Like i said I also talked to to other attorneys,like my BOALT husband,

You are right, bystander, just sit back and let the hits keep on coming!

But you really should read her letters on the abortion issue, with the phrase "reasonably believed" in mind.

Yeah, well. Let's clarify.

Those of you still insisting that they are spineless weasels need to start getting a grip and understand something.

These unprincipled, spineless weasels are standing up to you every day in every way, and they do it proudly and boldly. They've been doing this for years and they're getting better at it, even as the progressive netroots grows in apparent strength and continues to challenge them.

Why do you suppose this is? Why do you suppose they have no qualm at all about standing up to you, indeed slapping you around and simply dismissing what they think are your silly little hissy fits and outrages.

I say those spineless Dems are pretty dambed bold. Because in the end, they don't care what you think and they don't mind saying so, and showing just how much contempt they have for you. Even young Senator Obama seems to have picked up on the "We'll Show You!" game.

When they do this, when they stand up to you -- as they are doing more and more while the Bush regime winds down -- they're making a profound, and to them, fundamental, statement: they are The Government; you are not.

And that Government includes Bush and his cronies and fanbois and henchmen, it includes all of the Congress except the Progressive Caucus -- which can barely get their phone calls returned by the Madame Speaker -- and it includes the judiciary (except for the few remaining liberal activists) and it includes the appointees in every department and the Pentagon, vetted by Cheney, emplaced by Bush.

That is The Government. That is who they are and you aren't. Every time they pull this shit, that's what they are telling you loud and clear. It's not even a "sit down and shut up." It's a "you don't matter; go away."

The Government, as a collective, has decided that anyone who presses 'constitutional' arguments is a radical extremist who need not be listened to. Anyone who promotes the idea that the Rule of Law should apply equally to the highest and the lowest is a radical extremist who need not be listened to. Anyone who insists on withdrawal from Iraq and the end of America's New Imperium is a radical extremist who need not be listened to. Anyone who insists on impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors is a radical extremist who need not be listened to. Anyone who even mentions "war crimes" in connection with any representative of The Government is a radical extremist who need not be listened to.

Since so many Americans obstinately fall into one or more of those radical extremist categories, believe me, The Government needs every bit of Power usurped by the Busheviks and then some just to keep tabs on what the masses may be plotting on their listservs and internet socializing accounts. You bet.

Yes, the Constitution IS optional. What are you going to do about it? Elect more Blue Dogs like last time? Well, that sounds like a plan, doesn't it? Go right ahead. Yes, the Rule of Law DOES apply only to the Little People, and then only to some of them based on race and gender. What are you going to do about it? Elect more pseudo-Progressives and Blue Dogs? Go right ahead. They're begging you to.

Yes, the Presidency has been turned into a competitve monarchy, and yes it can operate very effectively as an Autocracy. What are you going to do about it? Call and fax and write stern letters? Elect more Blue Dogs? Please! By all means! Have at it!

They see their job as protecting and defending The Government, not the Constitution. And they think they're doing a pretty good job. Too bad radical extremists don't appreciate the job they're doing.

Your job, in fact the job of all ordinary Americans, is to keep on consuming the economic, political, and social products they believe you deserve.

pinky, the two things that'll get ya are bombast and intellectual or (God Forbid with Glenn around) legal pretension.

Other than that, they can and do make allowances for anything around here. So don't worry.

Or do what I did, simply never look at your past letters, and pretend they don't exist. And deny, deny, deny. And then change your handle!

"The ACLU's National Security Project."

Can somebody please remind me what we might find on the short list of the ACLU's contribution(s) to "National Security"? Quite seriously, one might be able to argue that the ACLU tries to protect civil liberty principles in the face of increased national security measures. In that respect, whether you agree with the ACLU or not, they would be best regarded as "The National Security Counter-weight." But a "National Security Project"? Yeah, right.

-- Elephantman

Yeah right, indeed. We have seen how much security this fascist regime under your hero dick cheney has bought us - trillions wasted on an utterly reckless, completely unnecessary, incompetently executed and catastrophic occupation of a country that posed no serious threat, the crippling of our military strength and the locking down of our entire army in South-Central Baghdad in perpetuity ("the Surge is Working!"), loss of international respect for the United States and an enormous growth in outright hatred of the U.S. worldwide, the crippling of our economy, and an enormous increase in our indebtedness to our economic rival China. All of this enormous damage to our true security occurred precisely because of the illegal and unconstitutional secretive policies undertaken by the cheney regime. And these self-destructive abuses are precisely what the ACLU is attempting to prevent in the future. So yes, the efforts of the ACLU work toward true security for this country while the criminal acts of the cheney regime do enormous damage to our security - no matter how loudly they bleat about their 'war on terror'. No one can rationally argue that the cheney regime has not enormously weakened this country and damaged our security.