DCLaw-The essay at your link http://insideoutthebeltway.blogspot.com/2009/02/juggernaut-and-spark.html was good to read:

I highlight all this because these first signs of the Obama administration's wandering eye for the previous administration's Ring of Power are rapidly becoming a case study in why executive power tends not to recede at all after each period of aggressive reaching.

[I could have done without the graphic Anaconda comparison, though, ;-)]I think Cheney is a bigger player in this than Bush. He’s been on the Executive Privilege rampage since at least Iran-Contra.

I hope you’re right about the existence of “sheltering palms of forces more ancient and enduring than any inertia machine.”

burnspbesq-

[To Amity] “I think you missed the point of the original comment by Harpie that I was responding to. If I understood correctly s/he was asserting that new DOJ folks should have hit the ground running on January 20. I was suggesting that that was an unrealistic expectation.”

You’re right. That’s exactly what I was trying to get at. I don’t know why that would have been “unrealistic”. [See JamesFinkelstein’s comment below] Lives are in the balance.

sysprog-[from ESPN] “"It just shows that when you do something illegal like this, that you pay a price," Davis said in an interview with The Associated Press. [...]”

Thanks for almost making me laugh out loud.

JamesFinkelstein-THANK YOU for this:

It would be a far better thing for Eric Holder to personally show up in front of the 9th Circuit, tell the Court of Appeals that the Bush Administration's position was contrary to law and justice, and acquiesce in a ruling overturning the District Court's dismissal. That would accomplish the restoration of the rule of law, the respect for Civil Rights, the repudiation of tyrannical secrecy claims, and the establishment of an important judicial precedent at the Court of Appeals level.

pow wow I very much appreciate the work you did to transcribe the proceedings. And [quoting jayackroyd]

if the legislature has become unable to check executive power, we are on a very dangerous road, dependent on the good will of the executive, and nothing else, to preserve our liberty.

Yes, “That is All”.

ondelette

This is not what is alleged. What is alleged is that Jeppesen is complicit in torture and incommunicado detention. Asserting that doing what Jeppesen and the CIA did was intelligent never entered the plaintiffs' or their lawyers' minds.

Thanks, once again, for keeping the discussion honest. When will they get this part right?

Orville H. Larson

Congress had better pass the State Secrets Protection Act

The Last Major Action on it [S. 2533] was 8/1/2008: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 938.

How important is it to these people?

Schnizler-I’d like to second your challenge:

Dr. King had a dream and he walked and talked to bring that dream to reality. What's Obama doing other than talking???

Just actions speak much louder than "just words".

For your salutations, and bold voice [divinity resounding], I humbly thank you.

GG:

As Marcy Wheeler notes, the co-sponsors of this bill are among the most influential in the Senate. The bill is endowed with the two most precious Beltway commodities -- bipartisanship (with Specter on board) and the blessing of a saintly "centrist" (McCaskill). It's a bill that is co-sponsored by the two leading Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (Conyers). If they are serious about imposing meaningful limits on the Obama DOJ's attempt to shield the executive branch from judicial scrutiny, they will be able to move this bill quickly.

Leahy, Specter, Feingold, Kennedy Introduce State Secrets Legislation, 2/11/09 [S. 2533] http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200902/021109b.html

The original Bill [S.2533] was co-sponsored by: Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Feingold, Leahy, McCaskill, Menendez [NJ], Schumer, Specter, Tester, Webb, Whitehouse, before the:

"Latest Major Action": 8/1/2008, when it was "placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 938."

How many pounds did Binyam Mohamed lose between August 1, 2008 and February 11, 2009?

that mean the opposite of what they mean?

One of my favorites: sanctioned.

"[...] A stretch, I know. But possible?"

of speculating about Obama’s possible motivation or mind bending convolutions of probability?

For months we’ve heard the admonishment that Obama should not be criticized because “he hasn’t done anything yet”.

Well, he’s now done something.

How many actions will it take before we’re allowed to criticize?

Thanks for any information you may be able to provide.