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Saturday, December 17, 2005 |
CBS: "The Senate on Friday rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders."
One step forward, two steps back.
ContraCostaTimes: "President Bush signed a secret order in 2002 authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in the United States, despite previous legal prohibitions against such domestic spying, sources with knowledge of the program said Thursday night."
Bush confessed to more crimes:
EmpireBurlesque: "'I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis,' Bush said...'I made a tough decision. And knowing what I know today, I'd make the decision again.'
[The actual figure is estimated to be over 100,000 deaths.]
Knowing what I know today.... that there were no weapons of mass destruction, there were not any active programs for weapons of mass destruction, that the weapons of mass destruction had been destroyed in 1991, that there was no Iraqi link to al Qaeda or 9/11, that Iranian-backed theocrats would come to rule the country with death squads and torture, that by his own (lowball) admission, 30,000 Iraqis would be slaughtered and tens of thousands of Americans left dead or maimed.... Bush would make that decision again."
HuffingtonPost: "Today, for two separate reasons, has been an incredible day in America. First, the United States has legitimized torture and secondly, the President has admitted to an impeachable offense.
First, the media has been totally misled on the alleged Bush-McCain agreement on torture. McCain capitulated. It is not a defeat for Bush. It is a win for Cheney. Torture is not banned or in any way impeded.
Under the compromise, anyone charged with torture can defend himself if a 'reasonable' person could have concluded they were following a lawful order.
That defense 'loophole' totally corrodes the ban. It is the CIA, or the torturing agency, who will decide what a 'reasonable' person could have concluded. Can you imagine those agencies in the interrogation business torturing on their own in trying to decide what is reasonable or what is not?
The Bush-McCain torture compromise legitimizes torture. It is the first time that has happened in this country. Not in the two World Wars, Korea, the Cold War or Vietnam did the government ever seek or get the power this bill gives them.
The worst part of it is that most of the media missed it and got it wrong.
Secondly, the President in authorizing surveillance without seeking a court order has committed a crime. The Federal Communications Act criminalizes surveillance without a warrant. It is an impeachable offense. This was also totally missed by the media."
1:00:13 PM 
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CNN had it, so millions are now trying to connect to JibJab to watch Dubya's year in review. I haven't been able to connect to the site yet, but saw it on CNN.
12:44:15 PM
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