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Dodd to filibuster, Harry Reid to subvert

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

You can see the endgame from a mile away. To his credit, Dodd has announced that he will filibuster the FISA legislation. Harry Reid has announced that he will co-sponsor Dodd’s amendment to strip immunity out of this legislation. Nonetheless, it’s clear that Reid stands ready to put the knife into Dodd, and to deliver the blow quickly:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced moments ago on the Senate floor that he would vote against FISA, but that he has an obligation to move legislation that the majority wants:

I don’t particularly like FISA, and I’m going to vote against FISA. But, I have an obligation here as the Majority Leader to move legislation that the majority of the body wants to go forward.

This is a very interesting concept. Apparently his obligation to move legislation wanted by the majority is operative only when a large majority of that majority consists of Republicans. He has done nothing to move legislation opposed by Republicans, but supported by a majority of the Senate. Republicans have been allowed to kill legislation, often politically popular legislation, merely be announcing an intent to filibuster.

In an even richer irony: Pelosi, without whom this bill would never have seen the light of day, and who voted for the bill in the House, has this to say:

At a breakfast with reporters this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said it would be “healthy and wholesome” if the Senate filibustered the House-passed bill.

There is, undoubtedly, a reason why the Democratic leadership feels impelled to cave to Bush, make themselves look weak and irresolute, and eviscerate the Constitution, and give a one fingered salute to their most loyal supporters. The money from the telecoms does not appear to be a sufficient explanation. Could they still be suffering from battered legislator syndrome. Could it be that they are still listening to the pundits who helped sell the Iraq War, and now insist that only the un-serious people (you know, the ones who opposed the Iraq War from the start) are opposed to making Bush an elected king? No explanation seems satisfactory, but as sure as there’s no God in Heaven, Reid will deliver this bill to Bush, despite his protestations.

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Confirming the obvious

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The inspector general at the justice department has just confirmed an open (not-so) secret. The Justice Department has been consciously seeking to stock the civil service ranks in the justice department with conservative lawyers, without much regard to credentials, such as intelligence or legal ability.

High-ranking political appointees at the Justice Department labored to stock a prestigious hiring program with young conservatives in a five-year-long attempt to reshape the department’s ranks, according to an inspector general’s report to be released today.

The report will trace the effort to 2002, early in the Bush administration, when key advisers to then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft moved to exert more control over the program to hire rookie lawyers and summer interns, according to two people familiar with the probe.

The honors program, which each year places about 150 law school graduates with top credentials in a rotation of Justice jobs, historically had operated under the control of senior career officials. Shifting control of the program to Ashcroft’s advisers prompted charges of partisanship from law professors and former government lawyers who had worked under Democratic administrations.

This has been known for years, but there’s a certain satisfaction in having it confirmed.

This report underscores one of the many challenges that will face a President Obama in January. The Justice Department is not unique. The Bushies have perverted the system throughout the government in a conscious attempt to undermine the various agencies. What better way to prove that government cannot work than by seeding its ranks with people who take that position as an article of faith, and will do whatever they can to make sure they are proven right.

Obama will find himself struggling against these people at every turn. They were hired for political reasons, but they are now protected by the civil service system that was subverted in order to hire them. Bush and his minions have a proven record of incompetence almost across the board. The one exception was their ability to identify the weak spots in the system and exploit them in order to grab and retain power, even, as seems likely, in the event of electoral failure.

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Nutmeggers smarter than almost everyone else (in the USA at least)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

In its continuing drive to ignore actual current events, the Courant managed to stumble onto a fairly interesting story that reflects well on Connecticut:

A poll released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that Connecticut (along with Rhode Island), though still home to many believers, ranks near the bottom of most indicators of religious fervor, compared with the rest of the United States.

When asked how many of us are “absolutely certain” we believe in God or a universal spirit, only 57 percent responded yes. Only the folks in New Hampshire and Vermont scored lower, at 54 percent.

At first blush, this speaks well for the level of intelligence here in New England, but there may be another explanation. It’s not necessarily the case that we are smarter than the average American, though truth to tell that’s really not saying much. Maybe we’re just more honest. We’re we folks in Connecticut polled about our feelings about race, even the racists among us would be a bit hesitant about admitting to their vice, while in Mississippi, where 91% of the folks claim to have no doubts about God, more folks would feel quite comfortable about admitting to being racists. It’s all a question of what is relatively acceptable. Down in Mississippi, rational thinking is frowned upon, while racism is more or less accepted, if not required. We in New England take a more benign view of the freethinker. For can it be that, in their heart of hearts, only 9% of Mississippians, as dumb as they undoubtedly are, have never entertained a doubt about the existence of God? Of course they have, but down there admitting to such a doubt is like admitting to reading books. You just don’t do that kind of thing down there. We take a broader view up here, so the level of honest responses goes up.

