doesn’t include one. C’mon, Steve; 600 clams and not even a cheesy leatherette job? Lame.

Finding the two-thumb typing method useless; turns out I’m (wait for it) all thumbs. On other hand, single-finger method works fine, and ‘way faster than old cell phone key-pad hunt-and-peck method. I’m fine with it.

Current wants: eReader, games. I still can’t believe there are no games, not even Solitaire, for cryin’ out loud.

Currently researching DVD ripping-and-conversion tools for m4v format; all my knowledge in AVI/DivX area. Oh well, back to drawing board! Keeps me out of trouble.

Fun new toy. Fun fun fun.

Note on price: read lots of complaints about the price. Reviewers are boneheads. PDAs cost between $200-$1000 (the HTC Universal retailed for $1200). The iPhone is selling for half what the HTC Universal retailed for, it’s ‘way better, weighs half as much, and does a lot more. People keep forgetting it’s a PDA and a phone.

Late. Late late late. Obsessively setting up iPhone. Still haven’t had dinner. Did have Mt. Dew, however. Not a healthy diet. Reverting to hard-core geekdom of college years. Glad my wife can’t see.

Minor hassle with AT&T/iTunes setup. Turns out phone account had “tax ID number” associated with it, precluding signup through iTunes. Who knew? Certainly not me. Nice AT&T phone support guy removed tax ID number, and iTunes signup proceeded smoothly thereafter. (First bottled water, now this. Good press from Doug!)

Sent text message to forebearing wife. “Cool,” notes wife. 100 relationship points to wife for not making fun of geek husband. Call wife on voice line. Voice connection clearer than with old Motorola v180; cool indeed!

iPhone not wanting to sync to more than one computer at a time. Hm, odd. iPods can do it; why not iPhones? Bad boy, Steve! Signed up iPhone on wrong computer; now have to move all my PDA info to other system. Bummer being me. Good thing all music and videos backed up on external hard disk. Ha ha ha!

iPhone not wanting to hook into house wireless network. Gonna have to call tech support on that one; can’t live with Edge speeds in my own house. I mean, geez, the Archos 604 can do it, Apple!

Wow; quick charge! Now listening to soothing tones of Miles Davis: “All Blues”. Blow that horn, Miles.

Want to download next episode of “Heroes” to watch before I fall asleep. 500Mb. 60 minutes. Real bummer being me. Oh well; I needed to eat and watch Keith Olbermann, anyway.

Back to AT&T store. Doors open for iPhone distribution at 6. Did a drive by at 4:30. Not much of a line; that’s the advantage of being in a non-geek area and hidden from the road. Swing by McDonalds to choke down some Fud. Back to line. Only about 50 people or so ahead of me. Odds look good.

Line commences moving promptly at 6pm. Moves along at decent pace. Rain has abated, but temperature and humidity in Austin combine to make it feel like it’s about 95 or so. Deploy giant, black umbrella, brought along for rain or sun. Mac fanatic next to me is very thankful for shade; shares Mt. Dew. Doug thankful for caffeine. Line lurches along.

Friendly AT&T folks have taken pity on line standers and left bottled water outside. Thank you, friendly AT&T people; friendlier write-up assured.

Salesperson chats with me, notes they have about 15 8Gb phones for each 4Gb phone. I opine that, given the lack of an expansion slot, getting a 4Gb phone seems a mite silly. He notes that in an affluent place like Austin that might be true, but other places, maybe not so much. I concede the point.

6:30pm: Door in sight. Folks let into store in groups of 10. Finally inside. Stand under a/c vent for a minute or two, waiting for body temperature to drop back into normal range. Sheriff’s deputy–there for crowd control, one presumes–gently points me at correct place in line; dehydrated, I had wandered. Thank him, pull head together, get back in line like good little ant.

At counter. Small hitch: my phone number is 408; this is a 512 area code. Oh no! Will they sell to me? Trauma! No; more experienced salesperson takes care of problem. (One would think this would never be a problem–these are cell phones, after all–but never mind.) Crisis averted. Money exchanged for shiny gadget. (Well, Doug hopes shiny gadget is contained in black box with pretty picture on it.) Box put in bag. Bag clutched tightly in hand, Doug heads for exit and home. And more Mt. Dew; dehydration problem very bad.

Go to Gear Diary for unboxing and pictures, coming soon.

Visited local AT&T store today. Store still has “Cingular” sign outside. Workmen frantically removing “Cingular” sign and putting up “AT&T” sign on top of building when I went in, no doubt in anticipation of the Ravening Hordes coming tomorrow. As building is not visible from the road due to local ordinance, why this matters, I have no idea.

