Daily Archives: September 17, 2007

Will The Democrats Betray Us?

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by Frank Rich (from the NY Times)
Sunday 16 September 2007
via: Truthout.org

“Sir, I don’t know, actually”: The fact that America’s surrogate commander in chief, David Petraeus, could not say whether the war in Iraq is making America safer was all you needed to take away from last week’s festivities in Washington. Everything else was a verbal quagmire, as administration spin and senatorial preening fought to a numbing standoff.

Not that many Americans were watching. The country knew going in that the White House would win its latest campaign to stay its course of indefinitely shoveling our troops and treasure into the bottomless pit of Iraq. The only troops coming home alive or with their limbs intact in President Bush’s troop “reduction” are those who were scheduled to be withdrawn by April anyway. Otherwise the president would have had to extend combat tours yet again, mobilize more reserves or bring back the draft.
(Read the rest of the op-ed piece)

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Revisiting the death of Habeus Corpus Olbermann Style!

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I wanted to post this segment on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann from October of 2006 because it seemed appropriate in honor of this Constitution Day of 2007. Keith goes into great detail, along with chart and big black pen, about how many of the Bill Of Rights have lost their meaning now that the president has eliminated the writ of Habeus Corpus. (As it ends up, “Bill of Right”!)
One of Keith’s best segments.

Erwin Chemerinsky and the Post-9/11 Attack on Academic Freedom

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by Marjorie Cohn
Saturday, September 15, 2007

One week after renowned legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky was offered the position of dean of the new law school at the University of California at Irvine, Chancellor Michael Drake withdrew the offer, informing Professor Chemerinsky he had proved to be “too politically controversial.” Duke Law Professor Chemerinsky is one of the most eminent law teachers and constitutional law scholars in the country. Author of a leading treatise on constitutional law, he has written four books and more than 100 law review articles. In 2005, he was named by Legal Affairs as one of “the top 20 legal thinkers in America.”
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Bush Announces New Acting AG Pick

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Following the departure of
Alberto Gonzales, it appears that the
acting ‘interim’ Attorney General ISN’T going to be
Paul Clement after all..
(I wonder if they changed Wikipedia yet..)

According to Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker:

Bush threw an unexpected change-up in his announcement this morning. Towards the end of his remarks about his nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, he also said that outgoing Justice Department official Peter Keisler would serve as the acting attorney general until Mukasey is confirmed. Continue reading →

Ohhhh, the Shame…..

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From BBC News:

The Minneapolis airport toilet where US senator Larry Craig was arrested for allegedly soliciting gay sex is now attracting tourists, say airport staff. “People are taking pictures,” Karen Evans, an information officer at Minneapolis-St Paul international airport, told Associated Press.

Perhaps people are flocking to the Craig loo to perfect their wide stance…?