Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Judge Dismisses NSA/Spy Case (4:47 pm)

JUL. 25 4:27 P.M. ET Citing national security, a federal judge Tuesday threw out a lawsuit aimed at blocking AT&T Inc. from giving telephone records to the government for use in the war on terror.

“The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government’s intelligence activities,” U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly said.

Kennelly ruled in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on behalf of author Studs Terkel and other activists who said their constitutional rights were violated because of a National Security Agency program of gathering phone company records illegally.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Playing Guess Who (10:33 am)

Dana Milbank has an interview in today’s WaPo with an anonymous Republican, campaigning for Senate:

He spoke of his party affiliation as though it were a congenital defect rather than a choice. “It’s an impediment. It’s a hurdle I have to overcome,” he said. “I’ve got an ‘R’ here, a scarlet letter.”

That left the candidate in a difficult spot. “For me to pretend I’m not a Republican would be a lie,” he reasoned. But to run as a proud Republican? “That’s going to be tough, it’s going to be tough to do,” he said. “If this race is about Republicans and Democrats, I lose.”

Some folks are trying to figure out who the mystery Republican might be.
Atrios.
John at AMERICAblog.
Kos.
Patrick at Fishbowl.

update:
Michael Steele Unveiled

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Monday, July 24, 2006

Iraq War Powers Repeal Act of 2006 (10:48 pm)

Democrat Representative Lynn Woolsey has a post at MyDD announcing her introduction of legislation to rescind the President’s war powers in Iraq.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Bill’s Visit To Connecticut (11:00 am)

BIll Clinton going to Connecticut, to put in a good word for Joe Lieberman, has become a bit of a hot topic.

“So whose idea was it?” is the question asked here and here.

The Big Establishment Media kiddies focus on the issue of marital discontent in the Clinton household, and otherwise display a great narcissist fondness for their own political acumen.

Kos has an excellent take:
Clinton looks magnanimous and high minded.
Lieberman looks smaller, pettier, and more pathetic.
Boxer, “hoping that Clinton’s visit overshadows hers and no one notices she’s in town, is suddenly a profile in cowardice.”

posted by Brian Zick | 1 comment

“The Constitution Is Not What The President Says It Is.” (8:17 am)

Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker highlights the findings of the ABA examination of Bush’s signing statements.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Watergategate Update: Will Duke Make A Cameo Reappearance? (10:03 pm)

TPM reader DK posts here on an AP report detailing how Duke Cunningham - who had a seat on the House Intelligence Committee - “took advantage of secrecy and badgered congressional aides to help slip items into classified bills that would benefit him and his associates.”

DK follows up with the story that the Justice Department, which has a number of potential prosecutions pending in relation to Cunningham, is resisting efforts by House Intel Chair Pete Hoekstra to interview Cunningham in advance of these possible cases. So Hoekstra is considering subpoenaing Cunningham. Which could - purely by coincidence of course - seriously screw up the DoJ cases.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Ouch, That’s Really Gotta Hurt (9:40 am)

Irving Stolberg served two separate terms as speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives in the 1980s. Atrios has linked to his commentary in the Harford Courant today.

Joe Lieberman and I have been friends and colleagues for 38 years. We ran for and won seats in the Connecticut legislature as a team of reformers in 1970. He was my state senator and I was his state representative. He rose to Senate majority leader as I became speaker of the House. With others, we formed the Caucus of Connecticut Democrats, a progressive coalition, to further the causes of peace in Vietnam and justice at home.

I have supported him in every election he has had - until now. This year I am supporting Ned Lamont to unseat Joe. Almost four decades of friendship with Joe has made this a wrenching decision for me.

As Joe points out, his record on a number of issues, such as the environment, is good. But on the two biggest issues of our times, he is dead wrong.

His blind support of the Iraq war, begun illegally and a continuing catastrophe, is monstrous.

And his defense of an incompetent president, a vice president who fits the dictionary definition of fascism and an extremist administration that has perpetrated torture, illegal eavesdropping and a general shredding of the Constitution is insulting to the people who elected him in the first place.

Joe’s constituency is not Bush and Cheney; it is the progressives and moderates, the blacks and... read more

posted by Brian Zick | 1 comment

Pentagon Reports Bush’s “Go It Alone” Strategies Have Harmed the “War on Terror” (9:07 am)

John at AMERICAblog calls attention to this report by Mark Mazzetti in the NY Times, which details how U.S. cuts in foreign aid to certain African nations has hurt the “War on Terror.”

And it’s all because George Bush and the Republicans believe that they - and their policies - are above the law.

Since 2003, Washington has shut down Pentagon programs to train and equip militaries in a handful of African nations because they have declined to sign agreements exempting American troops from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

But the policy, which was designed to protect American troops, has instead angered senior military officials, who say the cuts in military aid are shortsighted and have weakened counterterrorism efforts in places where the threat of international terrorism is said to be most acute.

Bush and the Republicans fear their behavior would put them in the dock at the Hague, if the US were to become a signatory to the jurisdiction of the Criminal Court. It may be the only thing they’ve ever figured out correctly. And they don’t want any US service personnel brought up on war crimes charges, because the defense would inevitably be “I was just following orders” - a phrase made infamous at Nuremberg.