But we cannot smugly sit on our laurels. As advanced as we are, less than half of us are willing to admit to doubts about the existence of the Hairy Thunderer. Those of us in the rational minority must encourage our fellow New Englanders to listen to-nay embrace- that inner voice of reason. Just as the anti-slavery movement began in New England, so must the pro-Reason Renaissance. Once we have completely legitimized reason here, we can more effectively export it to the solid, superstitious South.

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More on FISA

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Glenn Greenwald has an excellent piece on the FISA bill, as well as the mainstream media reaction to it, which is to hail it as a compromise rather than the sell-out that it is. At times like this, mega corporations must stick together. Via that article, an honorable exception, from, who else? Keith Olbermann.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2MpyODTLnY[/youtube]

One point I haven’t made in my numerous tirades about this bill is made in the video above. The Democrats, or at least the Democratic leadership, were made complicit in this power abuse. The bill represents a massive cover up, designed to make sure that the public never becomes aware of the full extent of the crimes committed by Bush and enabled by leading Democrats. The fact that the cover up involves further evisceration of the Constitution doesn’t concern them. They are more interested in the maintenance of that cover-up and their hopes to gain more seats in Congress. Sad to say, I must agree with Greenwald that we must target Democrats who supported this bill. It’s a bit early to start eating our own. That usually comes a few years after a party takes control, but we might not have much time left, if it is not already too late. Greenwald:

If, as a result of their destruction of the Fourth Amendment and the rule of law, they see that they lose seats — that John Barrow and Chris Carney are removed from Congress and Steny Hoyer’s standing in his district is severely compromised and that list of targets continues to grow — then they’ll conclude that they can’t build their Vast and Glorious Democratic Majority by dismantling the Constitution and waging war on civil liberties. The Democratic Party in Congress is enslaved to the goal of winning more “swing districts” by supporting extremist measures — such as the FISA “compromise” — that please the right-wing. They need to learn that they won’t benefit, but will suffer, when they do that.

I wrote before about a group that is raising money to do just that. It’s worth a donation to make these “Democrats” feel some heat as a result of this sell-out.

Moveon is trying to hold Obama’s feet to the fire on this one. Obama promised to filibuster telecom immunity back in the day, but now he’s more afraid of being called a wuss on terrorism than he is of offending the folks who brought him to where he is today.

Filed in Creeping Totalitarianism, Democrats | | Comments (0)

Maine blogging

Saturday, June 21, 2008

My wife and I are spending the weekend in Ogunquit, Maine. I am in no shape to write anything halfway intelligible, so I’m just going to post a few pictures, which might illustrate the amazing changes of weather, or at least cloud and fog cover throughout the day. Our room has a view of the public beach which is on a small peninsula. We are across the water from the beach. The following pictures, all of essentially the same view, were taken at 1:49, 3:38, 6:41, 7:27, 8:04 and 8:25 PM respectively. Besides giving a small idea of the rapid fluctuations in the weather, they illustrate the tidal extremes in this particular location. The third and fourth pictures were taken 46 minutes apart; the first was taken in thick fog, the latter in bright sunshine. It was like that all day. We ate outside at Perkins Cove, which is very close by. It was sunny when we sat down, and foggy and cloudy when we finished.

My guess is that a few miles inland it was sunny all day. I live close to the water in Connecticut, and we often have weather quite a bit different than folks a little inland, but it rarely changes as rapidly as this.

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Friday Night Music

Friday, June 20, 2008

I thought about posting this once before, but held back. This is a song that had a hugely profound impact when it was released, more than any single Dylan song. It’s become a bit of a cliche, I guess. The words don’t necessarily relate to today’s events, but the title does. Maybe this is just situational depression speaking, but I really believe that the FISA vote spells the death knell for constitutional government in our country, so we truly are on the eve of destruction.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVClcPVYoo8[/youtube]

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Joe Courtney does us proud, Congress sells us out

Friday, June 20, 2008

We can be justly proud that our Congressman voted against Iraq war funding and against the outrageous FISA bill, as did all our Connecticut Democrats.

It is unlikely that the Congress has ever surrendered so much power to a president in this nation’s history. They have made the most unpopular and no doubt worst president in American history into an elected (maybe elected, in his case) dictator, and have handed him the ability to complete a legal coverup of his own crimes. It looks like Barack Obama is going to sign on to this travesty. No doubt his thinking is that it will pass anyway, and voting for it would just give McCain ammunition to attack his terrorist fighting credentials. No excuse whatsoever, of course. If you are claiming to be a leader, you should lead.

All this is further proof, in any were needed, that republican government and Imperial rule cannot coexist. Congress is legislating itself into being a dead letter. All at the behest of a vile, incompetent little rich man’s son. The Roman Senate at least had the excuse that it was neutered by a Caesar.

