Who would have thought that a man with Mr. Zelikow's experience and reputation would allow himself to be used in a bait and switch scheme? On the other hand, everyone is getting what they want: money and influence. Integrity is not as marketable as the perception of power. One is not so surprised at how BGR conducts business. As for Mr, Zelilow, after years of public service, who can blame him for cashing in? It's just too bad that this sort of sham is so lucrative and, but for Mr. Greenwald, usually so easy to pull off. Everything's for sale.

After reading Mr. Greenwald's posts about the right wing commenators who before the 2006 election defended Senator Craig and attacked the person who outed him but who now excorciate Senator Craig and call for his resignation, two words come to mind: self righteous and hypocritical. It is hard to believe that any of them ever cared one iota about Senator Craig or his family as people rather than as peices on a political chess board.

Regardless of political preference, self righteous and hypocritical critics add nothing to public debate. They dehumanize and demean and move on to the next target, safely removed from the pain and bluster they dispense with such vein throbbing certainty. Such critics might play a more constructive role in public debate if they rembered the injunction, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." There is also something to be said for making an effort to be polite.

It seems that people in power who promote "traditional values" and "family values" have selective memories regarding their own conduct: McCain, Craig, Vitter, Livingston, Gingrich, Guiliani, Foley, et al. Bloggers can help citizens remember what certain "men of principal" in positions of power seem to have forgotten, denied or ignored about their own behavior. Does being in power impair one's memory? Sometimes it's important for the public to be reminded of what politicians wish would be forgotten.

The governing principle for Sowell and Thompson appears to be that whatever they want, whatever they believe, is right. Whatever stands between what they believe and what has happened is irrelevant or gottcha politics or otherwise unworthy of their or anyone else's respect. Law and the legal process are irrelevant....sometimes. Irrelevant and not credible in the case of Scooter Libby. Relevant and credible in the case of Jose Padilla. For them law is just a political tool, maleable to suit their view of the world. They are dangerous people. Unashamed by their own hypocracy, they use language and ideas as they use law...without regard to consistency or meaning. To them nothing matters but the result they want, the result they believe in. Their public rhetoric is shameful. To be in politics today means one is free to (required to?) say absolutely anything that will stir the base. One can only hope that the mainstream media will do more to hold such reckless rhetoriticians to account so that their reputations accurately reflect their lack of principle and hypocracy.

There is little real leadership whose influence makes its way into the headlines. President Bollinger has shown leadership. Columbia University stands for what the country should and ultimately will stand for. It's as if those who hate the Iranian President and what he stands for fear that somehow he will harm the United States and Isreal merely by speaking at an American university, or, for that matter, anywhere in America. That fear is a weakness. Allowing him to speak, is a sign of strength. No one need listen. Whatever ideas he puts forth will be subject to comment, criticism or to being totally ignored. It is in Iran that one expects academic freedom and freedom of speech to be abridged to suit the convenience of those in power. Perhaps Mr. Silver and CBS wish to make Mahmoud Ahmadinejad feel right at home. All he has to do is come and talk at an American university and he causes some of our political leaders to do what he does back home. We are our own worst enemy. And special shame on CBS. Mr. Silver is a politician. While one might hope for more leadership from Mr. Silver but not expect it, one would - until the past year or two - have expected much more from CBS. At least Mr. Silver does not pretend to be something he is not. CBS, on the other hand, is pretending to be an independent news organization when in fact it is co-dependant on the powers that be, especially on the Bush administration. CBS is part of the government's team. It's as independant as Alberto Gonzales was as Attorney General. Thank goodness there are other news organizations that are independent.

Retroactive immunity, secret OLC opinions "legalizing" torture, presidential signing statements that purport to give the president the right to virtually ignore the legislation he just signed into law, an attorney general whose loyalty to president and party politicizes every level of the Department of Justice, a president who commutes the sentence a man convicted of obstructing justice and lying under oath, ignoring treaties that impose obligations inconsistent with the Bush administration's judgment about what is best for America, Guantanamo Bay, the cheney theory of the unitary executive that knows no limits, a congress that has surrenedered any notion of being a co-equal branch of government, a captive press,.............................

All of that and more supports the conclusion that law has no meaning distinct from the exercise of power by the Bush/Cheney administration.

The comparison to Kennedy and Katzenbach is a fascinating and effective way of showing how much has changed. The rationale for making the law so malleable as to be meaningless is simple: the law should not be, must not be an obstacle to fighting the war on terror. If you're part of the Cheney/Bush anti-terror effort, don't worry, you're safe not only from terrorism but also from law.

W.R. Chambers