What changed? Domestic spying program had been going for about two years already. It seems like Ashcroft and Cromey had not objected for the first two years of the program. Had they been signing of on approvals previously? Certainly had not been threatening to resign over it previously. So what changed?

A fresh pair of eyes:

http://balkin.blogspot.com/2007/05/what-was-presidents-role.html#1660231551262071325

"In early 2004, several Justice officials who were not in office at the launch of the NSA program began questioning whether it violated civil liberties. Jack Goldsmith, the new head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, said he doubted that the program was lawful. After listening to Goldsmith, Comey and Ashcroft agreed, Comey said."

Cheers,

Just imagine if all of the archetypes were real (I say they are). OK, now substitute W for the oh-so-reasonable President Merkin Muffley (yeah, I own it).

Not so funny, now, izzit? We're living it, baby.

"I do say, no more than ten to twent million dead. Tops"

Another good Kubrick movie about the psycho backline-warrior mentality is "Paths of Glory", where a politically ambitious general orders an impossible mission of certain death. He calls dissenters traitors and cowards, and cannot understand the motivations of the honest protagonist. When the suicide mission fails, he blames everyone but himself, to the degree that he attempts to execute 100 men from the battalion for cowardice.

Indeed. My favourite Kubrick (followed closely by DSOHILTSWALTB). It's Dubya's life, to a "T". Gee, wonder why we have a new "War Czar"? "Take the heat, and there's a Preznitdential Medal of Freedom in there for ya, along with another star for your uniform."

Cheers,

Heck of a comment by ondelette just there. And I continue to be impressed with Paul Rosenberg.

Could I be Lepidus when Rosenberg and Greenwald take over the country in a bloodless coup that reinstates the constitutional order? I'll bring the paper for the ballots for the fresh elections the next week; also, donuts.

One thing needs saying in the awed hush that always follows one of GG's spot-on jeremiads.

To those who think that off-year Congressional elections don't matter much: this is the answer.

THIS -- the Comey testimony, and the Committee control that made it happen -- is why divided government matters so much:

Subpoena power.

Feel it!

JvdH

Not to mock one of my favorite movies, but ten to twenty million dead is out of date language. That would read 10 to 20 megathanes nowadays. We don't talk/photograph/count dead people anymore.

and probably should be archived for safe-keeping and reference. (If red stars were desirable, that comment would merit one.)

* * *

President "Merkin?" I had no idea that those who like to mock the president's speech were also making another pun or reference. Very interesting.

It's a wild day when John Ashcroft turns up as a hero trying to save the civil rights of Americans, rising from his hospital bed to stop an end-around to re-authorize an illegal program.

How long will Congress allow this president to gut and burn the Constitution and all the protections fought for and died for over the past 231 years? The Founders must be spinning in their graves.

Any member of Congress who doesn't see that they must end this abomination of a presidency NOW should be made to resign. If you won't use the power of the legislature to stop the overthrow of the American government by the executive branch, you don't deserve to hold the job.

So you still don't understand, eh! You believe that the people who matter, and their lackeys, thought that Nixon et. al. abused their powers. The reality is that nothing of the kind exists in their minds -- spying powers were properly used to disrupt the civil rights campaigns, the anti-war campaigns, all kinds of left-wing organizations. Sadly, they were caught (oh, so, so sadly!), and the country was forced to temporarily abandon some of our traditions.

They don't see abuse - they see proper use to avoid a disruption in the countries power structure. They all pine for the days when guys like you would have their houses rifled through, your friends harassed and you blacklisted. And that's not just a Republican thing - it's an establishment thing. "They" just want to return to the good ol' days when everyone knew their place. You know, the American way!

For years now, whenever stuff like this came to light, invariably someone would start talking about slippery slopes. I know there are others on this site who appreciate energy landscapes and know that it is possible to be in places where everywhere you turn you are on a different slope, and all of them are slippery (I'm tempted to make an analogy to the nowhere differentiable surfaces that exist just before...chaos). -- ondolette

Exactly. Precisely. And there are times when it seems the ultimate aim of the Regime is indeed Chaos, in as fullsome a sense as they can manage -- or, failing that, absolute authoriarian control.

Many have argued that the horror show that's continuing with ever more daily bloodshed in Iraq is exactly what the Regime wants, this isn't a matter of inconceivable incompetence, it was the Plan all along. There's no concrete evidence that's the case -- that I know of -- but the results (constant or increasing mayhem for its own sake leading nowhere) speak for themselves. Those who make the case that what we see is actually the goal also say that control of the oil resources in Iraq and the region is the purpose of it. Given all the crude that seems to have... disappeared... who knows?

Meanwhile, when I was ragging on Rummy years ago, I would point out that it seemed obvious he had a "vision" in his head, and it was pretty clear what it was: Sarajevo under Seige. For four years that Bosnian city was surrounded and under seige by Serbian forces who committed endless atrocities -- because they could. Snipers, shelling markets, random chaos. And through it all, the life of the city went on, the people couldn't exactly get out, and they didn't have any safe place to go if they did get out (Srebrenica anyone?) I got the impression that Rummy was mesmerized by visions of Sarajevo, and he wanted to see (for experimental purposes of course) what would happen if a whole country fell under that kind of pressure. Would it survive like Sarajevo did? Or...

Stay tuned.