Friday

Justice Dept. threatens to sue Maine to stop domestic spying lawsuit by Joe in DC - 8/04/2006 12:42:00 PM

The Bush administration is threatening to take Maine to court if they even investigate whether Verizon broke the law:

The Bush administration is threatening to sue if Maine regulators decide to investigate whether Verizon Communications illegally turned over customer information to the National Security Agency.Verizon customers in Maine have asked the state's Public Utilities Commission to investigate whether the telecom giant violated privacy laws by cooperating with a domestic surveillance program. The PUC is expected to decide Monday whether to open such a probe.In a July 28 letter to the PUC, the U.S. Department of Justice cites national security as a key reason for its opposition to a state investigation. The seven-page letter suggests a lawsuit is likely if Maine regulators decide to investigate."We sincerely hope that, in light of governing law and the national security concerns implicated by the requests for information, you will decline to open an investigation and close these proceedings, thereby avoiding litigation over the matter," the letter reads.Verizon sure has a lot of power within the Bush administration. What comes after the lawsuit? An invasion? It is about national security after all.

I think Bush is preparing the American people for an all-out disaster in Iraq by John in DC - 8/04/2006 08:12:00 AM
You don't get two top generals warning of a possible "civil war" in Iraq on the same day unless their words were scripted. These are not folks known for their spontaneity, or honesty, particularly as it pertains to this war. So the fact that they're even talking about a civil war - when we all know that Iraq is already in a civil war - tells us something.And what it tells us is that Iraq is lost, Bush now knows it's lost, and his generals are throwing out trial balloons to the American people, slowly getting us accustomed to the idea that Iraq may fail. Sure, it already has failed, so the generals are lying like the good banana republic generals they are, but still, there's movement in their message, and that is most certainly not a coincidence.

Presidential policy is based foremost on Bush's Christian Fundamentalism by Joe in DC - 8/03/2006 09:46:00 PM
Via Froomkin:
Former Newsday and Knight Ridder White House correspondent Saul Friedman writes on NiemanWatchdog.org: "I believe this to be the first time in modern American history that a president's religion, in this case his Christian fundamentalism, has become a decisive factor in his foreign and domestic policies. It's a factor that has been under-reported, to say the least, and that begs for press attention. . ."It may help explain George W. Bush's single-mindedness, his oblivious inability to face reality as his war in Iraq, his war against terror and his policies towards Arabs and Israeli have collapsed."Scary. Very scary. And, of course it's under-reported, like every other scary thing from Bush.