ThinkFast: May 14, 2008
By an eight-point margin, Democrat Travis Childers won a GOP-held House seat in northern Mississippi yesterday, “leaving the once-dominant House Republicans reeling from their third special-election defeat of the spring.” The seat had been held by Republicans since 1995; in 2004, Bush won the district with 62 percent of the vote.
In an interview yesterday, President Bush said he wasn’t “misled” into invading Iraq. “You know, ‘mislead’ is a strong word; it almost connotes some kind of intentional — I don’t think so. … Intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was,” Bush said. “Do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don’t.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is now reaching out to Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) “in the hope of finding a compromise on a GI Bill that would eliminate a potential embarrassment for the Arizona Republican’s presidential campaign.” Yesterday, there were also “discussions” between Webb and McCain ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), along with “a staff meeting that lasted more than an hour.”
On Tuesday, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers predicted that “her constitutional clash with Congress over executive privilege” may not be settled until after Bush leaves office. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it extended beyond this administration,” said Miers, who was cited for contempt by Congress after refusing to testify about her role in the U.S. attorney scandal.
President Bush said that when he leaves the White House, the first thing he’ll do is resume e-mailing his buddies. “I can remember as governor, I could stay in touch with all kinds of people around the country firing off e-mails at all times of the day to stay in touch with my pals,” he said.
“Nearly seven in 10 Americans are worried about maintaining their standard of living,” a Washington Post-ABC News poll found. “More than eight in 10 said the country has veered pretty seriously off-track, and a separate poll released yesterday by ABC showed economic anxiety at its highest level on record since 1981.”
U.S. foreclosure filings hit a record high last month, “rising almost 65% over the previous year and putting municipalities at risk by cutting into the value of taxed property.” Nearly one in every 519 households received a foreclosure filing in April.
The Senate “rejected a Republican energy plan that promised to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, an option that was part of an overall package to increase domestic energy development.” Instead, the Senate “voted 97-1 to suspend oil deposits in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve” as gas prices continue to climb.
And finally: Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) may sport a “well-coifed ‘do” now, but when he was younger, the senator had “shaggy” hair. Roll Call reports that “it was apparently Coleman’s old flowing-locks look that led a local Minneapolis TV station to mix up a photo of the Senator with that of a former member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, who just happens to be a woman.” The woman, Sara Jane Olson, was “indicted for setting pipe bombs in a 1975 bank robbery with other SLA members.”
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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Did you know that several people in the Bush Administration have been charged with war crimes? Read it now!
May 14th, 2008 at 9:00 amOh, please let Ms. Miers ethical lapse go into the next admin. I soooooooo want to see her rot in a cell!
May 14th, 2008 at 9:02 amBAD NEWS: It’s finally happened. Gas has reached $4 a gallon here in Southwest Michigan.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:07 amGOOD NEWS: Obama is scheduled to visit today in Grand Rapids, a mere 35 minutes from where I live.
BAD NEWS: I have to work all day!
In an interview yesterday, President Bush said he wasn’t “misled” into invading Iraq.
This is true. You can’t be misled if you’re the one doing the misleading.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:10 amGood News: DeVos is peeing his shorts.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:10 amChilders looks SO much like Kid in the Hall Dave Foley.
(Not that I’m complaining or anything.)
May 14th, 2008 at 9:12 amDRxJ; I hear you. Obama is stopping in nearby Macomb County today, and I’m working too.
It is truly sad that McJowls is looking to compromise on the Webb-sponsored GI Bill ONLY to avoid embarrassment instead of supporting it as the right thing to do.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:13 amSecurity Flaws Exposed At Lawrence Livermore
If you were a terrorist looking for weapons-grade nuclear material in America, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory might be a good place to start. At the core of the nuclear-weapons research facility about an hour’s drive from San Francisco stands the “Superblock,” a collection of buildings surrounded by multi-story steel-mesh fencing, a no-man’s-land, electronic security gear, armed guards and cables to prevent a helicopter landing on the roof. These defenses are in place largely to protect Building 332, a repository for roughly 2,000 pounds of deadly plutonium and volatile, weapons-grade uranium — enough fissile material to build at least 300 nuclear weapons. But a recent simulated terror attack tested those defenses, and sources tell TIME that the results were not reassuring.
