Against Unilateral Disarmament

7:06 pm EST June 30th, 2006 | Politics | 96 Comments

Jon Henke apparently believes that the proper way to respond to a slap in the face is a curtsy. Jon is upset that Digby mentioned the fact that Rush Limbaugh vacationed in an area known for sex tourism toting a bottle of male enhancement drugs. Somehow, such topics shouldn’t be broached by the left. This is the same Rush Limbaugh, I should note, who accused President Clinton of rape, Hillary Clinton of murder, and called their daughter Chelsea a dog. He’s also the one who told a black caller to “take the bone” out of his nose, and the Abu Ghraib prison abuse nothing more than a harmless prank. It is the same Limbaugh who calls Democrats allies of Al Qaeda and the scum of the earth.

But we can’t say anything mean about him. It would be uncivil and just not sporting.

We are still in the Victorian Era, right?

It’s Okay If You’re A Republican

7:06 pm EST June 30th, 2006 | Politics | 11 Comments

Melanie Morgan says Bill Keller and any journalists she disagrees with should be killed. Her penalty? She’s invited as a panelist on MSNBC’s Hardball tonight.

But she’s a Republican, so its okay.

“We Will Analyze The Decision”

2:06 pm EST June 30th, 2006 | Politics | 16 Comments

The Bush administration still – still – sees itself as above the law. Don’t count on the rubberstamp congress to do a thing about it.

Bush’s First Choice For Homeland Security Director

11:06 am EST June 30th, 2006 | Politics | 33 Comments

Showing the leader’s special skill for picking the most unqualified people for the most important jobs

More than 18 months after his Homeland Security nomination sank over ethics questions, former police commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded guilty Friday to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from a New Jersey firm with alleged mob connections.

Kerik pleaded guilty to a pair of misdemeanors in state Supreme Court in the Bronx in a deal that spared him any jail time. Kerik was instead ordered to pay a total of $221,000 in fines at the 10-minute hearing.

Kerik acknowledged accepting $165,000 worth of renovations on his Bronx apartment from a company attempting to do business with the city — Interstate Industrial Corp., a business reputedly linked to organized crime. And he admitted failing to report a loan as required by city law.

UPDATE: And in case you forgot, Kerik was highly touted by probable GOP candidate for the presidency, Rudy Giuliani.

Ziing

1:06 am EST June 30th, 2006 | Politics | 29 Comments

I admit that as a black man, the likes of Clarence Thomas embarasses the hell out of me. But he made it even worse by attacking Justice Stevens for supposed unfamiliarity with military combat when in fact Stevens served in WWII while the closest Thomas has probably gotten is a rental of some porn knockoff of Saving Private Ryan.

The President Is Not A King

1:06 am EST June 30th, 2006 | Politics | 9 Comments

It comes as a surprise to him simply because he surrounds himself with people who won’t say otherwise. Thursday’s SCOTUS decision nicely dovetails with this profile of Cheney’s henchman David Addington in the New Yorker that I highly recommend.

Most Americans, even those who follow politics closely, have probably never heard of Addington. But current and former Administration officials say that he has played a central role in shaping the Administration s legal strategy for the war on terror. Known as the New Paradigm, this strategy rests on a reading of the Constitution that few legal scholars share namely, that the President, as Commander-in-Chief, has the authority to disregard virtually all previously known legal boundaries, if national security demands it. Under this framework, statutes prohibiting torture, secret detention, and warrantless surveillance have been set aside. A former high-ranking Administration lawyer who worked extensively on national-security issues said that the Administration s legal positions were, to a remarkable degree, all Addington. Another lawyer, Richard L. Shiffrin, who until 2003 was the Pentagon s deputy general counsel for intelligence, said that Addington was an unopposable force.

