Letters to the Editor
Northwestwoods
Published Letters: 401 Editor's Choice: 1
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Valiant defenders of the rule of law(?)
[Read the article: Shocking new revelation: Unchecked government powers get abused]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Another terrific post, Glenn. Thanks.
I feel significantly more ill at ease than usual.
I am not seeing any indicators that anyone in Congress, the Senate, or the media, and of course, the Department of JustUs, never mind the two remaining Democratic candidates, truly give a shit or plan to act on any of this now or after the election.
I think its pretty telling that the houses of congress confirmed Mukasey in the first place, knowing that he was worse than even the slippery Alberto Gonzalez and a loyal Bushie.
One could justifiably surmise, for example, that fear of retribution from the Bush cabal is the universal motivating factor.
More and more, though, I find myself wondering if they don't all also view the Constitution as 'just a goddamn piece of paper'....
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@ Blue Meme
[Read the article: Shocking new revelation: Unchecked government powers get abused]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-The election of Barack or Hillary would miraculously replace that missing force, but I am not convince either will be allowed to occur. (The fixing of the election may sound tinfoil-hattish, but the Rubicon on such illegality and immorality was crossed long ago.)-
Does not seem like tinfoil-toque concept at all, since the Supremes already crowned Bush king once and we know the RWAs are fucking with the election process. On Rachel Maddow the other day she reported that Charlie Black, McCain's lobbysist campaign staffer, is attempting a hostile takeover of Diebold.
I think it might be an optimistic notion that Barack or Hillary will reverse all of this...I have yet to see any concrete evidence of that, other than Obama's brief mention in his speech next to Chris Dodd last week, which was moderately encouraging, I'll admit.
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A provision Bush might take exception to
[Read the article: Exclusive capitulation report: House Democratic leadership circulates FISA bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The four year sunset clause could be something Bush doesn't accept.
(a) Its not 100% precisely what he has demanded.
(b) It presents a potential difficulty for the GOPper agenda as they'd like to see it run beyond the next term so that the next(theoretically) Repug leadership has assurance of having the legislation still in place when they (theoretically) assume the throne once again.
That being the case, he needn't veto it when a simple signing statement should oughta do the trick.
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@ Paul Daniel Ash
[Read the article: Exclusive capitulation report: House Democratic leadership circulates FISA bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-This is the year I make good on my threats to emigrate.-
Have you chosen your destination planet yet? You'll want to be sure its not a territorial possession and Exxon hasn't signed it up for drilling rights.
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@ Chris Sinnard
[Read the article: Exclusive capitulation report: House Democratic leadership circulates FISA bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-But Countrywide, aren't they on our side?-
Well,no. But don't worry.
'Lockeed Martin: We know who we're working for'
Is that more reassuring?
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@ casual_observer
[Read the article: Exclusive capitulation report: House Democratic leadership circulates FISA bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-There's a Greenwald update up top, the 4 year may be 2 year, based on TPM reporting. Government surveillance may not have "gone dark", but the sausage-grinding in the Congress sure has...-
Thanks. I found that as well, after I commented.
I dare say two years is better than four or six. Small comfort.
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@ JackieBinAZ
[Read the article: Exclusive capitulation report: House Democratic leadership circulates FISA bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-maybe because they're dealing with the kind of people who send anthrax in the mail?-
Thats what I had in mind...and have thugs posing as intelligence officials in their employ who post high-alert false security threats at critical moments such as that preceding the August break.
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@ William Timberman
[Read the article: Exclusive capitulation report: House Democratic leadership circulates FISA bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-What I conclude from these observations, and others, is that he and his ideological allies are at least as incompetent as they are malevolent.-
An excellent point. Its at least as much incompetence as it is hubris (and a huge dollop of hypocrisy) as illustrated by the recent Vanity Fair article by David Rose, The Gaza Bombshell.
"After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleeza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever."
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804
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@ jayackroyd
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-I suppose because Foster's victory happened yesterday, it can't be the focus of today's gasbags and editorialists. But it seems pretty darn important to me, a strong indication that Obama's version of the 50 state strategy has been vindicated.-
Correct. Howard Kurtz and all the gasbags must have missed that story because it was conspicuously absent from today's installment. Fox or the alphabet soups may have covered it but I did not check.
Notably, Wapo has covered the release of Douglas Feith's book today online: "Sure, Mistakes Were Made but It Wasn't me It Was That Bitch, Condi" AKA "War and Decision".
"He describes Bush as having wrestled seriously with difficult problems but as being ill-served by subordinates including Powell and Rice. Feith depicts former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld with almost complete admiration, questioning only his rough handling of subordinates.
Feith left the administration in mid-2005 and is now on the Georgetown University faculty. He was the subject of an investigation early last year by the Pentagon's inspector general for his office's secret prewar intelligence assessments outlining strong ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda. His reports, deemed "inconsistent" with those of the intelligence community, were judged "inappropriate" but not illegal.
In his book, Feith defends the intelligence activities on grounds that the CIA was "politicizing" intelligence by ignoring evidence in its own reports of ties between Hussein and international terrorists."
http://tiny.cc/FeithWorld