Big Brother arrives in the Heartland  More U.S. cities will soon have more cameras watching more Americans.

The Department of Homeland Security is funneling millions of dollars to local governments nationwide for purchasing high-tech video camera networks, accelerating the rise of a "surveillance society" in which the sense of freedom that stems from being anonymous in public will be lost, privacy rights advocates warn.

Since 2003, the department has handed out some $23 billion in federal grants to local governments for equipment and training to help combat terrorism. Most of the money paid for emergency drills and upgrades to basic items, from radios to fences. But the department also has doled out millions on surveillance cameras, transforming city streets and parks into places under constant observation.

Here at TPMCafe -- TPM Cafe Article is an in-depth look at what a dope Tommy Thompson is and how bad, very bad, his policies were. And here is a piece I did at DailyKos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/13/8516/64802 This one is probably the best: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/16/931/76813 Of course, none of these is complete. If you have more on Tommy's record, please do share!

Today is not only the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, it is the day six years ago that Bush received the infamous “Bin Laden determined to strike in US” Presidential Daily Bulletin.  Carpetbagger has more, and there’s a blogswarm going on as well…

Sorry Dad Ronald Reagan had a famously rocky relationship with some of his children, but presumably they at least voted for him when election day rolled around. Not so for Rudy Giuliani. Slate reports that Caroline Giuliani is supporting.....Barack Obama.

Sellout Dems Cenk Uygur at Huffington Post:

Now that's ego!   "If I don't win, I'll be shocked." -- Tommy Thompson, in an interview with Pajamas Media, on his chances in the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa next month. (Confirming what I've long believed:  The man is unglued.  He has entirely lost touch with reality.  --Russ)

My Senator Feingold on Gonzo: “Based on what we know and the evidence about what happened in terms of the gang of eight and what he said in that sworn testimony in the committee, I believe it’s perjury.”

My senator, part II  Russ Feingold went on The Young Turks today to talk to Ben and Cenk about his censure resolutions and chided Senate Democrats for their inaction:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy4qsIybLQc 

My Senator Feingold to introduce censure resolutions against Bush. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) announced today that he will “introduce two censure resolutions condemning the President, Vice President and other administration officials for misconduct relating to the war in Iraq and for their repeated assaults on the rule of law.” In March 2006, Feingold introduced a censure resolution against Bush over the NSA wiretapping program. In a statement released today, Feingold said:

At my town hall meetings, online, and everywhere I go, I hear the American people demanding that the President and his administration be held accountable for their misconduct, both with regard to the disastrous war in Iraq and their flagrant abuse of the rule of law. Censure is a relatively modest response, but one that puts Congress on record condemning their actions, both for the American people today and for future generations.

Read the full statement. Feingold discusses his censure resolution on Meet the Press. Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2CRwnNwpa8

The gutless Harry Reid, leader of the Dems in the Senate, is brushing it off as unimportant. How about dropping him a note and politely telling him he's full of it: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm

Tommy Thompson and his drug pals smear SiCKO Currently atop the Drudge Report is a gigantic ad by “Health Care America,” which states, “In America you wait in line to see a movie. In government-run healthcare systems, you wait to see a doctor.” The ad is part of the industry-led smear campaign against Michael Moore’s movie SiCKO. The group is “financed in part by pharmaceutical and hospital companies.” Its Advisory Board includes current hapless presidential candidate, my former governor and President Bush’s former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson. In June, the organization “staged a conference call that drew nearly 20 reporters from around the country,” with the purpose of discussing “what Michael Moore left out of his movie.”

It seems to have escaped public notice that Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle has added a Republican to his cabinet, with the appointment of Rick Raemisch as secretary of corrections.

 Raemisch is a former Dane County sheriff who was appointed by then Gov. Tommy Thompson, was later elected to the post as a Republican, and ran unsuccessfully for Dane County DA on the GOP ticket, too. (Yes, he’s also a lawyer.) He had been deputy corrections secretary.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, and not that it’s a big deal, but it seems worth a mention, and neither of the state’s two biggest newspapers, the Wisconsin State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, bothered. So now you know. (WisPolitics did mention it.)

AFTERTHOUGHT: Doyle actually has another R in the cabinet, but he didn't choose him. Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocus was named by a Republican-heavy veterans board shortly after Doyle took office. Scocos is now temporarily on active duty, but still riling people up. Yet another. I am reminded by a reader that Insurance Commish Sean Dilweg is a former Republican staffer. They're everywhere!

