Ridding the world of terrorist librarians

Kevin O'Connor's infamy in Connecticut stems from his prosecution of a civil liberties case against librarians in a case defending the Patriot Act.

In the end, he lost, because judges decided that the case voided the Constitutional rights of the librarians. So O'Connor decided to appeal. And lost again.

A bit further down the road, it appeared that the FBI was issuing security letters like junk mail in pursuit of boogeymen in trumped-up Patriot Act cases.

Today, the Hartford Courant, in another hard-to-fathom endorsement by their editorial board, is asking the Senate to confirm O'Connor for a high-ranking position in the Bush justice department.

Let's see, that's endorsements of George Bush (twice), John Rowland (several times), Creepy Joe™ Lieberman (often), Hillary Clinton (for today's vote), and now Kevin O'Connor. What next, an endorsement for Bill Belichick as NFL coach of the year?

Civil rights and wrongs

Kevin Rennie is that rare commodity - a pundit who sees beyond partisanship to shine a light on any party, any politician, and bureaucrat, who acts illegally or unethically. He understands the system, and the law, and we're fortunate to be able to read his columns in the Hartford Courant.

Today, he underlines the irony of ambitious Connecticut US Attorney Kevin O'Connor pursuing a job in Bush's justice department when he spent months pursuing librarians as if they were mobsters, using the Patriot Act like it was a bludgeon.