Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Best front page ever
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Ma Bell, Big Brother, what's the damn difference?
From The N.Y. Times, Sunday 12/16/07
"...But the battle is really about something much bigger. At stake is the federal government’s extensive but uneasy partnership with industry to conduct a wide range of secret surveillance operations in fighting terrorism and crime. The N.S.A.’s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure."
Wasn't it supposed to be just fer fighting terr'ists that they wanted to violate that inconvenient fourth amendment? What the hell does the N.S.A. have to do with fighting crime? Notice how that word (crime) is just slipped past you in the article like it's a given? We've always been at war with Eastasia.
Once again, the slope gets oilier.
"...But the battle is really about something much bigger. At stake is the federal government’s extensive but uneasy partnership with industry to conduct a wide range of secret surveillance operations in fighting terrorism and crime. The N.S.A.’s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure."
Wasn't it supposed to be just fer fighting terr'ists that they wanted to violate that inconvenient fourth amendment? What the hell does the N.S.A. have to do with fighting crime? Notice how that word (crime) is just slipped past you in the article like it's a given? We've always been at war with Eastasia.
Once again, the slope gets oilier.
Take A Memo
From AP:
Judge urged not to ask about CIA tapes
First you read this:
government lawyers told U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy that demanding information about the tapes would interfere with current investigations by Congress and the Justice Department.
Later in the same article:
On Friday, the Justice Department urged Congress to hold off on questioning witnesses and demanding documents because that evidence is part of a joint CIA-Justice Department investigation.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey also refused to give Congress details of the government's investigation into the matter Friday, saying doing so could raise questions about whether the inquiry was vulnerable to political pressure.
Let's see:
A. We don't want a judge to find out the truth, because that would interfere in Congress and the Justice Dept.'s investigations.
B. We don't really want Congress to actually investigate, because that would be playing politics.
Conclusion:
Let the fair-minded apolitical types (spit coffee on keyboard here) at the Bush Administration justice dept. (along with the accused spy agency) jointly conduct a fair and balanced investigation of themselves.
Nothing to see here folks, stop rubbernecking. You're slowing down traffic on the road to perdition.
Would it be too much for the AP typer to point out the obvious strategy here? It's not editorializing to highlight facts.
Judge urged not to ask about CIA tapes
First you read this:
government lawyers told U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy that demanding information about the tapes would interfere with current investigations by Congress and the Justice Department.
Later in the same article:
On Friday, the Justice Department urged Congress to hold off on questioning witnesses and demanding documents because that evidence is part of a joint CIA-Justice Department investigation.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey also refused to give Congress details of the government's investigation into the matter Friday, saying doing so could raise questions about whether the inquiry was vulnerable to political pressure.
Let's see:
A. We don't want a judge to find out the truth, because that would interfere in Congress and the Justice Dept.'s investigations.
B. We don't really want Congress to actually investigate, because that would be playing politics.
Conclusion:
Let the fair-minded apolitical types (spit coffee on keyboard here) at the Bush Administration justice dept. (along with the accused spy agency) jointly conduct a fair and balanced investigation of themselves.
Nothing to see here folks, stop rubbernecking. You're slowing down traffic on the road to perdition.
Would it be too much for the AP typer to point out the obvious strategy here? It's not editorializing to highlight facts.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Coltrane!
In the future...
...maybe every asshole Republican will have their own personal News Channel. Rudy already does.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Just A Coincidence, I'm sure
Do you wonder why a powerful Democrat would push for retroactive immunity for telecoms that gave private customer data to the government? It seems odd, considering that the tidal wave that gave Democrats both houses of Congress was powered in part by grassroots anger at Bush administration abuses of power. Gee, Senator Rockefeller, it wouldn't be related to those fat telecom donations, would it? The corporate wing of the party is alive and well, and selling out again.
Via Huffington Post
Via Huffington Post
Saturday, September 22, 2007
$720 Million a day could solve a few things.
Cholera In Iraq
What is this, 1923? This is completely preventable, and shouldn't exist anywhere.
Seriously, clean water and sanitation systems are what's needed, and for the cost of a couple of oil wars, could be in place worldwide.
Seriously, clean water and sanitation systems are what's needed, and for the cost of a couple of oil wars, could be in place worldwide.
I feel so safe.
Friday, September 21, 2007
When we wuz fab (ancient me)
One of my early tunes. (The first of the 2 songs on the clip.)