The overarching intent of the New Paradigm, which was put in place after the attacks of September 11th, was to allow the Pentagon to bring terrorists to justice as swiftly as possible. Criminal courts and military courts, with their exacting standards of evidence and emphasis on protecting defendants rights, were deemed too cumbersome. Instead, the President authorized a system of detention and interrogation that operated outside the international standards for the treatment of prisoners of war established by the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Terror suspects would be tried in a system of military commissions, in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, devised by the executive branch. The Administration designated these suspects not as criminals or as prisoners of war but as illegal enemy combatants, whose treatment would be ultimately decided by the President. By emphasizing interrogation over due process, the government intended to preëmpt future attacks before they materialized. In November, 2001, Cheney said of the military commissions, We think it guarantees that we ll have the kind of treatment of these individuals that we believe they deserve.

As the article points out, in the Clinton administration the president, top staff and even the first lady (Hillary) were lawyers (as was John Kerry). Though not a prerequisite to the office, it sure helps when you have a guy like Addington interpreting things, who – pardon my French – is batshit crazy. Addington, along with Alberto Gonzales, are the architects of the Fairytale La-La Land principles of legality that surround this presidency. It’s not a simple partisan viewpoint. In fact, I support a strong executive branch. But not one that picks and chooses the laws to which it decides to follow.

As the news analysis in Friday’s Post details, the decision at least slaps in the face the idea that – at least when it’s a Republican – that the Presidency = God. In all likelihood the congress will push through most of the legislation that the White House wanted, but the linchpin in this is that this nonsense could have been avoided if they went to the congress in the first place.

For me, here’s the nugget: they have claimed special powers for the executive because we are “at war”. Yet, no formal declaration of war has been made – neither against Al Qaeda or in Iraq. I have never attended a moment of law school, but I’ve watched enough Law and Order and Perry Mason to know that there’s no legal precedent to allowing one to have his cake and eat it too.

Oh I Do Declare Mr. Beauregard!

12:06 am EST June 30th, 2006 | Politics | 4 Comments

A NY Times reporter has made the sin of refusing to submit to a rectal exam by partisan talk host Hugh Hewitt. The indignity of it all, a shame on his house! Bold vanguard of the status quo Hugh asks:

Does anyone in MSM have the courage and the skills to ask whether Eric Lichtblau is a partisan anti-Bush/GOP hack dressed up as a “journalist,” willing to write stories that assist terrorists so long as they hurt Republicans?”

Only brave Hewitt has the gonads. Will nobody speak up for the majority? Freedom, where art thou?

Liberals Need To Get SCOTUS Religion

12:06 am EST June 30th, 2006 | Politics | 3 Comments

The religious right has made “judicial activism” (code word for the proper interpretation of the law that happens to be anti-theocratic) a centerpiece of its movement’s motivation to get out and vote. Its high time liberals begin understanding the importance of the court to our core beliefs about the country. For instance, the 86 year old John Paul Stevens is the only thing on Thursday that stood between an imperial George Bush and the presidency.

As the right is fond of repeating: elections matter.

Its already precarious enough that we must all pray for Justice Stevens to hold on and not pass on or retire in the next two years, for he is the only one really left before the court becomes the playpen of people like Scalia and Alito. For all the other important issues that surround a presidential election, it is vital that a Democratic president appoints sound members to the highest court. It already has a rightward tilt, any further and it will be past oblivion.

In the calculus of 2008, we must remember that vacancies on the court can’t be laughed off like they were in 2000. There is a movement that thinks that the likes of Harriet Miers was qualified to sit on the bench, and they’ll be highly motivated to continue to pack the court.

Ehrlich Upsets The Base

12:06 am EST June 30th, 2006 | Politics | Comments Off

In this election year, our right-wing governor Bob Ehrlich is attempting an “extreme makeover” to seem more moderate so he can win back those swing and Democratic voters he’s lost as his administration tilted to the right. The problem is, his hardcore rightie base doesn’t like it at all – they want their red meat. These folks on FreeRepublic are complaining that his choice of a blind running mate is a sop to the forces of “political correctness”. He just can’t win. Ehrlich’s turned off the voters that helped his previously narrow victory, and now in election time as he tries to remake himself – he tells his people they might as well stay at home.