Wonderful glossary, Glenn. Is the key related to US exceptionalism? By definition, everything the US does is good, even if it is something which we have condemned other nations for doing.

But then, that explains The Village's "out": when the Left is accused of moral relativism, it is seen by The Village as an absence of standards, but when The Village engages in relativism, it is to uphold the standard that the US is infallible.

Okay, I've been 10 to 20 pages behind all day and the topic is incredibly depressing. Just like celebrating the election of Barack Obama, whom we knew had already thrown the Fourth Amendment under the bus during the campaign, but was significantly better than "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran", we now celebrate keeping a horrible policy in place because we at least aren't going to get new statutory support for making the horrible policy permanent.

To avoid going insane, in response to this:

"I live on HeinrichHeineStraße"

-- pieceofcake

I offer this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu74hcSDyYQ

Prost!

Glenn,

My point in following up on the details of how this would not make it into actual law was meant as more of an exercise in scoping out the parameters of how the Kabuki will play out, rather than trying to tell you that defunding defense contractors won't happen. This is the best opportunity I've seen in a long time for civil liberties extremists and other fans of the rule of law to hijack an act of political theater set in motion by radical Republicans and shove it right back in their faces while scoring major points, as you point out, on their hypocrisy. Because conference versions of two bills will be needed, as I pointed out in my last comment, it looks like Grayson will have quite a bit of time to work the crooked defense contractor angle. This is a better situation than if both chambers had approved a single, stand-alone bill that would now be on Obama's desk.

The Senate and House de-funding language is attached to different bills:

Republicans got their wish to strip the group of its money Thursday, when the House voted 345-75 to eliminate funding for the group. The bill was attached to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act.

/snip/

The Senate and House initiatives to cut funding for ACORN won’t take effect until the bills to which they are attached clear Congress and are signed by President Barack Obama. The Senate measure is attached to a fiscal 2010 spending bill.

Much as I would love to see the defense contractors shut down, there are many routes to this language quietly disappearing from both bills now that the flaw has been pointed out. There will need to be conference versions of both spending bills put together now that they both differ in whether the de-fund provision is present, and those conference bills will be subject to votes. I doubt anything with the de-fund language will even make it to Obama for signing.

Still, Grayson is pulling off an act of great theatrical value.

Terrific interview, Glenn. Great job of getting the Grayson interview while the story is still breaking.

I was interested in the discussion about implementation of the bill, especially where Grayson mentioned the bill has been passed by both the House and Senate and therefore at this point there are no "take backs". However, what I'm not sure about is whether Obama actually has signed the bill into law. Do you know if that has happened? If so, there is the further question of whether Obama may have appended a signing statement in which he tries to undo the conundrum of making the bill Constitutional while still keeping the MIC spigots flowing at full tilt. Conversely, if Obama has not acted yet, he still could veto the bill and ask Congress to try again.

Now it's "Are you an innie or an outie?"

Now I'm really confused. I'm definitely an "outie" when it comes to the political power structure, but my belly button says otherwise.

New motto: "Time to turn the power structure inside-out."

DCLaw1 was way ahead of us with his blog title: "Inside-out the Beltway".

Can't. Stop. Laughing.

Oh, yeah. I see the equivalence. Someone saving a life through first aid (and then getting sued through an abused civil tort system) is just as nobly heroic as someone killing a detainee by pulverizing all the bones in their legs and then watching them suffocate to death through hanging. I think someone could use a visit to their free county mental health clinic...

In the clandestine world you live as the Romans do, if you stick out, you are ineffective or you die. If you play safe, others die. It's strictly evolution in action.

Yes, your fearless leader (who had "other priorities" when it was time to put his sorry ass on the line) did take us over to the "dark side". What you are so willing to overlook is that it is entirely possible to have clandestine operations that respect the rule of law, both US and international. If you were to actually sit down and talk to a true intelligence professional, you would find that the good ones also have a respect for the rules. Yes, even in the clandestine world, there is a set of rules that are observed by those who participate.