The new "activist" judges

AUSTIN, Texas -- Another bee-you-ti-ful example of the right-wing media getting it all wrong. Here they are having the nerve to mutter in public about "activist judges" because Judge Anna Diggs Taylor has pointed out that spying without a warrant is illegal in this country -- so warrantless telephone tapping is illegal in this country.

Improbably enough, the first complaint of many of these (SET ITAL) soi-disant (END ITAL) legal scholars is that Taylor's decision is not well written. No judicial masterpiece, they sneer. Nevertheless, warrantless spying is illegal. Did it ever occur to these literary critics that Taylor has a lay-down hand? The National Security Agency program is flat unconstitutional, and for those who insist this means Osama bin Laden wins, it's also ridiculously easy to fix so that it is constitutional.

Conservatives in this country have been yipping in chorus for years about "activist judges," and frankly, like fools, many of you bought into the phony political rhetoric about those terrible jurists.

USDA undermines organic law, authority of expert panel ignored

CORNUCOPIA: Organic livestock farmers may soon have access to additional medicines to treat their animals for common ailments. The USDA’s National Organic Program has proposed rule changes to add thirteen new materials to the “National List” of approved substances for organic producers and is accepting public comments through September 15th.

The Meetup

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Flights

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The smell of fear

That $100-a-bottle perfume that inconvenienced passengers tossed into airport trash cans last week, along with the lip gloss, toothpaste and shampoo, added the missing element of home-front sacrifice to the war on terror, which may explain why initial media coverage was so enthusiastic and skepticism-free.

It was a story everyone understood - us vs. them, wise-cracking stoicism, a big jolt of fear - and for a while the nation could return to its pre-quagmire delusions of Pearl Harbor/Good War redux. That's the story the media have tried to cover all along.

And, oh, they keep trying: "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation." That was our president, of course, still reading "The Pet Goat" to the nation, still quoted straight up as he simplifies a complex world for us. The fanatics who hate freedom will even try to detonate our Prell, our Crest, our Fiji Water, our Eau de Toilette.

Green Party candidate for Secretary of State files complaint

Tim Kettler, Green Party candidate for Secretary of State today submitted a complaint with both the Coshocton County Sheriff's department and the Coshocton County Prosecutor alleging misconduct during the 2004 Presidential Vote Recount. Those named in the complaint include the Directors and Members of the Coshocton County Board of Election, as well as Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and at least three of his employees. The complaint also demands the appointment of a special prosecutor and a court order to preserve documents.

"With voter confidence and participation at an all-time low it is imperative that our election officials conduct our elections with transparency and integrity. The Republicans and Democrats presently in control of the process have failed to live up to that responsibility and voters demand accountability for this failure", Kettler said on Wednesday.

Kettler's platform calls for the inclusion of Independents and Third Parties at the local board level and the use of hand counted paper ballots to insure a verifiable record of votes cast.

In praise of stupid emperors

Quite often these days, I feel the sort of ecstatic incredulity that the Goths and the Vandals must have felt in the Fifth Century A.D., rejoicing in the stupidity of the Roman Emperor Theodosius II, a fanatical Christian monophysite and book-burner who presided over the accelerating decline of the Empire, and who eventually died at the age of 49 by tumbling off his horse. The Vandals and Goths didn't anxiously scan the news bulletins from Rome hoping for news of a "better" imperial candidate who would revive the Empire's fortunes and consolidate the iron rule of Rome under the slogan Back to Augustus. Neither should we.

Insulated though they are from reality, one would have thought that Bush and his entourage would have noticed that their military adventure in Iraq has been faring poorly, and possibly even tiptoed toward the conclusion offered earlier by the Vietnam experience that a contest with a determined guerrilla force backed by a supportive population may not necessarily turn out well for the invading party.

Tales of Terror Plots

AUSTIN, Texas -- The most cunning refinement yet in the administration's plot to scare the liver, lights and onions out of us with Tales of Terror Plots is the Department of Homeland Security's brilliant move to declare Indiana the national center of terrorism, with 8,591 potential targets. Many citizens have questioned the Indiana move -- some claiming it is a waste of money trying to stop attacks on the Wabash Cannonball. The Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument might merit a little more attention. This is precisely why it is better to have Michael Chertoff and Karl Rove making this Homeland Security decisions, rather than Osama bin Laden.

The defeat of Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary alerted Veep Dick Cheney to the menace. Ned Lamont, the guy who beat Lieberman, said he was surprised that Cheney claimed his victory would embolden Osama bin, as we call him Texas.

United for New Directions in Iraq

United with one voice, Democratic leaders from Joe Biden to John Murtha sent a clear message to George Bush -- it's time for a New Direction in Iraq. Our plan is straightforward: we believe that a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq should begin by the end of 2006. And our soldiers in the region should transition to a more limited mission focused on counterterrorism, force protection of U.S. personnel, training and logistical support of Iraqi security forces.

Read the letter below and add your name:

Thank you,
Harry Reid


July 30, 2006

The President
The White House
Washington, D.C.


Dear Mr. President:

While the world has been focused on the crisis in the Middle East, Iraq has exploded in violence. Some 6,000 Iraqis were killed in May and June, and sectarian and insurgent violence continues to claim American and Iraqi lives at an alarming rate. In the face of this onslaught, one can only conclude that the Baghdad security plan you announced five weeks ago is in great jeopardy.

B for Bush

Having just viewed “V for Vendetta”, I feel stirred to release my own cinematic masterpiece, entitled “B for Bush Did It”. In this gripping saga, B is suffering abysmal poll numbers less than a year after stealing the presidential election of 2000. A senator from his own party has defected and become an independent who votes against anything even remotely Bush League, thus rendering the latter as impotent in the halls of Congress as he has always been when forced to compete in an unfixed game. The people of America have clearly and accurately identified the Bush presidency as their true and mortal enemy. What’s a B to do?

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