Former Clinton Justice official Neal Katyal says in Time magazine, “Executive branch rules require sensitive classified information to be discussed in specialized facilities that are designed to guard against the possibility that officials are being targeted for surveillance outside of the workplace.”

The law controlling the unwarranted disclosure of classified information that has been gained through electronic surveillance is particularly strict. In the past, everyone from low-level officers in the armed forces to sitting Senators have been investigated by the Justice department for the intentional disclosure of such information. The penalty for “knowingly and willfully” disclosing information “concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States” carries a penalty up to 10 years in prison under U.S. law. “It’s the one you worry about, says the government official familiar with the program.

In response to questions on the legality of Gonzales’ hospital room conversation, Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the National Security Division of the Justice Department, said, “I am not going to speculate on discussions that may or may not have taken place, much less attempt to render a legal judgment on any such discussions.” A Senate investigator says the Judiciary Committee is weighing whether to investigate the matter formally.

Media Matters notes, “ABC and CBS still have not reported — on either their evening news or morning news broadcasts — former deputy attorney general James B. Comey’s account of what NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams May 15 called a rare glimpse of a high-level, late-night power struggle over the National Security Agency’s warrantless domestic wiretapping program.”

“The federal government is spending millions of dollars on a publicity campaign that could be used to plug budget shortfalls hurricane forecasters are struggling with, the National Hurricane Center’s director said Thursday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is spending up to $4 million to publicize a 200th anniversary celebration while the agency has cut $700,000 from hurricane research.”

Commentary magazine, “widely regarded as the leading outlet for neoconservative writing,” held its first annual dinner this week in honor of its former editor-in-chief Norman Podhoretz. The evening got started with rousing cheers for Scooter Libby. The crowd of 300 delivered “a standing ovation” for Libby, “who was in attendance while awaiting sentencing on his felony convictions.”

Participants then proceeded to more substantive issues at hand — namely, consideration of post-Iraq regime change targets. The Christian Science Monitor writes that “Commentary advocates passionate support for Israel, and regime change in at least half a dozen countries deemed hostile to US and Israeli security and interests.” Along those lines, in the most current issue of the magazine, Norman Podhoretz argues “The Case for Bombing Iran.”

One of the evening’s keynote speakers, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, took Podhoretz’s claims even further. The New York Sun’s Ira Stoll writes that Bolton delivered what appeared to be his regime change hit list, with a country-by-country breakdown:

Ambassador John Bolton’s speech on why regime change, notwithstanding the problems in Iraq, “has to be something that’s in our toolbox as we go forward.” … He also supported regime change in Iraq in the immediate aftermath of the first Persian Gulf War, and in Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

Then, moving briskly to present-day examples, Mr. Bolton backed regime change in North Korea and Iran. As for Cuba, he said that “actuarial tables will take care” of it, referring to the aging Castro. Sudan, he said, was not a sufficient threat to American interests to justify a policy of regime change. Burma, he noted, recently was reported to be entering a contract with Russia for a research nuclear reactor, but “I don’t think that’s a regime that warrants regime change.” Venezuela, he said last year purchased 100,000 AK-47s. “Not yet but maybe” was Mr. Bolton’s position on regime change in Venezuela. Syria is the “hardest” case, Mr. Bolton said, seeming to think that what came after Assad there might be worse.

The failed neoconservative designs on Iraq do not appear to have quenched their desire to continue their global regime change campaign.

President Bill Clinton created AmeriCorps in 1993 “as a kind of domestic counterpart to the Peace Corps.” Since then, more than 200,000 Americans have served in AmeriCorps, providing volunteer assistance most recently in tornado-devasted Greensburg, KS, where they were among the first volunteers dispatched to the area. Seventy-two percent of volunteers return to work in their communities after their service with AmeriCorps ends.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), however, would rather gut the program. Last week, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) introduced a Senate resolution “honoring the accomplishments of AmeriCorps.” Previously passed by the House, the symbolic resolution received bipartisan support in the Senate as well.

As The Politico reported, “Coburn took the unusual step of putting a hold on the senatorial platitude, but told its backers that he would consent to it as long as he could make some edits.” In his edits, Coburn neutered any language praising AmeriCorps, removing phrases such as “highly effective” and “significant accomplishments.” He attacked the program, saying it has “been ineffective in demonstrating results, controlling costs, [and] ensuring that AmeriCorps does not duplicate other federal efforts”:

Coburn has attempted to gut AmeriCorps before, introducing an amendment in 2006 to kill a proposal to fund the Corporation for National and Community Service, AmeriCorps’ umbrella organization, which would have expanded their volunteer base in post-Katrina New Orleans. Throughout his term, President Bush has also slashed funding to the volunteer program.

See Coburn’s handwritten edits to the resolution HERE.

Attorneys for Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby said “told a federal judge today they cannot be held liable for anything they disclosed to reporters about covert CIA officer Valerie Plame or her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.” Cheney’s attorney argued that the vice president is “legally akin to the president because of his unique government role, and has absolute immunity from any lawsuit.”

On Jan. 18, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee, under oath, that he never intended to take advantage of a Patriot Act provision that allows the President to appoint “interim” U.S. attorneys for an indefinite period of time, without Senate confirmation:

I am fully committed, as the administration’s fully committed, to ensure that, with respect to every United States attorney position in this country, we will have a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed United States attorney.

Similarly, on Dec. 15, 2006, Gonzales personally assured Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) that Karl Rove-protege Tim Griffin would face Senate confirmation.

Before the Patriot Act was changed in 2005, the Attorney General could appoint interim U.S. attorneys to serve for a maximum of 120 days. After that time period, they needed to receive Senate confirmation or the federal district court in the vacant office’s district would name a replacement.

As emptywheel notes at Firedoglake, Griffin’s 120 days were up on April 20. Griffin has announced that he had “made the decision not to let my name go forward to the Senate.” Yet the Bush administration has not named a replacement candidate.

In early March, Rep. John Boozman (R-AR) said that he was “interviewing candidates to recommend as replacements for Griffin.” ThinkProgress spoke with Boozman’s office today, which confirmed that on March 30, Boozman submitted three names to the White House to replace Griffin. His office said that it has not heard from the administration on the state of the process.

Griffin remains as U.S. attorney in Arkansas and has stated that he is ready and willing to serve until the end of Bush’s term. If Gonzales was serious about installing “a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed United States attorney,” he would have replaced Griffin by now. Evidently, he instead plans to “gum to death” the process.

UPDATE: The Arkansas Blog notes that Griffin was appointed under the Patriot Act, and therefore is legally allowed to serve indefinitely. Yet nevertheless, Gonzales still promised senators that he never intended to take advantage of the provision.

Noah Shachtman at Danger Room reports that while the Pentagon has banned soldiers from accessing YouTube, MySpace, and other social networking sites, it will give officials with the Multinational Force (MNF) in Iraq a waiver so that they can continue to maintain the MNF YouTube channel.