This still leaves the country with the issue that laws were violated by the executive branch and telcos without a legal remedy to address the transgression.

This is the real issue. If government is not accountable to the courts or the citizens and is able to extend to the private sector that relief from accountability we are sunk. This is the Bush plan in a nutshell. The extension of executive branch power no matter the cost.

Posted at July 3, 2008 7:14 PM in response to Obama Responds To FISA Group On His Web Site

A fair deal would be nice.

But is it even possible given the lopsided influence powerful lobbyists have in our nations capitol?

I'm tired of writing and emailing my congresspersons only to have legislation that I feel is citizen unfriendly pass into law. Equality of representation is a joke.

I see no indication the congress cares. Few would argue that Bush has violated multiple laws but nothing happens. Congress doesn't care. Mostly they are raising campaign money and angling for the big payday when they leave office. Honestly serving their constituents is a low priority.

Posted at July 2, 2008 8:51 AM in response to What Do Working-Class Voters Want? They Want A Fair Deal

McCain is so screwed. For the next several months he is going to be on the receiving end of everything dems and some reps can dish out. He is the public face of the republican party so he is in the crosshairs to take the heat for all the crap that Bush has done. He has to have figured this out before now. Or if not, then he doesn't belong in the oval office anyway. Not to mention an additional helping of crap for the general dismal performance of the congress.

I was just thinking of the toll this will take on him. I hope he survives. I mean that he actually lives through it in terms of his health. It is going to be brutal. Common sense tells us that any normal person would look at what lies ahead, with no chance of winning and just walk away.

Posted at July 1, 2008 4:34 PM in response to McCain Campaign Accuses Obama Camp Of Coordinating With Webb To Attack McCain

Living at the opposite end of the country I had no idea that the tax system in CA was so messed up. That is, I suspected it was goofed up but didn't know the details.

The fundamental unfairness as described here is absurd. There is no way a house valued at say, $700K has taxes levied on it that are greater than a house worth millions.

I don't think it possible to fail to grasp the idea that a tax system that is so patently out of whack needs fixing. That such a system was created and is allowed to remain in place says a lot about the state of CA. At the very least there needs to be a floor or minimum tax that addresses this inequity of taxation. The inequity is so obvious and so absurd I'm surprised it hasn't been challenged in court. Or if it has and lost then there is no hope for the CA justice system. The CA courts are as corrupt as the system of taxation implies. No wonder CA is called La La land.

Posted at June 29, 2008 7:18 AM in response to McCains Delinquent On Tax Bill

Firing one person won't modify the general theme of the conservative agenda. You have to chop off the head of the beast.

Posted at June 24, 2008 5:03 AM in response to Obama Camp: McCain Adviser's Claim That Terror Attack Would Help Campaign Is "Complete Disgrace"

It is difficult at this point to envision a scenario that is more revealing of the thoroughness of moral corruption of the republican party.

The notion that a political entity needs violence to be visited upon others to sustain itself is an expression of mental dysfunction that completely disqualifies the group from exercising any authority over others. The premise that a leader has his or her authority validated by the commission of an act of violence is insane. Violence never resolves to peace.

The proposal by Charlie Black states that violence, not peace, is the goal being sought. We have indisputable evidence that Bush wanted war. That evidence remains in the person of John McCain. The consistent push to the right that is the centerpiece of the conservative agenda is the progenitor of Islamic terrorism. It is driven by religious zealots intolerant of other cultures and nations that occupy our world. Our present circumstance is a wholly manufactured devisement of that intolerance. You cannot dismiss the emergence of the ideological right shift in this country nor close your eyes to the outcomes it has produced. The fear of Islamic terrorism are the fears of those expressing them and not those of the general populace.

The ethnic, religious, gender, economic and social diversity of this country decries this notion of intolerance. Choosing leaders who choose war means we also choose intolerance. And that intolerance is expressed in all ways. The republican agenda is one of intolerance without limit. The choice is simple. Limitless war or limitless peace. Which you choose specifies our individual ability to escape our own fear. Bush has traded on our fears very much like the commodity traders have traded in oil futures and McCain is doing the same. Just as oil prices are inflated so are our fears. And both are fundamentally derived of a lie.

Posted at June 24, 2008 4:45 AM in response to Obama Camp: McCain Adviser's Claim That Terror Attack Would Help Campaign Is "Complete Disgrace"

I think we are missing the point in all of this.

It has to be about congress upholding the constitution which the members have sworn to do. So far that isn't happening on multiple levels.

The only reason any of this is occurring is because the existing FISA law, which was perfectly functional, was tossed overboard by the Bush administration.

The congressional action that was supposed to have occurred is that Bush should have been impeached.

Instead, the congress is now working feverishly to revise FISA in a way that avoids the legal and ethical exposure of the WH and Congress. This is less about letting the telcos off the hook than it is about letting the WH and Congress off the hook for having screwed this up in many ways.

Bush violted the FISA law. The House, and Pelosi specifically, failed, under a legally binding requirement, to impeach for the committed violation.

Now congress is trying to find a way out of these not insignificant transgressions. The congress can't resolve this because the constitutionally called for legal remedy is not the one being sought. It makes no difference if the votes for impeachment are available in either chamber or not. Articles of impeachment were required to have been brought against Bush.

You can't change a law and have it apply retroactively for the sole purpose of fulfilling a political goal without bumping up against the reality of the Constitution and existing law. The compromise is really a compromise of the Constitution and the existing FISA statutes. Can it be any wonder nobody agrees?

Nobody in Washington wants to do what the law requires because they're cowards. They'd rather devise a piece of tortured legislation than go through an impeachment hearing that would inevitably reveal how completely both the WH and Congress screwed up.

Posted at June 21, 2008 11:48 PM in response to Why Obama's Support For FISA Cave-In Is Such A Downer

I don't think you can give in to immunity when it is fairly well established that the violations which occurred encroached upon very fundamental constitutional freedoms.

This really rests with Pelosi and the House of Representatives.

The House dropped the ball on these very fundamental aspects that should never be subject to compromise.

Posted at June 21, 2008 11:43 AM in response to Why Obama's Support For FISA Cave-In Is Such A Downer

Existing law was broken and the constitutional protections we are guaranteed were violated.

This is nothing less than creating a law that makes an exception to the constitution.

There are no constitutonal provisions which permit the creation of a unique instance of legislation which suspends any major protections, freedoms or rights granted to citizens.

This legislation has the singular goal of relieving our government of being held to account for having broken the law.

This legislation is thoroughly illogical and stipulates a condition of lawlessness.

Posted at June 21, 2008 8:06 AM in response to Obama Backing FISA "Compromise"

I feel better now.

I just wrote Pelosi a short note.

Two words.

FU

Posted at June 19, 2008 1:40 PM in response to Lawmakers Reach Deal Over Government Surveillance Powers