Pat Roberts links (New York Times) Senator Hints No Wrongdoing Found on Prewar Intelligence: The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee strongly hinted today that a coming draft report on prewar intelligence on Iraq would find no evidence of the sort of political manipulation that some Democrats have alleged. He also said the report would be presented to members of his panel this week. The committee chairman, Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, spoke five days after Democrats forced the Senate into closed session to protest what they said was 20 months of delay by the Republican-controlled panel on the phase of its inquiry into accusations that intelligence on Iraq had been manipulated to expedite the Bush administration’s decision to take the country to war. (PDF) Transcript of Roberts’ appearance on “Face The Nation”(AP) Hagel: Torture Exemption Would Be Mistake: Sen. Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said his vote against the ban doesn’t mean he favors torture. … “As long as you’re following the Constitution and there’s no torture and no inhumane treatment, I see nothing wrong with saying here is the worst of the worst. We know they have specific information to save American lives in terrorist attacks around the world. That’s what we’re talking about,” Roberts said. (Washington Post) The FBI’s Secret Scrutiny: The FBI now issues more than 30,000 national security letters a year, according to government sources, a hundredfold increase over historic norms. The letters — one of which can be used to sweep up the records of many people — are extending the bureau’s reach as never before into the telephone calls, correspondence and financial lives of ordinary Americans. … Those who favor the new rules maintain — as Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, put it in a prepared statement — that “there has not been one substantiated allegation of abuse of these lawful intelligence tools.”Dennis Moore links (TomPaine.com commentary) The Wal-Mart 22: If you want to know why the Democratic Party will continue to be the minority party in the country, look no further than the raft of Democratic operatives and elected representatives who do the bidding of Wal-Mart. … Let’s start by looking at what I call the Wal-Mart 22: The 22 Democrats who, on June 24, voted against an amendment to the 2006 fiscal year Labor appropriations bill (offered by Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut) that barred any spending of money by the Department of Labor to implement the part of the deal the department had made with Wal-Mart calling for advance notice of inspections any time the DOL planned to investigate Wal-Mart. … Anyway, so who were the Wal-Mart 22? … Dennis Moore, Kan.How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation here.