Washington Post explains mortgage crisis so even I can understand it:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2fi9ixURPi9ZqGETu926QcYgxhiaQH98ikThWLKlwteAhzEOHqlRtZqinw5SJLBMUTu5zNbBpswBF8V3yLAP0Eg2umlyRYyWzFQ8mW3vC0DNd91KzYNEKUcveF8AteD2_xFGUSUoipU/s1600-h/GR2008031401451.gif
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
cartoon
Washington Post explains mortgage crisis so even I can understand it:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2fi9ixURPi9ZqGETu926QcYgxhiaQH98ikThWLKlwteAhzEOHqlRtZqinw5SJLBMUTu5zNbBpswBF8V3yLAP0Eg2umlyRYyWzFQ8mW3vC0DNd91KzYNEKUcveF8AteD2_xFGUSUoipU/s1600-h/GR2008031401451.gif
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2fi9ixURPi9ZqGETu926QcYgxhiaQH98ikThWLKlwteAhzEOHqlRtZqinw5SJLBMUTu5zNbBpswBF8V3yLAP0Eg2umlyRYyWzFQ8mW3vC0DNd91KzYNEKUcveF8AteD2_xFGUSUoipU/s1600-h/GR2008031401451.gif
The nub of the torture crisis
As usual, Greenwald gets to the critical point:
The DOJ is not the law. They are not above the law and they do not make the law. They are merely charged with enforcing it. The fact that they assert that blatantly illegal conduct is legal does not make it so. DOJ officials, like anyone else, can violate the law and have done so not infrequently. High DOJ officials -- including Attorneys General -- have been convicted of crimes in the past and have gone to prison.
Embracing this twisted notion that the DOJ has the authority to immunize any conduct by high government officials or private actors from the reach of the law is a recipe for inevitable lawlessness. It enables the President to break the law, or authorize lawbreaking, simply by having his political appointees at DOJ -- including ideologues like John Yoo -- declare that he can do it. As these incidents ought to demonstrate rather vividly, the mere fact that Bush officials at the DOJ declare something to be legal cannot provide license to break the law with impunity.
This is why this is a bigger issue than just this particular case. If this notion is not rebuffed then the Republic cannot survive. There will always be officials who will argue that this emergency is unprecedented and our liberty is compromising our safety. We can't accept that argument and remain a Constitutional Republic.
The DOJ is not the law. They are not above the law and they do not make the law. They are merely charged with enforcing it. The fact that they assert that blatantly illegal conduct is legal does not make it so. DOJ officials, like anyone else, can violate the law and have done so not infrequently. High DOJ officials -- including Attorneys General -- have been convicted of crimes in the past and have gone to prison.
Embracing this twisted notion that the DOJ has the authority to immunize any conduct by high government officials or private actors from the reach of the law is a recipe for inevitable lawlessness. It enables the President to break the law, or authorize lawbreaking, simply by having his political appointees at DOJ -- including ideologues like John Yoo -- declare that he can do it. As these incidents ought to demonstrate rather vividly, the mere fact that Bush officials at the DOJ declare something to be legal cannot provide license to break the law with impunity.
This is why this is a bigger issue than just this particular case. If this notion is not rebuffed then the Republic cannot survive. There will always be officials who will argue that this emergency is unprecedented and our liberty is compromising our safety. We can't accept that argument and remain a Constitutional Republic.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Don't let facts get in the way
Pew Center reports: My emphasis
There is little evidence that the recent news about Obama's affiliation with the United Church of Christ has dispelled the impression that he is Muslim. While voters who heard "a lot" about Reverend Wright's controversial sermons are more likely than those who have not to correctly identify Obama as a Christian, they are not substantially less likely to still believe that he is Muslim. Nearly one-in-ten (9%) of those who heard a lot about Wright still believe that Obama is Muslim.
Full report here:
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=1277
There is little evidence that the recent news about Obama's affiliation with the United Church of Christ has dispelled the impression that he is Muslim. While voters who heard "a lot" about Reverend Wright's controversial sermons are more likely than those who have not to correctly identify Obama as a Christian, they are not substantially less likely to still believe that he is Muslim. Nearly one-in-ten (9%) of those who heard a lot about Wright still believe that Obama is Muslim.
Full report here:
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=1277
John Yoo's Torture Memo
I'll post more after I've had a chance to read it, but here's the Washington Post link to the Torture Memo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/dojinterrogationmemo20020801.pdf
It also can be found in Notable Links
It also can be found in Notable Links
HUD Out
So Alphonso Jackson is out at HUD. Another clueless crony of Bush. It turns out that Jackson was a neighbor of Bush back in Dallas and that was apparently his main qualification for the job.
Has there been an administration so riddled with cronies and hacks since Grant?
Did/Does Bush have the slightest interest in actually governing? If he did, one would expect that he would have staffed his administration with more people who could run something.
Has there been an administration so riddled with cronies and hacks since Grant?
Did/Does Bush have the slightest interest in actually governing? If he did, one would expect that he would have staffed his administration with more people who could run something.
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