This has gotten me really depressed. Such a needless surrender. I’m glad, though, that our Connecticut Congressfolks did the right thing, particularly Joe, because I could not have brought myself to contribute my time, money or effort on behalf of someone who voted for this bill. I have pledged money to Obama, and I’m going to send it, but it’s going to be hard to maintain any level of enthusiasm if he votes as he has signaled he will.

Afterthought: The Democrats were so craven on this bill that they are actually trumpeting the fact that they have gained something because the bill makes it clear that the FISA procedure is the exclusive way for the president to engage in wiretaps. This is supposed to be a major victory, except that the current FISA bill already says that the FISA procedure is the exclusive way for the president to engage in wiretaps. Buth ignored that provision in the past, and he will continue to ignore it. The odds are better than even that Bush will issue a signing statement to the effect that he reserves the right to ignore the law.

Filed in Creeping Totalitarianism, Joe Courtney | | Comments (1)

Obama does a Lieberman-endorsement redux

Thursday, June 19, 2008

If further proof that Obama is not the second coming (was there a first coming?), you can find it here, at Tom Tomorrow’s site:

So Barack Obama just recorded a radio ad for Rep. John Barrow (D-GA). Barrow has accused Democrats of wanting to “cut and run” in Iraq, and enthusiastically supports telcom immunity. He needs Obama’s support because he’s being challenged in the primary by State Senator Regina Thomas. Bonus ugliness: Barrow is white, Thomas is an African-American woman.

You would think that Obama would have learned his lesson, after the Lieberman thing in 2006. There is no reason why he should throw his weight behind this guy. He doesn’t need Georgia, because if Georgia is in play in November it means that he’s on his way to a landslide win. Nor does he need this guy in the Congress next year. As with Lieberman, the favor will not be returned, and he’ll doubtless line up with the Republicans to oppose Obama at nearly every turn.

Further proof that he’s not your un-typical politician: he’s been nowhere on the FISA issue these days. Could a few words from him put paid to the whole thing? We’ll never know.

While we can hope that Obama will turn out to be a truly great president, it’s important to maintain a certain amount of critical detachment. The disappointments, when they surely come, will be easier to deal with if we steel ourselves in advance. The downside to the great enthusiasm that he has engendered is the real possibility that he will prove to be just another politician when he gets into office. That could permanently turn off a large portion of the young people who support him so enthusiastically. His candidacy is a bit of an insurgency, so it’s disappointing that he seems to reflexively protect the intrenched against other insurgents. It’s also disappointing that he has been so disengaged from the ongoing rape of the constitution. He’s one up on John McCain, because he at least casts his vote, but he doesn’t speak out much. It’s partially understandable. The spineless Democrats in the Senate would no doubt cast their votes with Bush anyway, making him look weak. Still, while a leader does need followers, he or she also needs to take risks. It wouldn’t be so bad if he decided to start with saving the Constitution.

Filed in Presidential Politics | | Comments (1)

Sitting in Judgment

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Yesterday I took a night off from blogging because I was in Hartford, judging moot court at UConn Law School. This gives us practicing lawyers the rare opportunity to play judge. It’s a lot of fun, making the poor law students squirm. The case this year was a civil case, which made me feel more comfortable than most years, since criminal cases are the norm, and I don’t really know criminal law. It was actually an excellent problem, since there were good arguments on both sides of the issue. I have to confess that I tend to be harder on the poor student who happens to represent the side I don’t like. I can’t help myself but, of course, it’s not their fault that they drew that assignment.

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Put pressure on Steny Hoyer and his gang

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Consider giving money to put pressure on Steny Hoyer to stop trashing the constitution. You can donate here. Glenn Greenwald explains:

It is now definitively clear that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is the driving force behind a bill — written by GOP Sen. Kit Bond — to vest the President with vast new warrantless eavesdropping powers and to vest lawbreaking telecoms with amnesty. Even as his office dishonestly denies that he is doing so, still more reports yesterday — this one from the NYT and this one from Roll Call (sub req’d) — confirm that a so-called “compromise” is being spearheaded by Hoyer and the House Democratic leadership. The ACLU and EFF are holding a joint call tomorrow to denounce Hoyer’s “compromise” as nothing more than disguised guaranteed immunity for telecoms and, further, because “the proposed deal could be used to authorize dragnet surveillance of Americans’ communications in violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

As a result, there is a major new campaign beginning today aimed at Hoyer and a handful of other key members of Congress who enable telecom immunity and warrantless eavesdropping. In order to raise as much money as possible for this campaign — far more than the $85,000 raised (and still being spent) in Chris Carney’s district as a result of his support for warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty — we are working to create an alliance with numerous organizations and factions across the ideological spectrum which oppose civil liberties erosions, as well as with as many blogs as possible (modeled vaguely after the ideologically diverse alliance that has arisen in Britain in opposition to the sprawling and lawless surveillance state there).

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