Entries by emptywheel

A Guide to Domestic Surveillance

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Jane Harman is confused. In her statement responding to yesterday’s court decision, she said (looking for a link, not up on her site yet):

Today, a federal court in Detroitstruck down as unconstitutional the President’s NSA Program. Thedecision is significant in that it represents the first judicialdetermination that the President’s program violates the law and theConstitution.

The terrorists who are plotting against us would like nothing more thanto see us erode our

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Republican Foreign Policy: Make a Profit on Destruction, Make a Profit on Reconstruction

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I can’t remember where I asked it, but several weeks ago I asked who was going to pay for Lebanon’s reconstruction. Some in the thread mused that we, the American taxpayers, would pay for it. Well, wouldn’t you know:

The Bush administration is scrambling to assemble a plan to helprebuild Lebanon, hoping that by competing with Hezbollah for thepublic’s favor it can undo the damage the war has inflicted on itsimage and

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Judy and Johnny

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It seems Arianna hasn’t disbanded her impressive network of Judy Miller sources. She reports:

At 7:30 this morning, John Bolton was having breakfast at Oscar’s at the Waldorf with Judy Miller.

Arianna wonders whether Bolton’s nomination battle to be reappointed came up. But I’m not convinced. After all, we have good reason to believe that John Bolton is the only Neocon who has availed himself of Judy’s particular talent for WMD porn since

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First Wilkes and Now Mrs. Cunningham

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Last week we were treated to Brent Wilkes’ attempt to exonerate himself publicly and/or threaten his co-conspirators, Lowery and Lewis. This week, we’re treated to Mrs. Randall “Duke” Cunningham’s story (sub. required), who is apparently a person of interest in the investigation. As Mrs. Cunningham’s lawyer explains, she’s trying to convince us that she didn’t know about Duke’s multi-million dollar bribery racket.

“My client faces an uphill battle as faras people believing

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The Question They Didn't Ask and Bush's New Plan C

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You don’t need me to tell you things are not going well in Iraq. The NYT surveys the state of affairs this morning, and the news is not good.

The number of roadside bombs planted in Iraqrose in July to the highest monthly total of the war, offering moreevidence that the anti-American insurgency has continued to strengthendespite the killing of the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

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How Was Rashid Rauf Arrested?

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Atrios links to Andrew Sullivan being skeptical who links to Craig Murray being even more skeptical. And Murray raised a point that I had raised earlier. Here’s Murray:

What is more, many of those arrested had been under surveillance forover a year – like thousands of other British Muslims. And not justMuslims.

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Allen's Mob and Their Caca

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By now, you’ve no doubt read about or seen the video of George Allen drudging up the racism his mother taught him to insult an Indian-American student trailing his campaign for the Webb campaign. Allen is now on his second or third excuse right now, trying to claim he was talking caca all the time.

Allen’s a racist, and we need to use Allen’s antics to make that clear to people.

But I’d

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The Shrillification of the Moderates

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I’m fascinated by the outpouring of moderates’ conversion narratives, from balanced and temperate to, um, shrill. JMM started it:

As Americans I think we need to grapple with what’s happened. And it goes beyond President Bush. He did after all win reelection.He marginally expanded his congressional majorities. In the rough andtumble of the political moment, the fight needs to be taken to thepresident and his party.

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They're Not Robots

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First Jonathan Chait and now Spencer Ackerman have escaped Marty’s grasp reached beyond their New Republic home to oppose Lieberman. Chait’s contribution is a logical attack on Joe’s justification for his run (if surprising, given the source).

What’s the point of running to uphold Democratichawkishness when you’re running against the Democratic Party and itschosen nominee?

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NeoCon Joe, the Failed Lebanese Campaign, and Losing by Winning

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This is going to be a bit of a wandering post. But I’m going to cover the following and hopefully finish in enough time to go can peaches:Taking Joe at his wordHersh’s portrayal of failureOn how the Neocons may become winners out of losing

Taking Joe at His Word

Mark Schmitt asked the other day,

Can someone explain what Senator Lieberman could possibly mean when he says the following:

“I’m worried that too many people,

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