Why don't we say what's on the minds of many legal experts; that the Obama administration is committing war crimes and if Bush should have been impeached, Obama should be impeached.

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The three provisions, set to expire Feb. 28, make it easier for federal authorities to conduct surveillance on foreign terrorism suspects. One of them, the “lone wolf” provision, allows the government to survey foreign terrorism suspects even if they don’t have known ties to a terrorist group. Another, the "library records provision," gives the FBI court-approved access to "any tangible thing" relevant to a terrorism investigation. The last deals with court-approved roving wiretaps.

The House voted 277-148 to keep the three provisions of the USA Patriot Act on the books until Dec. 8. But Republicans brought up the bill under a special expedited procedure requiring a two-thirds majority, and the vote was seven short of reaching that level.

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Kucinich, who is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter Friday to Gates asking for a visit with Pfc. Bradley Manning.

Manning is being held in a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va. He has not been convicted of any crimes. 

Kucinich says he is concerned about reports of Manning's treatment while in custody. David Coombs, Manning's lawyer, has filed a complaint with the Quantico commander about the conditions Manning is being held under, which he says are overly harsh and punitive. The Pentagon has denied these conditions. 

To read more about the allegations that Manning is living in cruel and inhumane treatment, even constituting torture, check out Glenn Greenwald's Dec. piece, "The inhuman conditions of Bradley Manning's detention."

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Kucinich said Friday the lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount that reflects out-of-pocket costs.

The lawsuit filed in January in Washington had sought $150,000 in damages from companies involved with the Longworth House Office Building cafeteria. It said a consumer would not reasonably expect to find an olive pit in the wrap.

Kucinich says biting into the pit in April 2008 split a tooth down to the bone, caused excruciating pain and required reconfigured bridgework.

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So, curious about what other "filth" and "water insoluble inorganic matter" are legally tolerated, I consulted the Food and Drug Administration's stunningly poetic-sounding "Food Defect Action Levels" -- the level of screwiness you are allowed to have in your food before the FDA will take action. You never actually want to get some FDA action, but you might be surprised at how much gunk can be in your product before they will show up with some bad news.

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That's at least according to Christopher Dolan, a San Francisco attorney who regularly deals with product liability cases. And to Dolan, some of whose clients have been grievously injured by consuming foreign objects in their food, none of this is a laughing matter. 

"Everybody is getting caught up on the pit -- 'Oh, it was some little thing.' Take the word 'pit' out and put in 'sharp piece of metal.' Nobody would have a problem with suing over that. They're trying to make this about something trivial. A pit in an olive is the same thing as biting into a rock," Dolan says. (One of his clients lost three teeth after biting down on a rock in a salad. Another was burned by cleaning acid in a bottle of water.)

Furthermore, he adds, it looks like Kucinich has a real shot at collecting damages.

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You want more? The friendly Cleveland congressman filed suit against a number of companies that supply and run the congressional eatery, because in 2008 he bit into a "sandwich wrap" of some kind and hurt his teeth on an olive pit.

According to the suit: "Said sandwich wrap was unwholesome and unfit for human consumption, in that it was represented to contain pitted olives, yet unknown to plaintiff contained an unpitted olive or olives which plaintiff did not reasonably expect to be present in the food prepared for him, and could not visually detect prior to consumption."

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On Wednesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee e-mailed supporters a letter from Kucinich touting the healthcare reform bill that President Obama just signed into law and asking for donations. You can see a screenshot of the e-mail below.

I've been on the DCCC's fundraising e-mail list since September of last year (I'm signed up for the lists for all of the party campaign committees on both sides), and this is the first time during that period that they've used Kucinich's name in an appeal like this. Indeed, it's rare that a message will go out under the name of a House Democrat other than Speaker Nancy Pelosi or DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen. The rare exceptions are fairly big names like Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

Under current circumstances, though, using Kucinich makes perfect sense. He can appeal to liberals who might not open their wallets for a lot of other members of Congress, and his seal of approval can be used in an effort to convince Democrats who think the reform legislation doesn't go far enough that they should stay active with the party this year anyway.

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Like a lot of liberals, I'm guilty of not always taking Rep. Dennis Kucinich seriously (even though during the 2008 primaries my views were deemed closest to candidate Kucinich's by this online poll.)  I was on vacation when he took his strong stand against passing President Obama's flawed healthcare reform bill, or else I'd have whacked him for ineffectual lefty grandstanding. But I have to say, when he reversed himself on the bill today, he articulated my reasons for supporting it as well as anyone.

