David House spoke with Dylan Ratigan this afternoon about his visits this weekend with Bradley Manning at Quantico Marine Base.

As Jane wrote this morning, it was clear to David that Bradley’s spirits were down as a result of his solitary confinement, but Bradley was excited to discuss the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. David also revealed on MSNBC that while he meets with Bradley, there are three Marines standing behind Bradley who make their presence known. That’s in addition to electronic surveillance of the room, and presumably of every word spoken between Bradley and David.

David House was initially quite concerned about Manning’s state of mind, and felt he was beginning to exhibit some of the damaging symptoms of prolonged isolation including emotional withdrawal and impaired cognitive function. Bradley seemed slow to respond when they spoke, and could not process information as quickly as he normally did. Bradley became excited and engaged, however, when David mentioned the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

We’ve watched long enough. Our tax dollars have propped up Egypt’s murderous regime for 30 years. It’s time for that to end.

With protest continuing in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak despite a curfew, the government has ordered the army to help put down the protest. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Eqypt’s total military expenditures in 2009 was $3.6 billion. Mubarak’s administration has been one of largest recipients of American military support ever, receiving $1.3 [...]

The leak that facilitated this hit piece is the very antithesis of the accountability Captain Price calls for. It demonstrates a sloppy, desperate, out-of-control process where nobody is taking responsibility, and everyone is consumed with throwing blame and CYA.

There was a painfully embarrassing exchange on Dylan Ratigan’s show regarding Bradley Manning’s rights earlier this week. Democratic Strategist Karen Finney, Republican strategist Susan Del Percio and “Washington Insider” (lobbyist for the Mortgage Banker’s Associationand and Morgan Stanley) Jimmy Williams were virtually indistinguishable in their opinion that since Manning was in the military, he had no rights.

In response, Ratigan received a letter from David P. Price, CAPT, JAGC, USN (Retired), who begged to differ:

Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid didn’t just fail to deal with filibuster reform, he totally committed himself to the defense of this disgraceful practice. From his floor speech about his deal with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: Senator McConnell and I both believe our reverance for this institution must always be more important than our [...]

Manning’s attorney David Coombs has said that Manning is the only one in the Quantico brig who is on POI watch and MAX custody. But according to this DoD spokesman, everyone in the place is just like Bradley Manning, and would attempt to personally injure themselves if they weren’t being watched round the clock.

My god, no wonder they replaced the brig commander. The place is a disaster.

During Tuesday’s State of the Union, President Obama once again attempted to show how “bipartisan” he can be by claiming to still be “willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits.” While this might make Obama look open [...]

Senate Democrats had an opportunity to get together and make the Senate a working, majority-rule-based chamber. They could have recently used the “Constitutional Option” at the start of this new Congress to rewrite the Senate rules to either eliminate the filibuster outright or at least make staging a filibuster more difficult. Yet, due to a [...]