Monday Links

• San Francisco mayor's office is trying to stem a massive exodus of African-American residents from the city.

• Ranchers are trying to protect thousands of acres of land from being acquired by the Army to "train soldiers in the nuances of modern warfare."

• The New York Times calls for an investigation of a "loyal Bushie" U.S. Attorney in Wisconsin. "The case involved Georgia Thompson, a state employee sent to prison on the flimsiest of corruption charges just as her boss, a Democrat, was fighting off a Republican challenger. It just might shed some light on a question that lurks behind the firing of eight top federal prosecutors: what did the surviving attorneys do to escape the axe?"

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it is considering reclassifying the manatee as threatened instead of endangered, a move that would cause the animal to lose its endangered species protection.

• As another update to a post from last week, Senators John Kerry, and Robert Casey have joined Christopher Dodd in calling for an investigation into whether President Bush acted illegally in recess-appointing Swift Boat funder Sam Fox as ambassador to Belgium. "We view the recess appointment of Mr. Fox as a clear abuse of the President's recess appointment power," they wrote in a letter to the Government Accountability Office.

• A senior official at the federal Education Department sold more than $100,000 in shares in a student loan company even as he was helping oversee lenders in the federal student loan program.

• Congratulations to Planned Parenthood. In response to the organization's grassroots advocacy campaign “Fill My Pills Now,” Wal-Mart has notified Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) that it has revised its nationwide corporate policy with regard to emergency contraception. The new Wal-Mart policy ensures customers “will now receive their prescriptions or OTC products in store without discrimination (no harassment or lectures),” “without delay,” and “without judgment.”

• A new Amnesty International report states that conditions at Guantanamo Bay prison have worsened.