In his remarks this morning, Kucinich sounded concerned, and pained, about the crazed and vicious opposition that the Obama presidency has inspired on the right. "One of the things that has bothered me is the attempt to try to delegitimize his presidency. That hurts the nation when that happens," the Cleveland congressman said, sounding genuinely anguished. "We have to be very careful" that "President Obama's presidency not be destroyed by this debate ... Even though I have many differences with him on policy, there's something much bigger at stake here for America."

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Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher -- a fervent opponent of the legislation -- reports that Kucinich's Congressional campaign "will return the money to those who have donated in support of his pledge to vote against any health care bill that does not have a public option."

Just last night, Hamsher had announced that Firedoglake had raised $12,000 for Kucinich as a result of his stance against the bill.

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What Kucinich's announcement Wednesday morning really means is this: Democrats really are working with almost no margin of error on this one. If there were votes to spare, they could have cut him loose. But there aren't. If the bill is going to pass the House, leadership needs everyone they can get.

"It's been clear that the vote on the final healthcare bill will be very close," Kucinich, D-Ohio, told reporters. "I know I have to make a decision not on the bill as I would like to see it, but as it is ... I've decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation."

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First of all: good move, guy.

Kucinich first appeared as a nationally noteworthy politician when Studs Terkel, the incarnation of old-school New Deal working-class politics, touted him as a presidential candidate in the Nation. It hardly would have served Kucinich’s legacy -- or that of the late Terkel -- for him to oppose the most significant piece of welfare state legislation since the 1960s.

Opposing the bill would have ended any future he might have had as an influential figure in the progressive movement. Kucinich was hoping for a more progressive bill, and thought that by holding out he might pull his party leftward on the issue. If he'd ended up voting against reform, he almost certainly would have had the opposite effect.

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Liberal disaffection has, thus far, taken the form of opposition to the reform package. The "vote no" caucus has a good deal of backing in the liberal blogosphere, and in Congress itself. These folks may not succeed in pulling healthcare reform to the left, but they’ll certainly manage to drive President Obama and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel up the wall.

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During a trip to Ohio on Monday, however, President Obama made more than one play for Kucinich's vote. Afterward, the famously outspoken congressman wouldn't say whether his position will change as a result.

Obama put a full-court press on Kucinich; he brought the congressman along on Air Force One to Ohio, for a town hall held in the district he represents. And in the process of pushing Kucinich, he also had a little fun at his expense. When a man in the crowd, referencing the reform bill, shouted, "Vote yes!" Obama said, "Did you hear that, Dennis?" and had the audience member repeat himself.

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And if he turns out to be the vote that kills health care reform, I will stand up and cheer.

Kucinich is firm in his "no" vote on the final bill, despite what must be fearsome pressure from his Democratic leadership. Bart Stupak and his coalition can probably be bought off with a tweak of language -- and if not, don't believe for a moment that Team Pelosi cares more about women's constitutional rights than they do about being able to say we passed health reform. But what Kucinich wants is what virtually nobody on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue is willing to give: True universal health care.

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On Tuesday night, two liberal favorites got set up to butt heads. Appearing on MSNBC's "Countdown," DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas was asked by guest host Lawrence O'Donnell about Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich's opposition to President Obama's reform proposal. Moulitsas didn't take it easy on Kucinich in his response.

"[I]t's definitely a very Ralph Nader-esque approach, I think, to politics -- a very unrealistic and self-defeating approach," Moulitsas said.

"And I'm going to hold people, like Dennis Kucinich, responsible for the 40,000 Americans that die each year from a lack of health care. And I don't care if you're a Republican or you're a conservative Democrat or you're somebody like Dennis Kucinich. The fact is, this does a heck of a lot for a lot of people ... It's not the ideal solution. But we have our foot in the door, and if somebody like Kucinich wants to block that, I find that completely reprehensible."

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So it's interesting to see one result from the latest poll, when the "insiders" were asked about who in their party they'd like to "mute."

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No, really.

Kucinich, who entered to the strains of the Ohio Players' funk classic "Love Rollercoaster," managed to score not one but two sustained standing ovations during his speech here at the Pepsi Center, his passion rising and his speaking style growing more compelling as he fed off his audience's enthusiasm, and vice versa.

Especially popular was a continuing theme in Kucinich's speech -- a call, actually: "Wake up, America."

"Wake up, America. The insurance companies took over healthcare ... Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street." Kucinich said, the applause growing with each repetition. "Wake up, America. They want to take your Social Security. Wake up, America. Multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good-paying jobs lost. Wake up, America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more ... Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more."

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