Letters to the Editor
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Wiretaps
I am curious: won't the clock simply run out on the BushCheney "workarounds" (like you I believe them illegal) in regard to the FISA laws?
Do you believe that the cases could be resolved by the supremes before January 08? If not won't they all simply go away as being moot, any new administration drafting new rules and the circus starting anew?
I further assume that a new administration will run with the enhanced powers BushCheney have claimed for themselves. Again, won't a resolution of those questions require starting again from square one?
Thanks to anyone who can offer sound legal opinion.
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Mootness
I am curious: won't the clock simply run out on the BushCheney "workarounds" (like you I believe them illegal) in regard to the FISA laws?
Not all of your questions have clear answers. But it is fairly clear that because the Bush administraiton continues to claim the right to eavesdrop without warrants, these matters are not moot. I listened to the Oral Argument in the Sixth Circuit and the judges were fairly unrecepective to claim that because the administration was not voluntarily complying with FISA, the claims were moot (they were much more receptive to the standing objections).
If a subsequent administration continues to claim this right, it is not necessary to re-start the lawsuit. That happens all the time, where officials are sued and then are replaced while the lawsuit is pending. The parties in their official capacities are simply replaced by the new officials.
There are also ways for the issue of the legality of the "TSP" to be raised beyond just seeking injunctive relief - including suits for monetary damages (though that is very difficult against federal government officials), efforts by a criminal defendant to exclude evidence on that ground that it was obtained as part of the illegal TSP, etc. And then there is the possibility of taking steps to trigger a criminal investigation and proceeding, soemthing unlikely to occur until there are hearings or some other change in the political landscape.
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My favorite verse...and not mocking private 'belief's..of other's, am I either.
..'Jesus was seen kissing M.M. repeatedly on the lips'...
And M de'M, has a few verses he borrowed from Virgil.
'By my own design I would have fled from marrying Wisdom herself if she would have had me. But no matter what we may say, the customs and practices of life in society sweep me along. Most of 'our' doings are governed by example, not choice. Nevertheless I did not, strictly 'speaking,' invite my self to 'this' feast; I /you were led 'here' brought to it by external considerations.
There is nothing awkward--in fact at all, no mattter how ugly, vitiated or repugnant--but can come bearable under certain circumstances, so vain is our human situation.
To tell the truth, 'none' have yet to attain to that perfect (love that word) intellectual elegance and cunning which confound right and injustice and which ridicules 'perfectly' We should be careful to mock other's private (spirtual) beliefs. Though we may not do our duty we must at least love and acknowledge it. It is okay to diddle (tease) without hate.
I love the Various Item Days.
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Fried Chicken and Watermelon for dinner.
It's the only thing Hillary and Obama didn't say (as far as I know) trying to pander. I thought black dialect speech was outlawed for white people. If she gets blackfaced by Hamsher, this time I'll understand.
Meanwhile it's interesting that Obama did exactly the same thing and got away with it. He definitely had the preacher cadence going. Aside from all that does noone find it passing strange that these imitations were both performed in churches! With references to Christianity!
What a farce, Coulter will have a field day. I think all the Republican candidates should quickly find a church and adopt Italian and Irish accents to talk about Christianity before the left remembers it's secular and articulate.
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Illegal use of confidential information; Plame and the US attorneys
The CIA leak case verdict should make it clear that the Bush/Cheney administration views confidential information, even that containing vital security information, as a weapon to used against personal or political "enemies." The similarity to Nixon couldn't be clearer. If they have the information, they will misuse it. Every citizen in this country should recognize that, for example, Bush, Cheney and Rove could actually be running this country, even as we speak, by blackmailing most of the congress and the media. Not to mention what they could do to you and me. That they do not hesitate to do it is shown clearly by the Libby/Plame case, and reinforced by the will to use the judicial system politically as seen in the firings or the many US attorneys.
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Drudge
One would like to think that the reliance on Drudge has become a thing of the past, as more journalists have become comfortable with The Google and Intertubes world, but the fact Drudge’s drawl story has grown legs is disconcerting. Anyone with sense can see what Drudge does is sensational with the right-lean, and more often wrong than not, but I guess maybe that’s why the media likes him … he’s as often wrong as they are. But maybe the groupthink dynamic is still in play with Drudge – if you think all your competitors are looking at him and using his stories, you will too so as to not get chewed out by the boss for missing a “story”. Easier than actually doing research and, you know, reporting.
FISA: Thanks for the update. Having been involved in the government side of this two decades ago (I was young and not fully formed politically yet – be forgiving!), I have been following this standing issue closely. Let’s hope this lawsuit succeeds.
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Drudgery
So many media elites check the Drudge Report consistently that a reporter is aware his bosses, his competitors, his sources, his friends on Wall Street, lobbyists, White House officials, congressional aides, cousins, and everyone who is anyone has seen it, too. Mark Halperin of The Note
This was especially true for partisan hacks like Halperin who have been shilling and whoring for the Bush misadministration from day one. For people like Wolf Blitzer and John Harris of the WaPo who co-authored Halperins sycophantic book that expressed their man-love for Karl Rove, The Drudge Report was the obvious first stop for alot of members of the media who carried water for Bush/Cheney in order to curry favor.