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
December 2005
December 23, 2005
About that U Mass Dartmouth student “targeted” by Homeland Security for reading Mao
December 23, 2005
“U.S.: Mosques searched for ‘dirty bomb’”
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
December 23, 2005
Warrantless intelligence gathering, redux (UPDATED)
Glenn Greenwald has authored another long post arguing that Bush broke the law in authorizing the NSA warrantless surveillance program: (1) There is not a single bit of authority in any [the Hinderaker / DoJ arguments] for the absurd and dangerous proposition that the President has the right to violate a criminal law passed by Congress. Period. The Administration is trotting out lawyers to make legalistic arguments designed to cloud
December 23, 2005
“A very unmerry Christmas” (a protein wisdom sudden fiction)
“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.”
December 22, 2005
Imperial powers? (UPDATED)
Powerline’s John Hinderaker has a long and meticulously argued post that agrees in large measure with my earlier post, and with the assessments of Messrs Cass Sunstein, Richard Posner, and Clinton associate attorney general John Schmidt, From “On the Legality of the NSA Electronic Intercept Program”: […] Finally, in 2002, the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review decided Sealed Case No. 02-001. This case arose out of a
December 22, 2005
Problematizing the NSA
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
December 22, 2005
More NSA analysis. Because really, who can’t get enough of this stuff?
U of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein, on Bush’s NSA program: The discussion of wiretapping by the President, without court approval, raises a number of important and interesting legal issues. According to CNN, Attorney General Gonzales recently said, “There were many people, many lawyers within the administration who advised the president that he had an inherent authority as commander in chief under the Constitution to engage in” this kind of
December 22, 2005
“The War on Christmas Poem”
When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me — but I tell her to quick, run and hide!—before the goddamned ACLU and its goddamned lawyers find her and the baby Jesus, and strangle them both right where they fucking stand!
Peter Fonda comments on the leak-driven story about the NSA’s “illegal” domestic “spying” program authorized by the Bush adminstration under AUMF and FISA authorities
Fonda: “All I’ll say on the matter is this: In ‘75 or thereabouts, I had a nice steak dinner with Frank Church, and the shit he laid on me about COINTELPro—the extent, man, to which the government was watching us—made the hair on my nipples stand on end. I mean, would you want Tricky Dick and his kinky First Lady wife getting their freak on to wire taps of Sylvia