Vaughn R. Walker, the chief judge for the Northern District of California, issued an interesting ruling yesterday in the federal judiciary’s ongoing “Slap the Lawless Bastards Down” campaign against the Bush administration’s pathological presidential powers over-reach.
In one stroke, the judge ruled that FISA is the exclusive means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and […]
Your President, George W. Bush (7/2/08):
“We’re strong dollar people in this administration, and have always been for a strong dollar, and believe that the relative strengths of our economy will reflect that,” Bush told reporters at a news conference ahead of his trip to Japan for a meeting of the Group of Eight rich nations.
Is […]
Calculated Risk points to this shocking WSJ story on construction loans gone wild.
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., $45.4 billion of the $631.8 billion in construction loans outstanding at the end of the first quarter were delinquent. When banks announce second-quarter results in coming weeks, they are expected to report sharp increases in loans […]
For the last nine months, when retroactive immunity has surfaced, we have been able to delay its passage.
We were able to stop it in December because I had an army behind me.
Two months later, it stalled again — this time in the House.
And last week, we managed to delay action one last time.
But when the […]
Much as George Bush might hope otherwise, a major component of his so-called legacy is going to be his unenviable record of consistently being dishonest with the American people.
He’s lied to us about all sorts of stuff, from how Saddam’s non-existent WMDs were an imminent threat to the U.S., to Mission Accomplished, to “we do […]
U.S. escalating covert operations against Iran - Reuters (6/29/08):
U.S. congressional leaders agreed late last year to President George W. Bush’s funding request for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing its leadership, according to a report in The New Yorker magazine published online on Sunday.
The article by reporter Seymour Hersh, from […]
It looked for a while like the U.S. Military had moved from a policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Listen”.
The story of Army Sergeant Darren Manzella suggests, though, that it’s much more complicated. More like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Listen, But Don’t Tell The Media”:
Decorated Army Sergeant Darren Manzella has been […]
Always a pleasure to point out that Blackwater Worldwide is in the news again. Funny how they are hardly ever in the news for doing anything good. Still, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right? Even if Blackwater is caught first breaking the law, and then lying about it. Under the […]
Reuters:
The number of Americans who would condone torture, at least when used on terrorists in order to save lives, has risen over the past two years and now stands at over 40 percent, according to a new opinion poll.
I’ve always wondered what people who took this stand were thinking in their heads as the question […]
And no doubt in a secret CIA prison somewhere, being regularly motivated to advise the Bush administration on how to treat Guantanamo detainees.
On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit determined that Huzaifa Parhat, who has been detained in Guantanamo Bay for more than six years, is not an enemy […]
