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Tuesday, May 15, 2007 12:00 AM

Gonzales' yearlong effort to block Comey's testimony

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Tuesday, May 15, 2007 07:20 PM

Shorter Tony Snow

"Go ahead. Impeach us. I dare ya. I double-dog dare ya."

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 07:28 PM

@ Frankly, My Dear

Thanks for the info. :-)

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 07:30 PM

@ Frankly, My Dear

I remember it well. The headlines in 96 pt type:

NIXON SACKS COX

Well, yes, Nixon was a Cox sacker. Dubya's just an azo ("major league").

Cheers,

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 07:45 PM

OT: Firefox addons ...

Someone was asking how-to have all the comments on one page, and it was mentioned to use Greasemonkey and one of the scripts available.

Just as an FYI running GM and the corresponding script didn't work for me. It ran for a few weeks, then stopped working properly. This was after the LTE format changes on salon.com and the various scripts being updated as well. Plus, I didn't care for the fact that the script ran automatically to put ALL comments on a single page. For really long LTE sections it took quite a while to collate and parse/process all the data.

Another solution, if anyone is interested, is to use a Mozilla/Firefox/Seamonkey extension for "REPAGINATION" found on the standard addons website for Mozilla.org.

One item in particular that I like is that it doesn't run automatically, instead allowing for selective numbers of pages of comments to be run against. Right-clicking on the <<Next>> link brings up a sub menu where you can choose either ALL, or any number in increments of 5 up to 40.

All in all, IMHO it is a very nice alternative should GM not run properly or one simply doesn't care how it works.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 07:47 PM

Frontline on Domestic Spying

A good program, but I don't think the show will scare many americans. Americans have chosen to be afraid of the wrong things.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 08:22 PM

Re: Frontline on Domestic Spying

They would be scared if they knew who John Yoo was.

From Wikipedia:

John Yoo contributed to the PATRIOT Act and wrote controversial memos in which he advocated the possible legality of torture and that enemy combatants could be denied protection under the Geneva Conventions.

His positions on executive power, collectively termed the Yoo Doctrine or Unitary executive theory, are controversial since it is suggested the theory holds that the President's war powers place him above any law.

In explaining the Yoo Doctrine, Yoo made the following statements during a December 1, 2005, debate in Chicago, Illinois, with Notre Dame Law School Professor Doug Cassel:

Cassel: If the President deems that he’s got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person’s child, there is no law that can stop him?

Yoo: No treaty.

Cassel: Also no law by Congress. That is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo.

Yoo: I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that.

On 14th November 2006, invoking the principle of command responsibility, German attorney Wolfgang Kaleck filed a complaint with the German Federal Attorney General (Generalbundesanwalt) against Yoo, along with 13 other "co-defendants" for his alleged complicity in torture and other crimes against humanity at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Yoo

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 08:49 PM

Mike Harold

Yoo scares me, for a fact.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 09:03 PM

Michael Harold:

If the President has to crush the testicles of the person’s child to save the lives of 300,000,000 Americans, then torture away.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 09:05 PM

What's all this cr@p...

About wiretaps "saving lives?" Has anyone ever shown any evidence of this? If Bush had taken our 500 Billion Dollars and used it to station a government agent with a breathalyzer outside every bar and houseparty in the country and prevented every drunk in the country from driving his or her car, now THAT would've saved some lives. But wiretaps and the Iraq war? I don't think so.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 09:25 PM

Tony's Snow Job & the "big lie, oft told"

While Tony Snow's press conference contained even more than the usual number of condescending obfuscations & nonsensical evasions it was more remarkable for the shameless mendacity of the few actual answers he deigned to give. Not so long ago, telegenic Tony was better than most at answering the question he wished he was asked rather than the one he was. He now seems too tired to bother, settling for the timeworn Rovian tactic of the "big lie, told often".

Firstly, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Snow blithely asserts, about the domestic surveillance program: "There were strong protections in there...multiple layers of review". Really? Congress, constitutional scholars & federal judges were just nit-picking. Then, as Glenn notes, he cravenly cites some (apparently needless) bi-partisan FISA legislative reform that had the singular disadvantage of non-existence. Which was fine, really, because as Tony assured us the illegal surveillance already had "strong protections...multiple layers".

Ultimately though, the non-existent-but-unnecessary-anyway FISA reform didn't even matter because, of course:

"The terrorist surveillance program saved lives. Period." While casually implying that the millions of Americans actually surveilled were terrorists, Snow & the administration expect others to just take it on faith that illegal spying, like rendition & torture, "saved lives. Period". Since the government has been spectacularly unable, despite bold claims & thousands of arrests, to successfully prosecute ANY substantive terrorist charges, life-threatening or otherwise, the claim of "saved lives. Period", is arguably the biggest lie of all.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 09:55 PM

The very definition of a troll

If the President has to crush the testicles of the person’s child to save the lives of 300,000,000 Americans, then torture away.

I don't need to read the Authoritarians to see the basic ugly thought processes on display.

Notice how it insinuates that our fearless leader would be in a position to wield the ball-peen hammer of said testicle crushing. And, that this duty, performed competently is presumed.

Nowhere is the rational realization that the ticking time bomb of doom is the result of movie fiction and not reality.

One particular item of note in this sentence is that it will not accept the responsibility of actually inflicting aforementioned crush of the sac. No, that's for our extremely competent leaders to do without informing the citizenry what is being done in their name.

19 guys with box cutters...

Bin Laden could not have known we'd destroy our constitution, our values, our military, our future prosperity, our relations with the world so easily could he?

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 10:24 PM

Data collection and a tortured mind

And at the same time, the head of Homeland Security has told the Europeans that we will not be able to protect the data that HS are collecting on travelers to the US, let alone according to European law (who knows what they are doing with our data that they have been buying from data agencies--sorry, we already know they are losing it wholesale, just ask any veteran, Homeland Security department employee, or person with a Florida driver's license).

Also, Mr. Troll, Jake Troll. You have just advocated child abuse. If it actually occurred, it would be a felony, not an interrogation method. As a foster parent, who has had to help children who have actually suffered abuse (and not just in your fantasies of power and masculinity) your comment made me want to a) throw up b) refer you to a therapist c) ask Glenn to ban you. If you actually took part in such activities I would stop you and report you to the police. Based on your statements, they may be interested in the contents of your hard drive and IP trail.

You are not trying to discuss anything here. The mind that can blithely talk about child abuse as an alternative interrogation method is sick and insane. The next time you troll pictures of your cultural enemy al-Qaeda, save the electricity--just pull up a mirror.

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