Though we may be frustrated by their lame-ass political news coverage, somebody at the New York Times is a great editorialist. Go there now and read “The March of the Straw Men.”
President Bush is not giving up the battle over domestic spying. He’s fighting it with an army of straw men and a fleet of red herrings. …
… Let’s be clear: the president and his team had the ability to monitor calls by Qaeda operatives into and out of the United States before 9/11 and got even more authority to do it after the attacks. They never needed to resort to extralegal and probably unconstitutional methods.
Mr. Bush said the warrantless spying was vetted by lawyers in the Justice Department, which is cold comfort. They also endorsed the abuse of prisoners and the indefinite detention of “unlawful enemy combatants” without charges or trials.
The president also said the spying is reviewed by N.S.A. lawyers. That’s nice, but the law was written specifically to bring that agency, and the president, under control. And there already is a branch of government assigned to decide what’s legal. It’s called the judiciary. The law itself is clear: spying on Americans without a warrant is illegal.
One of the oddest moments in Mr. Bush’s defense of domestic spying came when he told his audience in Nashville, “If I was trying to pull a fast one on the American people, why did I brief Congress?” He did not mention that some lawmakers protested the spying at the briefings, or that they found them inadequate. The audience members who laughed and applauded Mr. Bush’s version of the truth may have forgot that he said he briefed Congress fully on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We know how that turned out.
Yep. We do.
Good job on C-span
Strange how GOP can’t find WMD but has tape to tell how airplanes hauled them away.
How about Officier who said he flew with W, never missed a meeting or flight volinteered for Vietnam. It only took five years for this clown to come out of the weeds, probably in the same dope recovery where W belongs.
Saw you on CSpan today. You’re right, your brain is dead. Didn’t know they were so desperate for guests. Stooped to an all time low. Guess Bush/Republican bashing is good therapy for you. Glad I don’t have to listen to it.
BTW – you can scream all you want that the Bush administrations is spewing fear with the terrorist talk, but you just don’t recognize your own fear mongering with your “oh my god we’re losing all our civil right’s” screaming. Tit for tat lady. Crawl back under your rock. Come out when it’s safe
The Real Muse
If your interested in hearing the“realâ€news from a“realâ€muse, just tune in to Air America and take a listen to Randi Rhodes. Randi Rhodes is one of the most well researched and informed people on the radio today.
Many call her cynical.
Reminds me of an interview Mike Wallace had with Clare Booth Luce. He remarked after listening to her view of politics “you are quite the cynic†to which she replied “do you know the difference between cynic and an optimist†he shrugged, she quipped,
“ a cynic is usually better informedâ€.
Ms Rhodes questions how media is marketing the war to the public. Previously information was gathered by foreign correspondents who reported on their findings. Corporate ownership of TV stations driven by the bottom line found the news segment unprofitable. Which prompted them to cut costs by withdrawing the foreign correspondents, the news is now fed by the news agencies (Reuters, etc) to the newscasters.
90% of the public gets their information from TV. If you were to watch PBS or C span you will see you’re not getting the same news. Ultimately, if you didn’t see it on Television it didn’t happen.
Randi says those who would still vote for this administration have what she calls “unexamined livesâ€.
Many callers frustrated with their Republican friends (and we all have few of them) ask Randi “how do we overcome a Republicans stiff stance“. She responds ask them
“Why would you vote against your own best interests“, or you just need to
“improve on your observation comprehension skills“.
Musings:
“ Very difficult to exist in a society where the laws are written by the people looking break them“.
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilanceâ€
“ The only cures for the evils of democracy is more democracyâ€
A. Lawrence 8/22/05