I am republishing a portion from an earlier post (written in September 2006): February 26, 1993 I was a third-year law student at NYU in 1993. As any third-year law student will tell you, a 3L’s focus in the second semester is not so much on completing law school and passing law school exams, but preparing for the impending bar … Read More
Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?
Looks like Spurlock’s new "documentary" is pretty funny:
North Carolinians Pee Their Pants
A Muslim woman in Raleigh, wearing the traditional burqa, went to the movies to see "Atonement". And from that, there is a nationwide email going around claiming (without foundation, I must add) that dozens hundreds thousands of Muslim women are swarming the country’s movie theaters, getting ready to launch massive suicide attacks. Get the story. Thank you, Michelle Malkin for … Read More
I Detect A Pattern….
Not sure what it’s about, but something is fishy: January 31: A pair of undersea fiber optic cables (which provide Internet to the Middle East) are "accidentally" cut, presumably by some ship’s anchor. February 3: A third cable is cut. Egyptian authorities revise their earlier speculation about a ship causing the first two cuts, not say "no ship was in … Read More
But At Least Iraq Is Safe
Military not ready for attack on US: The U.S. military isn’t ready for a catastrophic attack on the country, and National Guard forces don’t have the equipment or training they need for the job, according to a report. Even fewer Army National Guard units are combat-ready today than were nearly a year ago when the Commission on the National Guard … Read More
No Terrorist Attacks Since 9/11?
In his State of the Union address last night, Bush said, "We are grateful that there has not been another attack on our soil since 9/11." Oh, really? Carpetbagger adds: I’m not trying to play a cute semantics game; I know what conservatives mean when they talk about “terrorist attacks.” They’re describing devastating, cataclysmic events that kill a lot of … Read More
Tough on Terrorism
Former Republican Congressman indicted on terrorism charges: A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al Qaeda and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan. The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with … Read More
Strong Words
In an editorial in today’s New York Times, Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton (the chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the 9/11 commission) outright and openly accuse the CIA and the White House of obstruction: The commission’s mandate was sweeping and it explicitly included the intelligence agencies. But the recent revelations that the C.I.A. destroyed videotaped interrogations of … Read More
Recommended Reading
Slate’s Top Ten Bush Administration’s Dumbest Legal Arguments of the Year. It’s a doozy. Number one: 1. The United States does not torture. First there was the 2002 torture memo. That was withdrawn. Then there was the December 2004 statement that declared torture "abhorrent." But then there was the new secret 2005 torture memo. But members of Congress were fully … Read More
Squandering America’s Leadership
Today’s New York Times editorial says everything that needs to be said in these four simple paragraphs: There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up … Read More
Indeed
Yglesius writes: Harold Meyerson asks the question that’s on every secular liberal’s mind: How is it that the political mobilization of Christianity in the United States seems to have gotten us so much torture, aggressive warfare, and xenophobia? Where’s the humane, universalistic ethic of the Gospels go?
Back To The Videotape
The story of the destroyed torture tapes is back in the news, and this time, the White House isn’t looking as clean. Earlier, it had been reported that the White House (specifically, Harriet Miers) had advised against destroying the tapes, which is the correct legal advice. Now, the facts are a litte fuzzier: It was previously reported that some administration … Read More
Maybe They Weren’t Terrorists?
The Miami "Seas of David" terror bust was such an important blow in the War on Terror that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales himself gave a press conference in July of 2006. Federal agents had stopped a plot to blow up the Sears Tower, he said. The group had planned to "accomplish attacks against America," the FBI’s deputy director said at … Read More
Bush Will Veto Ban On Waterboarding
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a ban on torture. Actually, per The Gavel, the House adopted the Army’s rules prohibiting torture for other agencies. Seems the Army doesn’t want to condone a practice that could be used on our soldiers. Not Bush, though. He will veto that ban: The White House vowed to veto the measure. Limiting the … Read More
Why Did “The Iraqs” Attack Us On 9/11?
This post, from a university professor, is about the most depressing thing I’ve ever read.