One night several weeks ago, according to TIME’s sources, a commando team posing as terrorists attacked and penetrated the lab, quickly overpowering its defenses to reach its “objective” — a mock payload of fissile material. The exercise highlighted a number of serious security shortcomings at Livermore, sources say, including the failure of a hydraulic system essential to operating an extremely lethal Gatling gun that protects the facility. Experts contacted by TIME — including congressional staff from both parties informed of the episode, and experts personally familiar with safeguards at Livermore — all said that the test amounts to an embarrassment to those responsible for securing the nation’s nuclear facilities, and that it required immediate steps to correct what some called the most dangerous security weaknesses ever found at the lab.
http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6549
**There are so many different plants and facilities all over the US that are pretty easily accessible to anyone who wants nuclear materials or dangerous chemicals. Our priorities are way, way off.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:16 amWhat a load! The Bush administration alternately cherry-picked, suppressed, and/or bullied the intell community and intelligence to make the story it wanted and not to get at the ground truth and now they want to lay their incompetent and gross malfeasance at the feet of those who by law and contract cannot speak out to defend themselves. What miserable, yellow, stinking, awol/draft-dodging cowards!
May 14th, 2008 at 9:17 am“leaving the once-dominant House Republicans reeling from their third special-election defeat of the spring.”
_______________________________________________
They’d better get used to it. Those Republicans that are left after November, anyway.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:20 amUK Political Tension Monitors Map Race and Religion
More than 10 million people are to have their everyday disputes, their politics and their business lives checked by new “tension monitoring” committees.
The committees are to be set up to try to cut the risk of riots or disturbances in the aftermath of terrorist outrages or outbreaks of local racial trouble.
They will ask for and file reports on named troublemakers whose political activities are considered to be raising community tensions.
Reports on the behaviour and attitudes of local residents will be collected by community workers, neighbourhood wardens, local councillors and provided by voluntary organisations, according to a paper published by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears today.
It will then be considered by the monitoring committees run by town halls.
A sample “tension monitoring form” for use in checking on the likelihood of local racial or religious trouble asks for details of individuals considered to be making political trouble.
The monitoring committees will ask for information on those identified as troublemakers with includes “age, gender, ethnicity and faith” of those being reported on.
The call for monitoring of everyday life in the cause of “community cohesion contingency planning” was made by Mrs Blears in a paper aiming to help identify “tension hotspots” and improve cohesion - the Government’s buzzword for reducing racial and religious strife.
http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6546
HT:Calibleu
**This is so Orwellian…
May 14th, 2008 at 9:22 amIn an interview yesterday, President Bush said he wasn’t “misled” into invading Iraq. “You know, ‘mislead’ is a strong word; it almost connotes some kind of intentional — I don’t think so. … Intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was,” Bush said. “Do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don’t.”
No, he mislead and lied to himself.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:23 am“Nearly seven in 10 Americans are worried about maintaining their standard of living,” a Washington Post-ABC News poll found. “More than eight in 10 said the country has veered pretty seriously off-track, and a separate poll released yesterday by ABC showed economic anxiety at its highest level on record since 1981.”
___________________________________________
This will be Bush’s legacy. This plus a quagmire in the Middle East.
Way to go, Dubya. You make Hoover and Harding look good.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:26 amanymouse20 Says:
It should be noted that Travis Childers is a Conservative Democrat that rejected the endorsement of Barack Obama.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:23 am
_____
I have noted this. Though I’m certainly concerned about the prospect of the Democratic Party being overrun by pro-gun, anti-rights conservatives, a solidified House majority is a solidified House majority.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:26 amit should be noted that anymouse is whistling past the graveyard, the graveyard of the “Republican Permanent Majority”. On a more conciliatory note, we should all congratulate anymouse on fact that its Republican Permanent Majority lasting longer than the Third Reich.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:27 amObama in Michigan is a clear example of the intelligence and perceptive powers of a capable leader.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:28 amHillary makes a lot of noise about Obama’s supposed inability to “connect” with blue collar white voters.
Michigan is probably the hardest hit state in the Union with regards to the loss of manufacturing jobs that has affected precisely that demographic.
