Merrick: “I AM NOT AN ANIMAL!” me: “Perhaps.  But if you were an animal, would you stipulate that any executive authorizition for warrantless electronic surveillance on you would meet the requirements for one of the 1978 FISA exemptions?  After all, the statute only proffers protections to US persons.  Animals, per the statute, need to apply.” Merrick: “I AM A HUMAN BEING!” me: “Feh.  That’s the same defense terrorists embedded in

From the American Libary Association: A senior at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth says he was visited at his parents’ home by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security who were investigating why he had requested a book by former Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong through interlibrary loan. The student, who has asked university officials to shield his identity, told two UMD history professors that the incident took

From YNet News: U.S. News and World Report reveals American government launched a top secret search for terrorists believed to be in possession of ‘dirty bomb’; authorities conducting tests in hundreds of Muslim sites to detect radioactive activity. The U.S. government has launched a top secret search for terrorists believed to be in possession of a ‘dirty bomb’ (radiological weapon which combines radioactive material with conventional explosives), the U.S. News

     “What do you mean, you ‘forgot the ham’?  How can anybody forget a goddamned Christmas ham — ?”      “– Lower your voice. Please,” she dug a thumbnail into his palm.  “I’ll figure something out.  Meantime, you go tell your Aunt Rose to keep her twisted old fingers out of the freakin’ onion dip.” Then—“And for Chrissakes, be discreet.”

**** More here.

From the NYT “News of Surveillance Is Awkward for Agency”: At a news conference at the White House on Monday, General Hayden also emphasized that the program’s operations had “intense oversight” by the agency’s general counsel and inspector general as well as the Justice Department. He said decisions on targets were made by agency employees and required two people, including a shift supervisor, to sign off on them, recording “what

From the CSM‘s Scott Peterson: For those who believe, the devotion is real. Tears stream down the cheeks of 2,000 men ripe for the return of the Mahdi, the 12th Imam they expect will soon emerge to bring justice and peace to a corrupt world. Eyes stare upward and arms open wide to receive God’s promised salvation. The storyteller’s lyrical song speaks of tragedy on the path to salvation, prompting

Feingold: “I mean, you seem like a nice ordinary Joe.  Would you want that cowboy doofus and his NSA goons unilaterally deciding to listen in on your phone conversations?  Because the fact is, the president cannot make up authority and legislative power when it isn’t there.  He’s President. He’s not King George Bush.”* Footlocker sales clerk:  “Of course he isn’t.  A King might presume to tell us when it’s okay

From the Washington Times: Inside a South Florida Wal-Mart last Thursday, union-sponsored protesters handed out empty, gift-wrapped boxes to children and made them cry, according to multiple witnesses—and it appears that the arrests of two of the protesters may have been part of a grand strategy designed by Big Labor-backed WakeUpWalMart.com. Yet despite internal WakeUpWalMart.com communication—obtained exclusively by this columnist—indicating that the union-funded front instructed its protesters to test police

From CNN: A Hezbollah militant sentenced to life in Germany for murdering a U.S. Navy diver during the 1985 hijacking of a U.S. jetliner has been freed, officials said. The German government denied on Tuesday the release was related to the freeing of a German hostage in Iraq. Mohammed Ali Hamadi was released Thursday and allowed to return to his native Lebanon on the next day, after qualifying for parole