The home of the free and the brave?

Recognize this version of America?

Sounds more like the Soviet Gulag. Repulsive and sickening are the only words I can think to describe the treatment of innocent people in the hands of CIA agents working with the explicit permission of the US Government, and I'm afraid, you and me.

If this could happen to Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, it could happen to you. Don't kid yourself. The fascists we need to worry about are not practicing Muslims, they are instead running our government.

Won't catch me singing, "America the Beautiful," anytime soon.

It's a wonderful filibuster

(update below)

This time of year the favorite Frank Capra film of many, who are not too cynical to enjoy Frank Capra films, is It's A Wonderful Life. Today, his Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, may be more appropriate as Chris Dodd stands to filibuster the FISA bill allowed on the floor by the spineless leader Harry Reid (whom BTW, after announcing he would allow the version of the bill with telecom immunity on the floor, relented, after his office was firestormed by constituent calls, and has now allowed both versions on the floor - typical of Reid, who doesn't have the backbone of an annelid). Dodd has some support, albeit little, from a brave pack of Senators, the usual suspects, who respect the Constitution.

Could this be Chris Dodd's finest hour?

Here in Connecticut, we know how our Senators will vote. One is leading the filibuster, the other is a Republican in Indydem clothing (that would be Creepy Joe Lieberman, who betrayed his party once again today by endorsing a Republican for President), who will undoubtably oppose the legislation because it doesn't support his obsession with annihilating Islamofascists.

Everyone else should be on the phone calling their senators to urge their support for the filibuster. Those phone calls do work. Look how it changed the mind of Ruf Tuf Harry Reid.

(update) Great debate going on in the Senate here.

Addictive netvid series for a snowy, haily, windy, winter's day

Watch one, and you'll watch them all.

Predetermined justice courtesy of Michael Mukasey

This is really no surprise, thought there are Congressman who will appear to be abashed. Michael Mukasey has authored an op-ed for the LA Times in which he defends the FISA bill, including immunity from lawsuits for telecoms.

If you somehow thought that Mukasey would bring a judicial impartiality to the job, this little PR piece should convince you that he's just another mouthpiece for Bush.

In the essay, he leads with the fear card, minus any real evidence:

Intercepting the communications of terrorists and other intelligence targets has given us crucial insights into the intentions of our adversaries and has helped us to detect and prevent terrorist attacks.

Of course, he invokes the specter of 9/11:

...it would provide protections from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that have been sued simply because they are believed to have assisted our intelligence agencies after the 9/11 attacks.

And it defends the conditions of immunity by claiming that, after all, it's not blanket immunity:

The bill does not, as some have suggested, provide blanket immunity for those companies. Instead, a lawsuit would be dismissed only in cases in which the attorney general certified to the court either that a company did not provide assistance to the government or that a company had received a written request indicating that the activity was authorized by the president and determined to be lawful.

First of all, it's not "blanket immunity" that's at issue. It's retroactive immunity. Providing immunity for a crime (and remember, right now it's still a crime to spy on American citizens), that was committed in full knowledge of those who permitted the crime.

To say that a company will receive immunity if it had written permission from the president and was assured that the act was not a crime, is ludicrous. George Bush thinks that everything he does, or says is above the law. Who among us thinks that he won't provide whatever letter is necessary to protect his corporate co-conspirators, and to protect his own sorry ass from prosecution against treason.

In today's NY Times, a piece on the connection between the government spying and the telecoms, demonstrates that the big communication companies are now reluctant to break the law on the word of this administration.

We all have to consider the possibilities when a rogue government allows itself to invade the privacy of its citizens with impunity.

BTW, Mukasey has had time to understand the complex details of the FISA bill, but still hasn't determined if waterboarding is torture, or if our government has engaged in torture.

Torture, a new American tradition

Scott Horton, who writers for Harpers, brings together the strings of a story which prove that torture is institutionalized in our government, that approval for torture goes right to the desk of George Bush, and that the new Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, seems already complicit in a plot to cover the tracks of the torturers.

It's disheartening and disgusting, and it's hard to believe that it's being practiced by Americans.

Dems fund the war, again

On Friday, Congress sent Bush a Pentagon and war funding bill for exactly what the Commanderin-chief wanted. The vote in the Senate was 90-3. That means that lots of Democrats voted for it, largely so they couldn't be accused later of not supporting the troops. That rusty canard has been dismissed by the public for months, but the lamebrains in Washington cling to it like lifevest in a pool of flaming gasoline. All the Presidential candidates from the Senater were not there to vote, conveniently.

Remember when Ralph Nader was excoriated for declaring that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the Republican and Democratic candidates for the presidency. Remember?

Republicans love waterboarding

Republican Senators blocked a bill which would have prevented the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods. A Christmas gift from the Repugnicans to the CIA. Peace on earth, etc.

I ask again. What if they wanted to waterboard your son, or daughter, Senator?

Harry's lame excuse, Dodd's response

Want to read a lesson in bootlicking. Here's Harry Reid's justification for putting a FISA bill before the Senate, as base text, which includes retroactive immunity for telecoms.

And here's Chris Dodd's response. He'll need support for his filibuster. In reality, this filibuster may be far more important than his run for president.

We've seen the enemy and its...Harry Reid

Based on his lackluster performance as Democratic Senate Majority leader, one might have suspected that his aim was not to work toward the goals of the Democratic base, but to work toward the goals of that most powerful third party, incumbents.

Harry Reid had a free hand to bring a FISA bill to the Senate for a vote which did not feature immunity for telecom companies. He chose instead to bring a version which provides immunity, and which will take 60 votes to change. The same votes he has been able to muster for any other legislation which opposes the Bush doctrine.

So what's with Harry? Does he have a skeleton in the closet that's being dangled over his head? Is he a secret Bush admirer? Is he a tool of corporate powers? Or is this a reflection of his true philosophical beliefs? And who does he think he's fooling with his anti-Bush soapbox blusterings?

Whatever the cause, he's disgusting, not worthy of trust, and the worst of a spineless bunch.

Just another Bush know-it-all

They are in legion in this Bush administration, appointees who will do exactly what they aim to do no matter how much thousands might protest.

Kevin Martin is the latest, but not the first. When it comes to protecting corporate interests, there is no higher priority in this administration.