Barack will demonstrate an ability to listen and reach out.
For all of Hillary’s screechings, she is still a corporate pawn, and will accomplish nothing for the lower to middle class workers she so loudly treasures.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it extended beyond this administration,” said Miers, who was cited for contempt by Congress after refusing to testify about her role in the U.S. attorney scandal.
This contempt citation has obviously ruined her life. Not. What, exactly, is the down side of being cited for contempt by the U.S. Congress?
May 14th, 2008 at 9:29 amre #13
Or bush was in on the lie. He wasn’t misled, he was leading the misleading. And what a leading question to begin with. It implies that bush isn’t responsible for what his administration has done.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:29 am“leaving the once-dominant House Republicans reeling from their third special-election defeat of the spring.”
_______________________________________________
They’d better get used to it. Those Republicans that are left after November, anyway.
They will, however, put impeachment back on the table.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:30 amThis is one of those right-wing talking points flawed prima facie, at conception. By definition, nobody knows what other nations’ intelligence communities think.
Plus, all intelligence reports are couched in probabilities, none would ever say, “there is no doubt….”
Intelligence is data. Interpretation yields policy. It’s the executive branch which is responsible for policy, not the intelligence group. Tap-dancing moron.
Saddam’s son-in-law said all weapons were destroyed in the early 90s; weapons inspectors found nothing. Ever. Ergo, “We know he has those weapons and we know where they are.” Brilliant!
I got stuff on my shoes that thinks more than this guy.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:32 amSo much so that a vaccuum manufacturer may be changing its name from Hoover to Bush.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:32 amSen. John McCain (R-AZ) is now reaching out to Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) “in the hope of finding a compromise on a GI Bill that would eliminate a potential embarrassment for the Arizona Republican’s presidential campaign.”
_______________________________________________
Does McCain even have any opinions of his own anymore? Once upon a time, he had some rock-solid principles that sometimes agreed with the rest of the GOP, and sometimes not.
With the exception of his stance on the Middle East (his position has always been “bomb everything”), he has cashed in every one of his principles (torture, campaign financing, tobacco, support for the troops, etc.) to pander for votes. He will do anything and say anything to get elected.
His website can’t even keep up with his flag-in-the-wind posturing.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:33 am“Sen. Obama hasn’t endorsed my candidacy,” Childers said after the ad began to air. “I have not been in contact with his campaign, nor has he been in contact with mine.”
This is not a “rejection of Obama’s endorsement”, only an indication that an endorsement was not made. anymouse20 is not an improvement over anymouse19 if this is the best “evidence” that can be given to an argument.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:34 amAnd the beat goes on Says:
They will ask for and file reports on named troublemakers whose political activities are considered to be raising community tensions.
I better remove the “Impeach Bush and Cheney” sign from my front door. It has the tensions of my community at the point of apathy.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:34 amAnd the beat goes on Says:
They will ask for and file reports on named troublemakers whose political activities are considered to be raising community tensions.
I better remove the “Impeach Bush and Cheney” sign from my front door. It has the tensions of my community at the point of apathy.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:34 am“discussions” between Webb and McCain ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
That SHOULD read “discussions between Webb and the obviously homosexual, probably being blackmailed puppet Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
May 14th, 2008 at 9:35 amAnd the beat goes on Says:
UK Political Tension Monitors Map Race and Religion
**This is so Orwellian…
May 14th, 2008 at 9:22 am
______
I don’t know about Orwellian so much as grossly incompetent. Are these British communities so insular and fragmented that local government officials have no clue what the ethnic and political tensions are in their communities? That’s just mind-boggling to me. You shouldn’t need a tension map to know which way the wind blows.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:35 amMr. Bush, you will be e-mailing your buddies from behind a wall of bars if we have anything to say about it. Don’t drop the soap!!!
May 14th, 2008 at 9:36 amI didn’t post that twice. I SWEAR :)~
May 14th, 2008 at 9:38 amOn Tuesday, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers predicted that “her constitutional clash with Congress over executive privilege” may not be settled until after Bush leaves office.
_____________________________________________
Does Miers understand that “settling” after Bush leaves office will probably mean that it will be settled under a Democratic White House and a far more Democratic Congress than we have now?
