McCain's tortured logic

The Senate finally made some sense today and passed a bill which bans waterboarding.

No surprise, Creepy Joe™ Lieberman voted against the ban on torture. He obviously loves torture based on how he tortures his constituents.

But John McCain who has taken a strong stand against torture, also voted against the ban.

George Bush promises to veto the bill.

Our glorious fourth estate

Cleaning the torture trail

Now that the Bush administration is about to begin its show trial of alleged 9/11 conspirators, we're finding that Pentagon interrogators have had to questions prisoners anew to "cleanse" the testimony acquired by "torture."

The military tribunals give all signs of being a mockery of American justice. Though these days, American justice seems to be a mockery of itself.

Using justice as vendetta

The Bush Department of Justice strikes again. This time they've targeted a respected Florida, Ben Kuehne attorney who worked against them in presidential campaigns. The charges seem specious, but as Scott Horton points out, they could be the petard upon which the Bush henchmen are hoist.

Blame it on the Democrats

You would expect the well-drilled Republicans in the Senate to vote, en masse, with the president to offer immunity to telecom companies, who, with him, broke the law and spied on hundreds of thousands of Americans.

What you wouldn't expect is the defection of 18 Democrats, who voted to ratify this unconstitutional FISA bill. What you wouldn't expect is the Senate leader Harry Reid to offer the Senate a version of the bill that included the retroactive immunity. Nor would you expect him to ignore a "hold" placed on the bill by Chris Dodd, which would have given Reid the opportunity to eliminate the immunity. After the vote, Ruff Tuff™ Harry Reid wrung his hands and bemoaned his inability to do anything to stop the bill. What a crock.

As for the Democrats who voted for the FISA bill with immunity, we can only guess that they agreed with the bill's precepts, or they were afraid of being accused of being soft of terror.

Have any of them examined the results of the primary in which a pro-civil liberties, anti-war candidate is leading all candidates?

Have any of them ever read the Constitution?

And so, not only can the government spy on you and me with impunity, and without a warrant, but any corporation which assists them now, yesterday or in the future, gets a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card.

Unless the House decides to shred the immunity clause, and that's a possibility, though a small one. Time to call your representative in the House to have them vote against immunity.

BTW, while Chris Dodd was fighting immunity with every tool he had, Creepy Joe™ Lieberman voted to exonerate the criminal telecom executives.

All this and what's the major headline on the NY Times website? Clemens Set to Testify. Even if we have abandoned the Constitution, we aren't failing baseball.

Why Americans don't care about FISA

Chris Dodd is currently giving yet another impassioned speech about the faults of the FISA bill before Congress. He's calling this one of the darkest days he's seen in the Senate. The Senate is virtually empty. The media has buried the story. Fellow Democratic Senators have voted against limits on spying.

Why doesn't anyone care?

This is big-brotherism at its core. The federal government, abetted by the telecom industry is spying on us, one and all.

As Glen Greenwald indicates, one of the reasons is that many Democratic lawmakers actually support the "core value of our political establishment (as reflected by the Bush administration)." So, they can't be expected to vote against more power to the feds. In the same way, average Americans have been scared to death by the boogeyman of "terrorism" and so are ready to relinquish freedom for security.

The media doesn't care because they can't figure out a way to sell it to the world as an issue of importance. It's not a simple issue, nor a simple bill. But the base concept is simple. The Bush administration (the federal government/the political establishment) wants the ability to listen in to any of us, at any time, without an explanation.

If it interfered with America's ability to vote for American Idol. If an item suddenly appeared on our phone and cable bills, labeled "Spying....$30." If your cell coverage was suddenly limited to certain quadrants. Or, if your son or your daughter suddenly "disappeared" for having protested government actions, then America would begin to care.

Karl Rove takes on the teens

(Hartford Courant photo)

Karl Rove visited Choate-Rosemary in Wallingford to demonstrate what a genius he is. He allowed teenagers to ask questions, and then turned the tables on them by twisting the truth. Read how he shocked a teen questioner by demonstrating Democratic support for the war in Iraq. Surprise.

Of course, no adult reporter would ever buy that argument. Right? Right?

The press was supposed to be kept out, but the Hartford Courant was allowed access.

Screw you, we've got the phone companies to worry about

The Senate voted, a few minutes ago, to reject an amendment that would have stripped telecom immunity from the FISA bill (Protect America Act). Despite his promise to filibuster, Chris Dodd did not. He spoke eloquently for two and a half hours last night (I watched most of it), but because of some arcane Senate procedural agreement, he agreed to relinquish the right to a true filibuster. Some of his supporters, who understand better the labyrinth of rules and regulations in the Senate, say his hands were tied.

This is a good day for George Bush, the telecoms, and the Senators who benefit from the largesse of the telecoms. For you, not so good.

Keep in mind, a fascist government values the rights of corporations over the rights of individuals.

By the way, Obama voted to block immunity. Clinton was absent.

The Senate now debates the full bill, but considering how lopsided the amendment vote was, there's little hope of blocking the bill in the Senate.

There is some small hope that the house will block the bill.

It was only a matter of time

The McCain response to Obama's Yes I Can and it's kind of like Dick (Cheney) In A Box.

A Grammy in Middletown

Among the non-glamor Grammy's were the traditional folk music award that went to Levon Helm, the contemporary folk award won by Steve Earle, the zydeco award won by Terrance Simien (who made several stops early in his career at the Roaring Brook Nature Center), and the award for best historical album won by Nora Guthrie, and Middletown resident Jorge Arevalo Mateus for "The Live Wire - Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949."

Congratulations to all.