Other random thoughts:

A debate I might watch: Tommy Thompson vs. Michael Moore? My money’s on the fat(ter) guy.

Paul Bucher is being mentioned – probably by Paul Bucher – as a potential Supreme Court candidate. As the Whallah! Blog notes, that would be a great opportunity for the incumbent, Louis Butler, to recycle a slogan from last spring’s campaign” “Not one day as a judge.”

Almost two weeks after the press release, the Journal Sentinel gets around to reporting that Wisconsin’s former US Senator Bob Kasten has been named a foreign policy advisor to the presidential campaign of Everybody’s Mayor, Rudy what’s his name. The story says Kasten runs his own investment banking and consulting firm. Last reports we heard sometime back was that he was an arms dealer. But he and Rudy, we understand, both look good in a dress.

A former surgeon general testifies that the Bush administration forced him to put politics ahead of science on issues like stem cell research, emergency contraception, and second-hand smoke. Jim Rowen comments.

This is what struck me in the NY Times article:

In response to lawmakers’ questions, Dr. Carmona refused to name specific people in the administration who had instructed him to put political considerations over scientific ones. He said, however, that they included assistant secretaries of health and human services as well as top political appointees outside the department of health.

He served as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006. And the secretary of Health and Human Services for the first half of his term was -- Tommy Thompson.

Did Tommy sanction these restrictions, or will he claim headed a rogue agency, with his top aides running amok?

He's running for president. Someone just might want to inquire.

"I happily voted against [Tommy] Thompson in all four of his gubernatorial campaigns. I even voted against him when I couldn't pronounce his opponent's name." -- Michael King, in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel op ed.

How toxic is Dubya? TB Guy Tops Bush In New Poll

"John, the fact is, I opposed this war from the start.
So you are about 4 1/2 years late on leadership on this issue."
-- Obama, after Edwards accused him of lacking leadership,

Can't keep up? If, like me, you’re having trouble keeping track, go over to Lies from the Bush-Cheney administration

GOP debate wrap up How is it that these guys manage to make 60 seconds seem like too long a time? Anyway: I'm a liberal and these guys are conservatives, so it's only natural that I'm not down with their message for America. But damn. They're just horrible. Their answers are so cliched and regurgitated that I mostly want to cry for mercy after about 10 or 15 seconds. Rudy on healthcare was so incoherent it almost made my teeth bleed. And I guess I didn't even hear the good part, where they all nodded along as Wolf Blitzer talked about nuking Tehran. But only with tactical nukes, so, you know, I guess that's OK. Somebody shoot me.

Defaming a founding father (and family member) The U.S. Mint starts churning out the John Adams gold dollar today. Our verdict: he looks like Rush Limbaugh with a mullet. I'll take four quarters instead, thanks. (Johnny is, I'm proud to say, an illustrious branch of my family tree. Way to go cuz. --RK)

Fear not "The American people are understandably fearful about another attack like the one we sustained on Sept. 11, 2001. But it is the duty of the commander in chief to lead the country away from the grip of fear, not into its grasp." -- in today's Post, Charles C. Krulak, commandant of the Marine Corps, 1995 to 1999. Joseph P. Hoar, commander in chief of U.S. Central Command, 1991 to 1994. The legacy of this administration is frightening to behold, its philosophy of force and violence, its lawlessness.

Who supports our troops? Bush Threatens Veto Over Troop Pay Raise, Military Widow Benefits The Bush administration today threatened to a veto a House defense spending bill over a 3.5 percent pay raise for U.S. soldiers and a $40/month increase in benefits for military widows, among other provisions. The legislation passed the House today 397-27. ThinkProgress noted last night that the White House opposed the pay raise for troops:

Troops don’t need bigger pay raises, White House budget officials said Wednesday in a statement of administration policy laying out objections to the House version of the 2008 defense authorization bill.... The slightly bigger military raises are intended to reduce the gap between military and civilian pay that stands at about 3.9 percent today. Under the bill, HR 1585, the pay gap would be reduced to 1.4 percent after the Jan. 1, 2012, pay increase. Bush budget officials said the administration “strongly opposes” both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases “unnecessary.”