Deep Something

Buried amongst the untold affronts to the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and the very spirit of America, the torture bill contains a definition of “wrongfully aiding the enemy” which labels all American citizens who breach their “allegiance” to President Bush and the actions of his government as terrorists subject to possible arrest, torture and conviction in front of a military tribunal.

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The Bush administration has drafted amendments to a U.S. war crimes law “passed in the mid-1990s that criminalized violations of the Geneva Conventions.” The changes would mean interrogators would no longer face possible prosecution for committing “outrages upon [the] personal dignity” of prisoners.

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As you know, the Fifth Circuit Court ruled that Tom DeLay had to stay on the Texas Congressional Ballot for the Republican party. The Republicans were asking Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to intervine and stay the ruling.

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Bloomberg is reporting that evidence seems to indicate the NSA approached AT&T months prior to 9/11 seeking to intercept telephone calls.

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Remember when John Ashcroft assured us that the Patriot Act wouldn’t be used to access library records? Raw Story has a nice piece that explains how the government kept the truth quiet until the Patriot Act was reauthorized.

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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger to his critics. There is a photo.

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Unbelievable, and yet true: The explicit goal of the police is to prevent law-abiding citizens from protesting. If this isn’t a totalitarian state, I don’t know what is.

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Republicans are packaging as “reform” a plan that would gut FISA, leaving the president free to spy on Americans without obtaining a warrant. A NY Times editorial expresses appropriate outrage at this cynical ploy to shield the president’s lawless behavior:

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Bush’s defense of his illegal domestic spying program in the State of the Union was almost entirely disputed yesterday by legal specialists across the ideological spectrum. “Bush’s assertion that his program was legal prompted a group of 14 prominent law professors, including both liberals and conservatives, to pen a joint letter objecting to his arguments.” Legal scholars disputed three false claims made by Bush.

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Just over a week ago, the White House promised to provide the legal, constitutional and moral justifications for the sort of warrantless spying on Americans that has been illegal for nearly 30 years. Instead, we got the familiar mix of political spin, clumsy historical misinformation, contemptuous dismissals of civil liberties concerns, cynical attempts to paint dissents as anti-American and pro-terrorist, and a couple of big, dangerous lies.

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The White House “flexed its judicial muscles yesterday,” renominating Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit even as the Senate nears a vote on its divisive Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito. Kavanaugh, the White House staff secretary, was first nominated in July 2003, but his nomination failed as part of a deal struck by the “Gang of 14″ moderate senators.

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The confirmation of Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court is all but completed. The addition of the Big-Brother-government-and-corporate-friendly Alito to replace a relatively moderate O’Connor is going to result in a more authoritarian society in which a few dictate to the majority what the rules will be. The American Republic is in its final days. Bin Laden won…or was it just the Bush Cabal taking over for good?

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