Republican 'File-Gate' Scandal Grows. AP: 2 Republican ex-staffers blamed for theft of memos. Democrats are calling for an outside investigation, but the committee has yet to decide what its next step will be. The report said 4,670 files were found on a GOP aide's computer, ``the majority of which appeared to be from folders belonging to Democratic staff.''

Another example of the moral bankruptcy of so many of the members of our government. Cheating is okay. Anything to win. And if you get caught, you can count on being protected by the power structure. No wonder people are so cynical about the government. This sort of abuse would not be tolerated in any other sector of the US. Why? Because someone would sue and it would cost someone a lot of money. Partly, the courts are there to try and insure a even playing field. That is why Martha is going to serve some time. But the members of our government are pretty well immune from such prosecution, so we get to see the really bad side of human nature so often. Power will only be limited, a fair playing field will only emerge when we decide to make it so. These guys only get away with this because we let them.  comment []11:30:21 AM    

Bush's War on Habeas Corpus. Put simply, we are being told that the president, solely on his say-so (or, in real life, the say-so of anyone he designates), can imprison anyone for any period of time -- and without any right to a lawyer or judicial review. [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

Being able to tell ANYONE, citizen or non-citizen that they can be made an enemy combatant, to disappear from the view of the judicial system, to lose any contact with family or legal representation, is a terrible power, one that we supposedly removed in the Bill of Rights. Why are we simply allowing it to happen today with so little argument? Is it that it only happens to men of Middle Eastern background?But power aggregation does not stop by itself. Unless there is a committed effort to stop it now, other minorities will be targeted. Then people who are simply disagreeable. Then those who simply disagree. We have seen the same happen throughout history. Are we different? I certainly think so but only if we, the people, stop it. It is not a Democrat of a Republican thing. It is an American thing.  comment []11:26:07 AM    

Malfunctioning Voting Machines, Part MMMCCXVIII. This letter to the editor in the Washington Post is just one more reason to ask voting officials everywhere: Why are you so resistant to voter-verifiable paper trails? [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

Fear the electronic voting machine. As with most software, the 1.0 version will be funky. But, since it will control our democracy, we may never get a chance to see the first revision.  comment []11:18:54 AM