landmark civil rights legislation “that helped thousands of African Americans gain access to the ballot box.”

Improvized Explosive Devices (IEDs) are responsible for “nearly half the casualties of our troops in Iraq.” Among the best defenses against IEDs is a massive heavily-armored vehicle called the Buffalo, which has “become the favorite of U.S. Army combat engineer teams.”

Yesterday, during a surprise trip to Iraq, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was confronted by a U.S. Army corporal who said the Buffalo he was using was “one of oldest pieces of equipment in the country,” and that just two weeks before, he’d seen a brand new Buffalo in New York City. Rumsfeld defended the Pentagon’s anti-IED efforts and deflected the specific question with a joke.

Watch it:

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There are more than 5 million “flexfuel” vehicles on the road in the U.S., ready to run on ethanol. Yet only about 600 of America’s 170,000 gas stations currently offer E85 fuel.

This is a major problem. Americans are ready to use cleaner burning, American-made E85, but the oil companies aren’t making it available because they are addicted to the profits their petroleum business has brought them. Last month, American Progress launched Kick the Oil Habit, a campaign to get the Big 6 oil companies to double the number of E85 pumps over the next year.

Yesterday, as part of the campaign, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) helped kick off a cross-country flexfuel road trip to highlight the severe lack of E85 fueling stations around the country. Come along for the ride on the road trip blog — they’re only in West Virginia and they’ve already almost run out of gas.

against Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and Vice President Dick Cheney. Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame will announce the lawsuit tomorrow at 10 am.

UPDATE: The lawsuit accuses Cheney, Libby, Rove and 10 unnamed administration officials or political operatives of putting the Wilsons and their children’s lives at risk by exposing Plame and embarking “on an anonymous ‘whispering campaign’ designed to discredit…(the Wilsons) and to deter other critics from speaking out.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter announced today that the White House has agreed to a court review of the warrantless wiretapping program. Specter said the following at a press conference today:

I am authorized to say that if the bill is not changed, the president will submit the terrorist surveillance program to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

But what Specter didn’t say is that his legislation does not require President Bush to submit the program to the FISA court; it merely gives the president the option. The AP reports:

An administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the bill’s language gives the president the option of submitting the program to the intelligence court, rather than making the review a requirement.

Specter appears to have received assurances from the White House that, if his bill is passed without changes, Bush would agree to exercise the option and submit the warrantless wiretapping program to the court for a judgment on its constitutionality. This compromise is a sham because it makes optional what Bush is already required to do. Under the FISA law, the administration can wiretap persons inside the U.S. But it is required to demonstrate that the targets are agents of a foreign power, like al Qaeda or their affiliates.

Sen. Patrick Leahy accurately characterized what Bush is agreeing to: “[Bush is] saying, if you do every single thing I tell you to do, I’ll do what I should have done anyway.” The Specter bill makes it optional for Bush to follow the law, while rewarding him for illegal conduct.

More from Atrios.

The number of earmarks, “totaling about half a billion dollars,” in a domestic spending bill that House conservatives are now “struggling” to push through. The problem? The earmarks “are tied to a Democratic minimum-wage increase that is anathema to the GOP, and no proposed solution has taken root.”

the U.S. Senate was asked to increase funding for rail security in this country. The majority said no.”

On Tuesday, acting Deputy Attorney General Steven Bradbury told Congress, “The president is always right.” After the remark was widely criticized in the national media, Bradbury was asked about it yesterday by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN). Bradbury said he was trying “to be humorous.” Watch it:

You can watch Bradbury’s initial remarks here.

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Rep. Steve King (R-IA) went on the House floor on Tuesday to discuss a fence that he “designed” for the southern boarder. (King constructed a model of the fence as he was speaking.) King’s design features a wire electrified “with the kind of current that would not kill somebody.” King noted that “we do this with livestock all the time.” Watch it:

Transcript: Read more