She may not be happy with the results.
BTW — question for the legal scholars out there. Can a new president override any invocations of “executive privilege” under an old president, the way he can override an old president’s executive order? Or can he merely lend his support to congressional and/or court challenges of EP?
May 14th, 2008 at 9:39 amPresident Bush said that when he leaves the White House, the first thing he’ll do is resume e-mailing his buddies.
I wonder how many will reply to the toxic P.O.S. My guess is he’s gonna be spending most of his time with the only friend he has left….Jack Daniels.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:41 amSen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) may sport a “well-coifed ‘do” now, but when he was younger, the senator had “shaggy” hair.
Thankfully, TP has finally moved to the cutting edge of political discourse with this little golden nugget of info. I was worried they’d denigrate this site with a story on the Democratic Presidential race.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:44 amPresident Bush said that when he leaves the White House, the first thing he’ll do is resume e-mailing his buddies.
___________________________________________________
Bush’s “buddies” consist mostly of fat cats who are making out like bandits from his administration. Once Bush is no longer in a position of influence, it will be interesting to see how many of these buddies return his e-mails.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:44 amThat’s ok…he has the Laurabot and the ranch needs some choppin’ and a-weedin’
May 14th, 2008 at 9:45 amExit Stage Left Says
May 14th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Thankfully, TP has finally moved to the cutting edge of political discourse with this little golden nugget of info. I was worried they’d denigrate this site with a story on the Democratic Presidential race.
_______________________________
Oh c’mon, ESL — you’ve been hanging out here long enough to know that the last item on any ThinkFast thread is always a piece of fluff with no substance whatsoever. Usually it’s there to elicit a laugh, nothing more.
But your point is a good one — anybody have any thoughts on the West Virginia primary? Hillary is pointing to her blowout there as evidence that she’s more electable than Obama (big surprise there). She’s also spinning that she won despite Obama waging a “more aggressive campaign” there than she did (Obama was SO aggressive, he didn’t even spend much time campaigning there).
So will Hillary stay in until the bitter end? Will she drop out after Kentucky? Will her victory in WV and lead in KY convince superdelegates to come flocking back to her, or will her spinning just get lamer? Will she get better at math? Stay tuned.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:52 amFrom: trailblazer@bushlibrary.org
To: [Bush Buddies]
Date: January 22, 2009
Subject: FW: FW: FW: fw: Fw: FW: FW: OMG THIS CAT IS SO CUTE
lol u guys look teh kitten is falling asleep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRXgpR2lzo4
Yee haw, y’all - I’m off to play golf!
May 14th, 2008 at 9:52 am> GWB <
President Bush said that when he leaves the White House, the first thing he’ll do is resume e-mailing his buddies. “I can remember as governor, I could stay in touch with all kinds of people around the country firing off e-mails at all times of the day to stay in touch with my pals,”
May 14th, 2008 at 9:53 amThe Nazi Chimp will have a hard time e-mailing from Gitmo. All his buddies will be there right along with him: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove, Rice, Powell etc.
“I tend not to email or — not only tend not to email, I don’t email, because of the different record requests that can happen to a president. I don’t want to receive emails because, you know, there’s no telling what somebody’s email may — it would show up as, you know, a part of some kind of a story, and I wouldn’t be able to say, `Well, I didn’t read the email.’ `But I sent it to your address, how can you say you didn’t?’ So, in other words, I’m very cautious about emailing.”
May 14th, 2008 at 9:54 am–GW Bush October 2006
Ah, yes, way to put a pretty bow on that kick in the a$$, troll.
“So what if I got the snot kicked out of me? It should be noted that I got some much-needed exercise.”
May 14th, 2008 at 10:00 ammisshusseinmolly Says:
BTW — question for the legal scholars out there. Can a new president override any invocations of “executive privilege” under an old president, the way he can override an old president’s executive order? Or can he merely lend his support to congressional and/or court challenges of EP?
My understanding, which is not “scholarly”, is that only the SCOTUS can really make a call on executive privilege, as they did during the Nixon years. In that case, it was limited to one issue, but the Bushies have been invoking it right and left, which might require rulings on each case or a ruling from the Supremes so general that it would apply to all — which would never happen with this Court.