Went in to make sure there was no magic “waiting list” or other insanities that I needed to be on. Was assured that all I needed was a body (mine) and a credit card. Salesman informed me store will be open until 10, and everyone who doesn’t get an iPhone will be ordered one, although with no guarantee as to how long fulfillment will take. Or you can just order online, wait, and hope for the best. (What, delayed gratification? As if! I’m an American! Want Toy Now!)

Commiserated with salesman, who already looks punch-drunk and weary. Asked if he was stuck with sales duty tomorrow. Told me, “We all are.” Bought new earphone for my trusty v180 (just in case; washed old one in cargo shorts by accident) and departed.

No people waiting outside. Yet. Cannot line up myself until 2pm at earliest, due to childcare issues. Just as well; monsoon season here in Austin, and I have no kayak. Preparation problems: wear Humphrey Bogart-style fedora? (Too hot for trench coat.) Bring ginormous umbrella? Hibachi grill? Bottle of tequila? Bong? (Hey, it’s an Apple product; you never know what kind of people will be on line! Especially in Austin. Motto: “Keep Austin Weird.”) Cups-o-soup? Wait until 9:55pm and hope for the best? Who knows what Doug will do.

It wasn’t that long ago, when the fanatics were once again pushing an anti-flag burning amendment (trust me: don’t get me started), that I was thinking that there weren’t too many things left we needed to do to the Constitution. “If Congress is seriously considerings such silly things to tack onto the Constitution, we must be running out of important things to have in there,” I thought.

How wrong I was.

It’s clear from Dick Cheney’s shenanigans, and many of the more heinous activities of the Bush Administration, that some additional Constitutional clarity is in order. Not that I think any of our Representatives are reading this blog (certainly not mine–it’s Lamar Smith, for crying out loud), but this is my blather, after all:

• The line of succession needs to be tightly defined. For one thing, if no non-native born American can be President, then the current line is obviously bogus. For another, the current line of succession can leave you with a President from the other party in a split government, which is really not okay. This obviously needs to be fixed.
• A very clear set of definitions on what the Vice Presidents powers and authorities are needs to be enumerated. I don’t think all the things a V.P. can do needs to be listed, but in the fine tradition of the Constitution, a nice clear listing of what he or she can never do would be a good idea. Especially in light of recent events.
• The recent use and abuse of Presidential “signing statements”, aside from being a clear violation of how the founders envisioned the separation of powers, has been spectacularly confusing for the poor schmoes who are trying to implement the laws Congress has enacted. Recent studies have shown that a significant percentage of laws that have had “signing statements” attached are not being followed. Is this due to confusion, or nefarious purposes? Who the heck knows; it just makes it clear that this whole “signing statement” nonsense needs to be taken care of. I would propose an amendment outlawing them altogether. I don’t think that would ever fly, but I think it would be more in line with the separation of powers that the founders had in mind. This “signing statement nonsense is clearly and obviously a case of the Executive just legislating; Jefferson must be spinning in his grave.

I could also make an argument for a “privacy” amendment too, honestly. A lot of people say that the Constitution has an “implicit” right of privacy in it; a lot of judges disagree. Well, screw it, I say–let’s either put one in there, or shut the heck up about it.

I’m probably going to have another whole post about the Supreme Court’s latest rulings, but one note that’s a follow-on to one of my earlier posts: the ruling against the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” guy, and particularly Scalia’s concurring opinion (where he feels the Court didn’t go far enough) , is a perfect example of Scalia being perfectly happy to throw out his “strict interpretationist” cred when he runs into an issue that bugs him (in this case, “Drugs! Evil evil evil!”). I do no have a problem with conservatives; I do have a problem with spectacularly hypocritical ones.

A lot of folks–Dan Froomkin, The Post, The Chronicle, The Times–are making a lot of Richard Lugar’s “defection” from the Republicans over the Iraq war because of his speech yesterday in the Senate.

No offense, but all you people are fooling yourselves if you think it means a damn thing.

Lugar spoke out “forcefully” before, too: right before he voted for the Iraq funding bill a couple of weeks ago. In other words, he’s perfectly happy to sound tough, but when it comes to actually doing something, he wimps out.

So I think Tony Snow, in the White House press “gaggle” (a profoundly stupid word for the daily press gathering that reduces the status of the White House press corps to the equivalent of geese) was absolutely right to literally shrug off Lugar’s comments. Until Lugar actually gets off his bloviating duff and submits a vote that actually counts, I think we can all safely assume that Snow is right to not take Lugar’s words into account. After all, the Republicans, led but such stalwart all-talk-and-no-action weenies like Arlen Specter, have been doing this regularly for the last six years.

Personally, I think Dana Millbank of the Post–who was on Keith Olbermann’s show last night–has the right idea; believe it when you see Lugar actually do something, and not just talk.