February 6, 2006, Oaf of Office
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to give the current whitewash version of the President's massive program to spy on his (domestic) political enemies under the catch-all of "protecting us from dark skinned terrrrrrrrorists."
Let's not mince words: there is now no doubt that the President and his minions have decided to spy on a massive number of Americans in a program that is almost designed to be ineffective at intercepting actual terrrorists, certainly when viewed in the context of this WaPo report noting that of an estimated 5,000 Americans spied on, "the program" yielded less than ten suspects; for you sticklers, that's around 2/10 of one per cent, a return that would fail the definition of "probable cause."
Indeed, given this kind of a "success" ratio, given the man-hours of law enforcement personnel to run down false "leads" generated by such an intrusive, yet ineffective, "program," inefficiency alone is a reason to shut it down (its kind of like our invasion of Iraq; yes, a formerly contained irritant, Saddam Hussein is gone, but we are less well able to deal with other threats, such as a possibly nuclear armed Iran and North Korea... not to mention, we have destabilized Iraq itself... but there you go...), even if it did not constitute a massive incursion in the privacy and general civil rights of American citizens.
But hey, that's just me.
Anyway, Gonzales, who bizarrely was not sworn in, essentially gave the Committee nothing of value, and reiterated as a mantra that the President has intrinsic authority handed to him by God Himself to override the rest of the Constitution in "wartime," which God Himself also gave the President the power to declare that we are in. Forever.
The fact is, former A.G. Ashcroft believed there were limits to executive power that stop at some point before "dictatorship" (not necessarily far from it, but before it). Gonzales has no such belief. It's my own fault, really. I once suggested that it would be damned near impossible for Bush to find someone for A.G. who was worse than John Ashcroft.
When talking about the Bush Administration, one must simply not make statements like that. Ever.
Comments
Ah, now it's clear why Gonzales did all that smiling yesterday. He knows fascist Karl has all those Repug senators by the balls. They've all gotten the word: Step one inch out of line, guys, and you will be on the LIST.
Which will mean no more big $$$$, no more face time with the Preznit, and you might even find yourself framed as soft on terra. In this country, that's the kiss of death.
He's smiling, too, because he knows that the Democrats are too busy pissing their pants and covering their asses to mount any serious challenge, no matter WHAT laws Preznit and his fascist gang decide to break.
Karl is is fabulous form these days, no matter what that special prosecutor is doing with his Plame grand jury. Karl saw Hillary's face when Bush alluded to Bill during SOTU. Karl also heard Jon Stewart say "That look is where a boner goes to die."
But Karl just smiles, 'cuz his boner is still riding high. So grab your ankles, boys & girls. The fun has just begun.
Posted by John Palcewski at February 7, 2006 1:54 AM
Uh Oh - Africa Reports its First Bird Flu Case
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,184188,00.html
Posted by lj at February 8, 2006 6:26 PM