I used to live in Colorado (practically grew up there.) So I was personally embarrassed by that state's governor, Bill Owens' performance on Hardball tonight. Owens attempted to argue -- with a straight face - that there have been a "series of legal opinions" upholding the president's power to conduct domestic surveillance thorugh the NSA. Andrea Mitchell tried to save his behind, gently reminding him that those powers involve the domestic-themed FBI, not the foreign-focused NSA, but Owen's wouldn't bite, insisting that these phantom rulings exist. (Mitchell took down likely presidential candidate Sen. George Allen of Virginia on exactly the same points on Wednesday) ... Hey ... does the governor's complete lack of understanding of American civics or law mean he's qualified to be the next ding-bat governor elevated to commander in chief...?
Anyway, enough of that rant. Here's what's up in Bush's ham-handed bid for dictatorship.
An anonymous GOP Senator places a hold on the annual year-end intelligence bill, possibly to derail two amendments by Ted Kennedy and one by John F. Kerry, which called for the White House to turn over PDB's (presidential daily briefs) Clinton and Bush received on Iraq, and which require NID John Negroponte to turn over to the intel committees information on America's secret prisons abroad. Bets on the anonymous Senator: Frist?
Not surprisingly, Charles "the Killer" Krauthammer says, "impeach Bush??? Sheeeeeiit! Strap an AK-47 on him and ship him over to Iraq to execute Saddam Hussein PERSONALLY!!!!!@##&&&!!!" Okay, he really didn't say that...
The White House loses another one -- the Patriot Act gets renewed for just one month to allow more wrangling...
WaPo says the Congress is finally standing up to the Bushies... (sort of -- I don't think they're exactly holding his feet to the fire --not while the GOP is still in control.) One really fascinating thing: this quote from a fairly unlikely source:
"What you have seen is a Congress, which has been AWOL through intimidation or lack of unity, get off the sidelines and jump in with both feet," especially on the national security front, said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.).
...then again, he was always a McCain guy. Here's an even more candid assessment:
"This is partly a function of approval ratings," said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). "People pay attention [to polls] and start saying, 'Lets take a more independent tack.' It is frankly self-interest, self-preservation."
Surprise-surprise, the Homeland Security Department has always sucked.
NYC Mayor Bloomberg has his own domestic spying scandal, though in the case of the city, it was the police department, not a federal agency purposed to collect foreign intelligence, that did the looking...
Meanwhile, in the "now they tell 'em" category, the lead judge ignored by the Bush administration in conducting its secret wiretaps on American soil will belatedly brief her fellow FISA judges on why they're irrelevant to the Bush administration...
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