In the long run, my guess is that most of these are simply treated in January with a sigh of relief on all sides, and that they’ll all be swept under the rug or out the back door.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:00 amInstead, the Senate “voted 97-1 to suspend oil deposits in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve” as gas prices continue to climb.
______________________________________________
I wonder who the lone dissenter was in the Senate (the linked article didn’t say). Someone (besides Bush and Cheney themselves) who still supports keeping gas prices high purely to boost the profits of the oil companies, while screwing financially strapped Americans? Or somebody who supports keeping gas prices high to encourage more conservation and less driving? Hmmm…which one is more likely?
May 14th, 2008 at 10:00 amThis is my take on Hillary:
This woman feel entitled to be President. And probably privately things are not working out as planned. So, she is going around saying things like “obliterating Iran” and divisive racial remarks.
This woman is desperate at this point. I really hope someone in her private circle tells her the truth — for the good of the party : she needs to drop out and back the frontrunner and presumptive nominee, Obama.
But, time will tell. Hillary Clinton is the most ferociously ambitious woman in America.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:06 amJust read something on the commentary board of a USA Today article.
slapshotsaint wrote: 1h 31m ago
Clinton has to stay in because the rules say if she doesnt she must pay her debt immediately, if she stays she gets unlimitted time.
Any truth to this?
May 14th, 2008 at 10:09 amIt would be the Republican dream to have Clinton run as an independent. While she’d garner the most votes of any independent in history (or so I’m guessing), this would carry the current divisions into the general for a triple-threat brawl, presumably guaranteeing McCain a victory because of the vote splits that would occur between the dem candidates.
While this has certainly been a exhilarating political brawl, a n historic one, I don’t need to see this move from Monday night
May 14th, 2008 at 10:16 amwraslin’ to pay-per-view.
If Hillary Clinton would have fought to defend the Constitution in the Senate with the tenacity she has shown for her no holds barred desire for power, maybe she wouldn’t be in such a desperate place today. Just sayin’…
May 14th, 2008 at 10:18 amWayne Madsen Interrogated, Harrassed At Airport After DC Madam Controversy
In Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s world of an “Israelized” America, the terms SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique) and BDO (Behavior Detection Officer) are the new acronyms of Stasi-like control of the American citizenry by a government that treats anyone as a suspicious person in the same manner that Israel mistreats its own Arab citizens and Palestinians.
Sunday, this editor and his colleague faced the Chertoffian menace at Washington’s Reagan National Airport while heading to the gate to board a flight to Houston.
It is now clear from a review of the events that unfolded that I was pre-selected for an intensive search and battery of questions even before arriving in line for the security screening. A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screener was overheard saying, “the guy with the beard.” Since I was the only person in line who also had a beard, it was evident that a red flag had earlier been raised.
What followed, was worse than anything I had previously encountered while leaving Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, itself a revolting display of ingratitude to citizens of the country that bankrolls Israel, or the Israeli-run screening process at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport.
First, I was instructed to enter a glass isolation chamber and point out my belongings that were exiting the X-ray machine. Anyone with claustrophobia would really enjoy being placed in such a chamber and have to speak to the screener through small holes in the glass…
Read the whole story:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ articles/ may2008/ 140508Madsen.htm
**I KNEW Wayne Madsen was a commie-pinko-facist terrorist! Our tax dollars at work, folks!
May 14th, 2008 at 10:19 amRe: the vote for suspending deposits to petro reserve.
NAYs —1
Allard (R-CO)
Not Voting - 2
May 14th, 2008 at 10:24 amInhofe (R-OK)
McCain (R-AZ)
This is an email that I received from The Pen regarding Comcast censoring a commercial from Shirley Golub who is running against Nancy Pelosi:
May 14th, 2008 at 10:25 ammissmolly - it was Allerd (R-CO)
May 14th, 2008 at 10:26 amInhoffe and McBush did not vote…
A new President would have the same controls as the old President because he would be acting under the laws created under the old one’s reign. I believe (although i’m not a legal scholar - far from it) that in order to execute executive privilege, you need to be the executor - the President. And thus, President Obama can overide executive privilege should he choose to. Although technically, he’d be taking power away from himself - something i doubt a Clinton or McCain would do.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:28 am“…Bush said that when he leaves the White House, the first thing he’ll do is resume e-mailing his buddies.”
