Kitty

If anyone knows what Sir Aych is trying to say please stand up. Cause I sure don't know. -- Kitt

You don't because you are a simpleton.

-- adnoto

Another sexist rears his ugly head. Amazing, isn't it, how they do that without the least bit of understanding of how they are exposing them selves. That is what makes it so clear that they are dyed in the wool misogynist sexists.

I like the way you think. Your plan of action is comprehensive absent the impeachment proceedings that should be considered for Pelosi, Harmon, Hoyer and Rockefeller.
— Nequals1

Members of the legislature are not subject to impeachment. A member of either house can be expelled upon the vote of two-thirds of the members of that house (Article I, Section 5).

Ironically, even though that's one of my standing assumptions, I still become outraged instead of gratified when reality meets, even exceeds, my infinitesimally low expectations.

Yes - that, I believe, is because you have -- for wont of a better word -- more "hope" than you are willing to acknowledge. I think that's true for most people who spend a lot of their free time paying attention to and being angry about political matters. Even those who feign resignation and defeatism actually believe things can be different/better and harbor hope that it will be. If they didn't, they wouldn't be expending so much time and mental energy paying attention to all of it.

That's obviously not true for everyone -- some people masochistically enjoy staring at things they hate but can't do anything about -- but I generally see proclamations of defeatism as a defense mechanism to guard against bitter disappointment when things fail.

From Bush on down to soldiers, And Iraq to Cuba, We forgot our history, And all that we stood for. -- Silash

If you are serious, please get your song together, make a video and post it on YouTube. I like what you have so far. You put that up on YouTube and watch it go viral. Please post a link if/when you get it done.

Great article, and I agree this is why they were given retroactive immunity.

My question is will the ACLU, lawsuit be able to help us.I mean are we hopeless with what Congress is doing to the people of this country?

Right now it appears we are dealing with our freedom's being washed away from us, before our very eyes.

I find it difficult to believe that the powers that be can, and will actually continue to get away with this.

When does it stop?

When does it stop? -- Diane B

When we the people put a stop to it.

Let's not complicate this even further..This book is terrifying enough as it is.

Let's consider one, simple point..ANY Senator can "hold" legislation for ANY reason they want..and can even do it without having their name associated with the "hold" publicly. So WHY didn't anyone step forward, publicly or not and "hold" the FISA bill??

A friend said that America’s reaction to 9/11 was like someone getting drunk and making a fool of themselves and wanting to forget about it the next day. I’ll add that Bush was a drunk! America and Bush were drunk on America’s military power and righteous glorious self-image.

Bush wanting to cement his decisions before leaving office might be an effort to justify the drunken night so that he doesn’t have to face it! Perhaps he thinks that FISA, telco immunity, and “impeachment is off the table”, prove that his presidency wasn’t really an embarrassing drunken night, but rather it was an example of wonderful decisive action! Ditto for Congress.

Even those who feign resignation and defeatism actually believe things can be different/better and harbor hope that it will be. If they didn't, they wouldn't be expending so much time and mental energy paying attention to all of it.

I suppose, if you include those of us who regularly let the odds get very long and don't stop trying. Jane Mayer said today she found her book uplifting because of all the people within the government who had objected, and refused, as the torture policy was being implemented. There are still 30,000 - 40,000 in U.S. military custody, and a large number still being abused as a matter of course. I found one thing she said very hopeful, though:

America has never before embraced torture. The country was founded on the idea of inalienable rights for all mankind - not just Americans. When the Bush Administration sanctioned a program of torment for US-held suspects, it didn't merely violate civil liberties, it violated the whole spirit of The Enlightenment on which the country was founded. It's a very deep break with the founders' values.

Shades of Eleanor Roosevelt. If more Americans realize that, it will help with so many problems both within the country and without. There are so many people in this country today who have forgotten to whom the founders ascribed those inalienable rights, and the last high government official that really, really took that to heart was probably Sargent Shriver.

The very longest odds are on fixing climate change. I think we will lose on that one.

Surveillance of money transfers exiting the United States was supposed to put the nails in Al Qaeda's financial coffin. But it took a mild mannered clerk in Lichtenstein to expose super rich tax cheats from the United States.

"Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme."

Lo and behold, the bank happens to be the same bank that employs McCain financial advisor and friend, former senator Phil Gramm, now Group Vice chairman of Swiss giant UBS's investment group. Not a peep has been heard from the United States government as to how this huge breach was allowed to happen on the Bush watch, especially with the advanced amount of technology at its disposal.

At least now, President Obama, will have the necessary tools to correct this very serious problem. Wire transfer from Cayman Islands to Monte Carlo? Don't worry, we're on it. I'll sleep better tonight knowing how we will pay for that damn war after all.

"The bank clerk, Heinrich Kieber, has been branded a thief by the government of Liechtenstein for violating the country's bank secrecy laws."

"He is now in hiding but scheduled to testify to the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Thursday via a video statement from a secret location, according to Congressional investigators."