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:: 12.21.2005 ::
An Impeachable Offense: ordering illegal wiretaps of US citizens
From the New York Times: Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials. From the Washington Monthly:...the law forbids warrantless surveillance of US citizens, and it provides procedures to be followed in emergencies that do not leave enough time for federal agents to get a warrant. If the NY Times report is correct, the government did not follow these procedures. It therefore acted illegally.
Bush's order is arguably unconstitutional as well: it seems to violate the fourth amendment, and it certainly violates the requirement (Article II, sec. 3) that the President "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Read this now.
:: Deb 10:18 AM :: permalink ::
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:: 12.16.2005 ::
What you don't hear/read/see can kill you
Here's an interesting interview with Larry Beinhart, the author of Wag the Dog and The Librarian. He has written a new book: Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin. Here's a quote from the interview: You have to learn to look at what they do and ignore what they say. Whatever it is that they’re doing is not a war on terror, because they haven’t caught the terrorists and they haven’t cut down on the terrorists. But what they have done is they’ve managed to break the back of one of the absolute foundations of international law, which is the sovereignty of nations, and broken the back of one of the highest ideals of the 20th Century, established at Nuremberg -- that aggressive war is the mother of all war crimes. Heady stuff.
:: Deb 6:15 PM :: permalink ::
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The Return of Funny for Friday
1.) go to http://www.google.com/
2.) type in "failure"
3.) press the "I'm feeling lucky" button (instead of the google search one)
4.) laugh. Or cry. Whichever seems most appropriate that day.
[I added the last one]
:: Deb 2:23 PM :: permalink ::
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Wahoo! Senate fails to reauthorize key provisions of the Patriot Act
Article on CNN.com here. Thank goodness - I got a little worried after the House voted to renew the expiring provisions.
What I'm really hoping is that the schism between true Republicans and the fasco-fundamentalists that have hijacked the party gets so deep that the party splits in two - and totally loses its hold on the government.
A girl can dream, can't she?
:: Deb 12:59 PM :: permalink ::
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:: 12.14.2005 ::
In case you missed it (like I did)...
...the Onion gets it right yet again. Thanks, Nowell!
:: Deb 12:57 PM :: permalink ::
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New Orleans after Katrina, for real
Zoomable satellite photo from August 31st. Thanks to Barnaby for the link.
:: Deb 12:37 PM :: permalink ::
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:: 12.09.2005 ::
Christopher Walken for President?
Ummmmm.
Didn't know he'd worked with a lion tamer...
Thanks to Nowell.
:: Deb 6:14 PM :: permalink ::
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A cool thing
Thanks to Cameron for this one.
:: Deb 6:05 PM :: permalink ::
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WOW have I been away for a while.
Quote of the Day"Only then can we eradicate the practice of open defecation by 2010."
- rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, to the BBC in August. Mr. Singh wrote a letter to all chief ministers announcing that village council candidates in India should be allowed to stand for election only if they have a toilet at home. Apparently, too many elected members "do not have toilet facilities in their own houses and defecate in the open". Mr Singh said this activity was the main cause of the high incidence of diarrhoea in rural areas. Story here, link thanks to Enrique.
:: Deb 5:55 PM :: permalink ::
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