I would suggest that he issue an Executive order before he leaves town suspending the ban on computers for inmates at Leavenworth.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:40 amBush, by claiming not to e-mail means that of course he is e-mailing. Or maybe “electronic messaging” as the lawyers asked him to call it.
Why should we believe differently?
May 14th, 2008 at 10:46 amExecutive Privilege is used to keep certain communications private if disclosing those communications would disrupt the functions or decisionmaking processes of the executive branch. Once the current Executive leaves office, there is no need to protect these communications as there will be no further decision/policy making by the former Executive to disrupt. I’d say all bets are off. In addition, the next AG can simply call it what it is, “a criminal investigation” in which EP is not applicable. THIS is why all those e-mails “went missing”, paper shredding in this Administration far exceeds what has been seen in the past, RNC accounts were illegaly used persistently and Mr. Cheney is so gracious to exclaim that he doesn’t use e-mail because it would leave a paper trail of evidence that could be used against him. In any case, I would simply urge President Obama to issue his own signing statement negating the protections of past orders of EP. If the next Administration so desires it, they seem to have several avenues toward uncovering what has been buried.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:04 amHere’s Bush on with “the troops” at Camp David in November.
Note the computer at the ready on his desk in this Official White House Photo.
What on earth would that man use the computer for? Why is it even on? Another look at “the ranch” using “the Google?”
His claims of not emailing are not credible.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:05 amSen. John McCain (R-AZ) is now reaching out to Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) “in the hope of finding a compromise on a GI Bill that would eliminate a potential embarrassment for the Arizona Republican’s presidential campaign.”
Webb should compromise with McIIIrd by requesting that he tamp his version of the GI Bill up his rectal cavity with barbed wire.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:09 amExit Stage Left Says:
President Bush said that when he leaves the White House, the first thing he’ll do is resume e-mailing his buddies.
I wonder how many will reply to the toxic P.O.S. My guess is he’s gonna be spending most of his time with the only friend he has left….Jack Daniels.
Betcha most of them know how to route his emails to the junk mail folder!
May 14th, 2008 at 11:15 amAs i said, i’m no legal expert. Phrases such as “judicial review” are a bit lost on me to be honest. One point or actually question i have is this : Do presidents lose their claims to executive priviledge when they have been charged with a criminal offence while in office. Would Bush still be able to claim priviledge if he is taking to a Human Rights court?
I understand that Ford pardoned Nixon, so in the Nixon case, although technically he was charged in Watergate, no conviction was upheld and thus Nixon retained executive power. But what would happen if Bush were charged and President Obama did not grant a pardon?
May 14th, 2008 at 11:19 amHillary Clinton has defeated Barack Obama by a wide margin in the Democratic primary in the state of West Virginia.
Clinton said if voters chose to nominate her now, she vowed to win against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the fall, John McCain. “You know I’ll never give up,” said Clinton. “I’ll keep coming back and stand with you as long as you stand with me.”
McCain pushes global warming lie to win libs!
Muslim student threatens to kill epileptic teacher’s service dog
A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog
McCain’s spiritual guide
May 14th, 2008 at 11:20 amspeaks out
(YouTube.com) Pastor Rod Parsley says America was founded, in part, to destroy Islam
Hillary’s support in the MSM is coming from the right wing talking heads who are doing everything in their power to help her get the nomination. It is amazing to me that they are all on the same page, all with the same message. How do they do that?
“He is not electable. White folks are not going to vote for him. Hillary supporters aren’t going to vote for him. The Democrats are handing the Presidency to McCain if they nominate Obama………”
The stench of their fear is palpable. Obama will kick McCain’s ass like a red haired stepchild. Their only hope is that somehow Hillary gets the nod and they can fire up the base with their Clinton/strong woman hatred.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:27 amanymouse20 Says:
“Conspiracy theorists should try this one out…”
I don’t think it would make a sh1t of difference to the judge at The Hague! They both deserve to swing and honestly I don’t care where it happens.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:31 amWhat did we miss?
