he consciously ceded power from the executive branch, and he specifically explained the rationale when he made his signing statement:

As I said a year and a half ago at the beginning of the process that produced this bill, "one of the most difficult tasks in a free society like our own is the correlation between adequate intelligence to guarantee our Nation's security on the one hand, and the preservation of basic human rights on the other."

This is a difficult balance to strike, but the act I am signing today strikes it. It sacrifices neither our security nor our civil liberties. And it assures that those who serve this country in intelligence positions will have the affirmation of Congress that their activities are lawful.

* * *

The bill requires, for the first time, a prior judicial warrant for all electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purposes in the United States in which communications of U.S. persons might be intercepted. It clarifies the Executive's authority to gather foreign intelligence by electronic surveillance in the United States. It will remove any doubt about the legality of those surveillances which are conducted to protect our country against espionage and international terrorism. It will assure FBI field agents and others involved in intelligence collection that their acts are authorized by statute and, if a U.S. person's communications are concerned, by a court order. And it will protect the privacy of the American people.

Ecce homo! I can only hope Obama has that much character.

Let them take their pathetic faith and their homophobia and their fear and hide in their fucking exurban basements.

The tide of history is against them.

Uh, derek, many churches are exempt from property taxes, but that has nothing to do with their 501(c)(3) status. 501 status is based upon charitable status, not religion, and it is Federal. Property taxes are assessed by the states, usually by county, and taxing real property would significantly affect religious organizations.

What do you think Catholic Church real property is worth in New York City? And what would it cost the church if it were taxed at the going rate?

When asked about "Cheney's vicious attacks on Obama" why didn't he respond:

Well, you know whenever I'm asked to comment on the deranged rantings of a drunk-driving, draft-dodging coward, an incompetent dolt whose brain function has been impaired by a series of cardiac incidents, I usually like to look at that person's record. And, in the case of Dick Cheney, isn't he the guy who sat on his fat ass in Crawford Texas, after having been warned that Osama bin Laden was determined to strike inside the US, and did abso-fucking-lutely NOTHING to defend the Homeland?

Just asking . . .

but when one considers the source: the torture ordering, CIA-outing clown who personally profited to the tune of about $7,500,000.00 on Halliburton's no bid contract in Iraq(about $1900 per dead GI), and who was unable to harm a hair on bin Laden's noggin after spending 6 years and a trillion dollars, the incompetent businessman who failed to perform due diligence before saddling Halliburton with enormous asbestos debt, and who can't even go bird hunting without getting drunk and blowing the face off some old jerkwad lawyer . . . you have to ask yourself WHO THE FUCK CARES what the soon-to-die-has-been says?

. . . I tend to lapse into calling him a fuckwad asshole whenever I think of him.

I admire your restraint, and your full understanding of his awful loathesome persona.

'cause I really do want to hear more from this clown on that issue.

Actually, it would be cool if we could trade Texas to Canada in exchange for Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. We'd get the Bay of Fundy, the Gaspe Peninsula, St. Lawrence River, Quebec City and Montreal . . . and the Canadians would get a place to visit in January and February.

Actually, sex ex based on:

The boys were taken to one room and told the girls were smoldering temptresses who would lead them astray. The girls, in a separate room, were told the boys were beasts only interested in one thing.

sounds pretty accurate to me.

Sure, women lie to men and vice versa, but:

About 623,000 violent crimes--554,000 against female victims and 69,000 against male victims--were committed

by an intimate partner in 2007. The percentage of female

victims (23%) of intimate partner violence was nearly 8

times that of male victims (3%).

...military doctors say four in 10 women at veterans hospitals reported being sexually assaulted while in the military.

In fiscal 2008, 2,923 sexual assaults were reported — an 8 percent spike over the prior year; 63 percent were rapes or aggravated assaults. Also, 251 incidents occurred in combat areas, with 141 in Iraq and 22 in Afghanistan — a 26 percent increase from fiscal 2007.

248,000 REPORTED rapes/sexual assaults in 2007

if the Bush/Obama Administration is allowed not merely to keep secret documents secret, but is allowed to keep secret from the American people WHAT THE LAW ACTUALLY IS.

Clearly, the people who DID the torturing knew what the law was. And the people who RECEIVED the torture had what we call first hand experience with what the law allowed. So the only people NOT allowed to know are the American people . . . the source from which all governmental power flows and the ultimate decision maker in this representative republic.

sensitive seismic sensors embedded in the political fabric of this great land register a spike in donations to progressive political causes and candidates.

Go, ahead Cheney, you asshole, keep talking. Go ahead, make my day!

He lied about WMD's, Valerie Plame, mobile chem labs, aluminum tubing, yellowcake uranium, Halliburton, al-Qaeda/Iraq connexion, Scooter Libby, ad nauseam.

In fact, if anyone can find me something he was RIGHT or told the truth about, please let me know.

Otherwise, the more this fatf*** runs his mouth, the more trouble he gets into.

so his disinclination to impeach Darth Bybee is just a heapin' helpin' of more of the same.