FISA Warrants
Extremely welcome news from the Bush administration today: they have apparently given up on the idea of conducting warrantless wiretaps on whomever they choose. But the phrasing, at least as reported by the Associated Press, just kills me: the Justice Department "has decided to give an independent body authority to monitor the government's controversial domestic spying program." Which is of course complete nonsense: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court always had the authority to monitor the government's surveillance activities; in fact the FISA Court was set up specifically for that purpose, and the only reason the Justice Department is "giving" the authority to the court is because the Justice Department illegally stole it in the first place. It's a bit like a thief stealing your car and then demanding gratitude when he gives it back to you.
Particularly when the thief gives it back only because he's afraid of prosecution. I suspect rather strongly that this action was only taken because of the the new Democratic Congress, and the prospect of harsh legislative review (in fact, Mr. Gonzalez is scheduled to appear tomorrow before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Pat Leahy was for sure going to have some strong questions about FISA). Surely the Attorney General and the White House Counsel's office understand perfectly well that no matter what sophistries they employed to justify their willing defiance of FISA regulations, it was all completely unconstitutional; and so, knowing that the Congress was about to actually do what it's supposed to do and put the brakes on this travesty, they decided to be, oh I guess they'd call it magnanimous and "give" the authority back to the FISA court. Isn't that just peachy of them?
That's one small step for a lawyer; one giant leap for freedomkind. (Even if all it does is get us back where we started.)
A Simple Plan
The Bush Administration is fond of claiming that those who oppose their Iraq war policies fail to offer any plans of their own, that they are quick to judge but never offer anything constructive in return. They justify this nonsense with some mildly-clever semantics: Bush said in his radio address Saturday, "Members of Congress have a right to express their views, and express them forcefully. But those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success."
But of course it's all in how you define success, isn't it? And if you declare over and over again that a troop withdrawal amounts to "cutting and running," then it cannot possibly result in success and is, therefore, not really a plan at all. "To oppose everything," Bush said, "while proposing nothing is irresponsible." This allows the President and his henchmen to claim that only they are offering any real, cogent plan for the disposition of Iraq and that complaints from Democrats and/or Congress are mere politicking at the expense of our valiant boys (and girls) in uniform.
Pure poppycock. There have been plenty of alternative plans proposed. I promised a plan of my own yesterday, and it's pretty simple: this one right here, from the Iraq Study Group. I won't get into all the ins and outs of why it's a better plan, because I just don't have enough time right now (see below), but take a look at it--I really think it speaks pretty well for itself.
Buy Our CD!
Meanwhile, off in a completely different direction, I will take just a moment to note that the Zen Noir soundtrack, composed by Steven Chesne, is now on sale on our website (we've got some samples up, too, so you can hear a bit for yourself). People who've seen the movie almost universally praise the soundtrack, so we're very happy to put Steve's superb work out in a format where people can enjoy it in its own right.
No comments:
Post a Comment