Letters to the Editor
-
@shooter
Hey Shooter
vete pa' el pedo!
-
Yowza!
The Intelligence Conference Report, in which all parts of government, including CIA, are held to the Army Field Manual on interrogation (eg, banning all forms of torture) just passed the Senate 51-45. McCain was there and voted no. We've got to hang this one on him big-time. He just offered up a vote for more torture. Absolutely disgusting for a former torture victim.
-
@Pro War
Well, a lot of people seem to want to take that kind of high-minded, let-the-nut-speak-to-himself-road with me. Problem is, they seem unable to, since apparently my propositions are too outrageous to ignore. Interesting that Bucky’s wasn’t.
Why is that interesting? What are you trying to say here? Spell it out, don't beat around the bush.
What exactly is so interesting about other people's insufficient outrage at bucky.
-
ALL BETS ARE OFF!!!
You mean the government might catch me placing a bet on a Pistons game while they're hot on the tail of some Islamofascist trying to smuggle a nuclear bomb into Washington DC?
THE HORROR!!!
-
amen, shooter
Wow. That 12 step program really worked. We're for the same candidate. Perhaps this is a sign of the end times, but I'd prefer to think of it as a beginning. Welcome aboard. My apologies regarding your past and your previous associates. May their knuckles heal rapidly. Viva Obama!
-
@virtue001
You mean the government might catch me placing a bet on a Pistons game while they're hot on the tail of some Islamofascist trying to smuggle a nuclear bomb into Washington DC?
You think they're going to catch a nuclear terrorist by listening to everybody in the country's phone lines?
What are you, stupid? If drug dealers and the mob are smart enough to not use public phone lines, terrorists will be too.
Much more likely, you'll in a few years get ticketed for illegal gambling after this huge, worthless program needs to justify it's existence by bringing in some additional revenue.
-
re: Warmongers for bucky!
William wrote:
Outright partisan fruitcake? Never partisan. She? Now you dunnit.
When bucky comes for you, that'll be me ducking under the general store sign, running to tell the town undertaker he's got some unexpected custom coming from across the street.
-- William Timberman
William, that pro war fool is something else. He is the very model of the fools that are making this country less safe each day by breaking our military and bankrupting our treasury.
I have faulted you as a 'war monger' for supporting the power of the state in times past. But god damn, in comparison to 'Proximity Warning', you are a teddy bear.
I apologize to you for using the term "war monger" in your case, and will come up with another one next time we disagree. Hmmm, perhaps 'fellow traveler' or something? However, I am too sick at the present to do justice to everyone, so I'll just keep today's comments short.
By the way, the he/she thing could never bother me; after all, the ineffable one is androgynous. You don't really think God has a swinging dick do you? Our spiritual selves are the same, so who cares what you get called?
Regards, b1
-
@ prunes -- Is this an audience or an oil painting?
Jeeze, prunes, maybe you should take a walk down to the lost and found and see if you can find your sense of humor.
-
Reid is so disappointed
from AP today (emphasis added)
"The president could have taken the simple step of requesting new authority from Congress ... but whether out of convenience, incompetence, or outright disdain for the rule of law, the administration chose to ignore Congress and ignore the Constitution," Reid said.
Speaking of disdain for law, Reid oughtta know.
-
Arne
I realize that this is the Mukasey "defense". I.e. OLC said it was legal, people acted upon this in good faith, and they therefore aren't guilty of anything, so there's no point in investigating let alone prosecuting them. Was OLC wrong? Who knows, but who am I to say, I'm new here, and the people who made these determinations are gone now. This is old news. Life goes on. Next!
It's quite clever, if also incredibly transparent. They will not prosecute, and "defend" this with such sophistry. As for the only other recources, congressional and civil action, well, congress, as we well know, cannot and/or will not do a damned thing about it, and civil action is effectively precluded by the states secrets claim, which the Federalist Society-infected authoritarian courts are all too ready to uphold. And of course, congress and the administration are in the process of making it even harder, if not impossible, to pursue civil action, via the senate FISA bill.
Why do the courts and congress keep going along with policies that are clearly and transparently undemocratic, tyranical and likely unconstitutional? Who really knows. I'm not sure if even they truly know. People tend to do things in practice that in theory they would not think themselves likely to do. Surely some truly believe that all of this is right and proper and necessary, being weak and stupid sheepish followers of authoritarian ideology, and having never really grasped the true meaning of democracy and the constitution. Others, though, are likely simply evil people, actively despising the concept of democracy and the constitution, and actively seeking to undermine both in their quest for total tyrannical power. They are political sociopaths.
Others, I imagine, have merely convinced themselves that they're doing the right thing, even though deep down they do not really buy it--fear, cowardice, laziness, stupidity, corruption, etc., have made them act against their better nature. Still others know that they're doing the wrong thing, but are too cowardly, weak and unprincipled to do otherwise. And yet others simply do not care, being so utterly cynical and soulless that it's not a matter of what's right or wrong, these being meaningless abstractions to them, but rather of what's best for them and their allies. Put them all together, and you have a working majority, independant of party lines, in congress, and the courts. And they dominate our political establishment right now, and likely will for some time to come, until something changes this. I'm not sure what that might be.
I take heart in my suspicion that the people who either truly believe in all this, out of sheepish adherence to authoritarianism, or are behind this, in a quest for total power, or are simply too cynical and opportunistic to care, comprise, at most, a bare majority of members of congress and even the courts, and possibly not even that. They have succeeded out of a combination of determination, cleverness and ruthlessness on their part, and cluelessness, laziness, cowardice, stupidity, weakness, denial and apathy on the part of sufficient numbers of those who do not share their goals and beliefs, but are will to either go along with them, or not stand up to them. But we have been, slowly, chipping away at this at most bare majority, and as it continues to make inroads. Just as they are wearing us down, we are wearing them down.
It's a double siege, of sorts, each side waging a war of attrition against the other--they against our democratic institutions, and we against their political dominance. They will continue to make gains, but that doesn't assure them of final triumph. Time is working against them. The elections this year will almost certainly reduce their numbers of truly devoted followers in both houses of congress, to be replaced by some combination of less dependable cowards and cynics, and perhaps a few new members who still believe in, and are able and willing to fight, to preserve our democracy. And they will likely lose the presidency to a Democrat who might not be the most actively progressive politician we have, but who is surely going to be vastly more so than the present tyrant. And the public despises them. All of which will make it harder for them to keep this up, and prevent what I hope will be attempts by the next president and congress--and civil litigants--to reverse all of this. No way to know how this will unfold, but even as they continue to score huge wins, time and events are slowly working against them.
We're might well lose this battle, and yet others. But that doesn't mean that the war is lost.