The War At Home

Obviously, not all (or even most) conservatives are violent, murderous lunatics. However, imagine for just one second what the Right Wing Howler Monkey Media Chorus would've done if this attack had been a Muslim (or an atheist or even just someone non-religious) going after a conservative church because of their politics. We'd be getting wall-to-wall coverage. And what are we to make of the constant barrage of violent rhetoric from the RWHMMC? Can we seriously doubt it was a contributing factor?

Just Because You're Paranoid...

That whole domestic spying thing? The one where Congress just totally abjectly caved to the White House? Yeah, turns out it's worse than we thought. Way worse. Senator Obama, is this "egregious" enough for you?

CAVE-IN!

Congressional Democrats have, for all intents and purposes, completely capitulated to Bush's demands on FISA--his unfettered power to spy on American citizens. The "compromise" not only blesses the President's illegal actions, but also exempts the tele-com Quislings from the inconvenience of having to answer for their actions in court--the ONLY avenue by which the American public could ever have learned who in the government authorized this lawless action in the first place. I suspect, as other commenters have noted, that Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer were motivated by a combination of lust for tele-com campaign contributions and fear that another terrorist attack would be blamed on them; how else to account for abasing themselves to a wildly unpopular lame-duck President in an election year? Even more disappointing is that Barack Obama has signed off on this instrument of surrender.

Supreme Court Accidentally Upholds Constitution

Apparently, there really is such a thing as habeas corpus after all. The talking heads seem happy, but I am left to ponder: is it really something to cheer about that the highest court in the land, by a 5-4 vote no less, has only grudgingly upheld what has been the fundamental basis of the rule of law since the Magna Carta? Is the bar really set that low now?
And to any Hillary Clinton supporters out there still contemplating either sitting this one out or supporting McBush, a point to consider: FIVE to FOUR.

"Military Dictatorship" Is Such An Ugly Phrase...

...I prefer "Unitary Executive." Bush Administration lawyerbots claim the President has the unfettered authority to send in the military to arrest US Citizens on US soil and lock them up forever without charges, much less a trial. And of course, none of this reviewable by any court. Now, here's the challenge: I challenge Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to publicly declare that they denounce this position and will never assert it in court. Get cracking, you two!

I Suppose I Should've Expected This...

Evidently, John Yoo's legal memorandum on the President's absolutely unfettered authority to torture children (but only if he thinks it's REALLY important) relies at least in part on the US Army's history of hunting down and summarily killing Indians who refused to be herded into concentration camps (reservations).

Shorter John Yoo:

"Clearly, the original intent of the Founding Fathers was to invest the President of the United States with the unfettered authority to torture children. If he decides it's in the national interest, of course."

UPDATE: Doug Feith re: assholes. Takes one to know one. To put it crudely.

Mukasey: Like Gonzales, Only Worse

At least Alberto Gonzales could manage to keep a straight face while lying out his ass.

Fear & Loathing

The FISA bill fight is about two things and two things only: the government having to get a warrant before spying on Americans and providing retroactive immunity to big telecom companies who broke the law. All the rest is just the usual despicable fear-mongering.

Huckafascism

Mike Huckabee issues charming, self-deprecating, down-home, populist appeal for theocracy. Funny how "God's standard" always just so happens to be the standard of the tele-Pharisees, which is essentially Social Darwinism with a religious fig-leaf. Of course, the economic royalists of the GOP had no problem with the Huck's designs on the Constitution; no, what got their knickers in a twist was his blasphemous intimation that maybe, just maybe, not absolutely everyone is doing completely 100% hunky-dory well in the current economy. In Michigan. Which contains Detroit.

Director of National Intelligence sez...

...waterboarding is only torture if it's done to me...

Another proud moment for the rule of law.

aaaaaaand we're screwed. Again.

Senators Feinstein and Schumer will vote for the nomination of Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General, evidently based solely his vague, off-the-record assurance that the President would actually have to obey a law banning "waterboarding." Of course, this is the same Mukasey who, as a federal judge, ruled that the President has the authority to arrest US Citizens on US soil and lock them up for the rest of their lives without ever charging them with a crime.
I have painstakingly defended this Democratic Congress, pointing out that in many cases they lack the votes to accomplish what many want of them in terms of reining in this lawless Administration. But if this is the best we can hope for, confirming a nominee just because he's "not Alberto Gonzales," even though his views on the apparently limitless bounds of Presidential power are completely indistinguishable with those of Gonzales, then what is the point of having a Democratic majority in the first place?

UPDATE: Guess which country prosecuted as war criminals enemy soldiers who used waterboarding on Allied POWs during WWII? Go on, guess!

UPDATE 2: But Condi Rice's legal advisor would apparently have let them walk.

Tell It To the Marines

The latest person repulsed by the Bush Administration's farce of a kangaroo court system in Gitmo.

Most Unintentionally Ironic Photo...

...from the Values Voters Summit.

Thanks to People for the American Way!

Privitizing War

That rumbling sound you hear is Machiavelli spinning in his grave like a a turbine as the Bush Adminsitration deploys a vast, unaccountable mercenary army in Iraq, a mercenary army with such a foul-smelling reputation even the normally supine Iraqi government wants them gone.

Freddie Thompson: Fascist, Terrorist-Lover

In Feddie's world, "dissent" which means "harm[ing] the president," makes America "weak and divided."
Oh, also, Thompson has no problem supporting terrorists, as long as they pay him. So that's another way he's Reagan Incarnate.

A Crack In the Wall

One of the more Orwellian provisions of the foul-smelling and repulsively mis-named "Patriot Act" (preventing those being investigated by the FBI from revealing that fact) has been struck down by a Federal judge.

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me

Thus passes Alberto Gonzales, quite possibly one of the worst Attorneys General in American history, certainly right down there with Ed Meese and A. Mitchell Palmer. I have encountered other lawyers like him, mouthpieces would say or do anything, legal, semi-legal or otherwise, on behalf of their clients, and who have completely forgotten their loyalty to the law and the justice system. Good riddance.

UPDATE: A classic 2003 Atlantic article on the cynicism and callousness of the Gonzo/Dubya team from it's earliest days back here in Texas.

UPDATE 2: Capitol Annex repeats Austin rumors that Dubya will tap Cornyn to replace Gonzo, presumably to prevent his defeat by Rick Noriega. I respectfully doubt it. Dubya needs someone non-controversial to prevent a bloodbath with Senate Dems. Not sure even Senatorial Courtesy would be enough to shoe-horn the notoriously unlikeable Cornyn through the process.

My Infamy Spreads

My recent column on warrantless wiretapping by the Bush Administration is referenced in the Tahlequah Daily Press, a fine member of the Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. family.

Where is Right-Wing Anti-Government Paranoia When You Really Need It?

Bush Administration may requires passports for passengers on domestic flights or visitors to National Parks in States that refuse to kowtow to the Real ID Act, a form of national identity card.