Well, here’s one:
Hours after being routed by Hillary Rodham Clinton in West Virginia, Barack Obama picked up two more superdelegates, offering fresh recognition from Democratic leaders of his inevitable nomination.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:39 amanymouse20 Says:
roberto(x2): The next President has control over his own claims to Executive Privilege, subject to Judicial Review, but he does not have power to waive a Former President’s claim to Executive Privilege. E.g. Pres Bush cannot force former Pres. Clinton to drop any claim he may make to Executive Privilege for commicatios that took place during the Clinton administration. See, United States v. Nixon (1974).
In my reading of U.S. v. Nixon, (which case took place while Nixon was still President) I find absolutely no reference to executive privilege surviving after a President has left office. Granted, I scanned the opinion, so I may have missed it. If you can find the reference in the attached, please do so.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/ scripts/ getcase.pl?court=US&vol=418&invol=683
May 14th, 2008 at 11:52 amIn an interview yesterday, President Bush said he wasn’t “misled” into invading Iraq. “You know, ‘mislead’ is a strong word; it almost connotes some kind of intentional — I don’t think so. … Intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was,” Bush said. “Do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don’t.”
May 14th, 2008 at 11:55 amIn an interview yesterday, President Bush said he wasn’t “misled” into invading Iraq. “You know, ‘mislead’ is a strong word; it almost connotes some kind of intentional — I don’t think so. … Intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was,” Bush said. “Do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don’t.”
In fact, ALL the intelligence communities where receiving YOUR input, not the other way around. YOU where the one choosing which intelligence to send, and what foreing intelligence dismiss. Remember “Curveball”? Deemeed too shaky to be a reliable source by the german intelligence community? The french intelligence community saying “it’s not credible that Saddam houses Al Qaeda training camps? The skepticism of Russia (remember, they have first hand knowledge of Afghanistan and the terrorists hidden there)? Remember the Powerpoint presentation done by Powell at the UN? It was done in the Pentagon, not at some third world country.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:09 pmSome U.S. detainees drugged for deportation: report
http://news.yahoo.com/ s/ nm/ 20080514/ us_nm/ usa_immigrants_deportations_dc;_ylt=Aq9ovJPjGcu65uqlYShKXlCs0NUE
The newspaper said it has identified 250 cases in which the government has, without medical reason, given drugs meant to treat serious psychiatric disorders to people it has shipped out of the United States since 2003.
Involuntary chemical restraint of detainees without medical justification is a violation of some international human rights codes, the Post reported.
Records show that the government has routinely ignored its own rules, which allow deportees to be sedated only if they have a mental illness requiring the drugs, or if they are so aggressive that they imperil themselves or people around them.
What’s next? Trains to some detention facilities to execute the Final Solution on illegal immigrants?
May 14th, 2008 at 12:44 pmOn Tuesday, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers predicted that “her constitutional clash with Congress over executive privilege” may not be settled until after Bush leaves office. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it extended beyond this administration,” said Miers, who was cited for contempt by Congress after refusing to testify about her role in the U.S. attorney scandal.
It won’t last much beyond. The new administration can say that there’s no EP for her, and that’s the end of it.
Cheers,
May 14th, 2008 at 4:21 pm…Hillary Clinton is the most ferociously ambitious woman in America.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:06 am
i doubt that, i really do…she is indeed highly motivated, but I think she’s only one of many fiercely ambitious women, especially of her age cohort, who tasted nearly the first fruits of the gender/sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:47 pm>See, United States v. Nixon (1974).
yawn..thanks, legal beagal. still wondering if you’re ever going to offer the explanation about how “non-frivilous” = “substantial” in a legal context?
while your probably right about the next president being unable to un-invoke EP, all he has to do it tell the attorney general to follow the law and do his job, and then let the bush cronies try to invoke EP from a jail cell..
May 14th, 2008 at 5:29 pmBush: U.S. had ‘darn good intelligence’ on Iraq
http://www.cnn.com/ 2003/ ALLPOLITICS/ 07/ 14/ white.house.intel/
But here’s a truth. Sometimes you want “bad” intelligence…to suit your needs.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:55 pm