Bush tells Brown not to withdraw from Iraq.

post from Think Progress on 14 June 2008 11:45:00 PM. © Think Progress

This week, media reports indicated that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will soon announce a final timetable for the withdrawal of Britain’s remaining 4,000 troops from southern Iraq by the end of the year. In an interview with the Observer, President Bush, who arrives in London tomorrow, issued a “stern” warning to Brown urging him not to “announce a timetable for a British pull-out from Iraq”:

But while he said both allies obviously wanted to bring their troops home, this could only be ‘based upon success’. On the reported possibility of a formal timetable for major reductions, Bush was unequivocal: ‘Our answer is: there should be no definitive timetable.’
He pointedly noted that Brown had retreated last year on the scale of an earlier planned pullout - and that Britain still had 4,200 soldiers in Iraq rather than the projected 3,500. ‘I am confident that he, like me, will listen to our commanders to make sure that the sacrifices that have gone forward won’t be unravelled by draw-downs that may not be warranted at this point in time. I look forward to discussing it with him.’

Bush also delivered “a major policy address during his final presidential trip to Europe not in Britain, but France - which he called America’s ‘first friend,’” the Guardian notes.

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http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/14/bush-tells-brown-not-to-withdraw-from-iraq/

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Late Night: The Politics of Cynicism

post from Firedoglake on 14 June 2008 11:03:19 PM. © Firedoglake

Get cynical, but get active. Also, David Brooks is a douche.[...]

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http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/14/late-night-the-politics-of-cynicism/

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C&Ls Late Nite Music Club with Chick Corea

post from Crooks and Liars on 14 June 2008 11:00:18 PM. © Crooks and Liars

‘Round Midnight

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/14/cls-late-nite-music-club-with-chick-core
a/

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Boumediene v. Bush and FISA

post from Daily Kos on 14 June 2008 11:00:01 PM. © Daily Kos

One of the most striking elements of Justice Kennedy's majority opinion [big pdf] in Boumediene v. Bush was his rebuke of the Bush/Cheney White House in overreaching its Article II bounds.

Even when the United States acts outside its borders, its powers are not "absolute and unlimited" but are subject "to such restrictions as are expressed in the Constitution." Murphy v. Ramsey, 114 U. S. 15, 44 (1885). Abstaining from questions involving formal sovereignty and territorial governance is one thing. To hold the political branches have the power to switch the Constitution on or off at will is quite another. The former position reflects this Court’s recognition that certain matters requiring political judgments are best left to the political branches. The latter would permit a striking anomaly in our tripartite system of government, leading to a regime in which Congress and the President, not this Court, say "what the law is." Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 177 (1803).

Kennedy also rebukes Congress for its overreach. Here I'll let emptywheel take over:

The argument I find most interesting--because it applies to other abuses of executive power, like the Administration's warrantless wiretap program--is the Court's insistence that judicial review must constitute more than simply a review of whether 1) the standards and procedures developed by an executive agency are lawful and 2) whether those standards were followed. As Kennedy points out, Congress has narrowly circumscribed the role of the courts to reviewing the execution of a plan implemented by the executive branch.

Congress has granted that court jurisdiction to consider

"(i) whether the status determination of the [CSRT] . . . was consistent with the standards and procedures specified by the Secretary of Defense . . . and (ii) to the extent the Constitution and laws of the United States are applicable, whether the use of such standards and procedures to make the determination is consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States." §1005(e)(2)(C), 119 Stat. 2742.

Under DTA, the courts only have the authority to affirm what the executive branch does; they don't have the authority to make judgments concerning the legality of the detention itself.

The Court of Appeals has jurisdiction not to inquire into the legality of the detention generally but only to assess whether the CSRT complied with the "standards and procedures specified by the Secretary of Defense" and whether those standards and procedures are lawful.

And that is the core of the problem for Kennedy--that the DTA does not permit the courts to intervene except pursuant to certain actions by the Secretary of Defense, which does not constitute adequate judicial review. The courts must have the ability to judge the evidence presented in CSRT proceedings itself.

How does this apply to FISA? One of the key elements of the "Republican compromise" Steny Hoyer has apparently agreed to is allowing the federal district court to determine whether the telcos should be granted amnesty on the basis of the orders they received from the White House. The only way this proposal is going to be acceptable to the Bush/Cheney administration is if the court is limited to deciding not whether warrantless wiretapping was Constitutional but whether the President or the Attorney General showed them a piece of paper that said it was legal (see John Yoo and the memos justifying torture and every other possible excutive overreach under the supposed Article II powers of the President).

Back to emptywheel:

So you can take the complaint the court made about DTA...

The Court of Appeals has jurisdiction not to inquire into the legality of the detention generally but only to assess whether the CSRT complied with the "standards and procedures specified by the Secretary of Defense" and whether those standards and procedures are lawful.

... Rewrite it to apply to FISA...

The FISC [or district court] has jurisdiction not to inquire into the legality of the wiretap program generally, but only to assess whether the government complied with the "standards and procedures specified by the Attorney General" and whether those standards are lawful.

And you'd have a direct parallel in which Congress was proposing a law which took legal review out of the hands of Article III Courts and put it instead into the hands of the executive.

As emptywheel points out, the Boumediene decision applies only to the administration's detention program at Guantanamo. But the underlying principle cannot be ignored: "Abstaining from questions involving formal sovereignty and territorial governance is one thing. To hold the political branches have the power to switch the Constitution on or off at will is quite another."

I recognize that it's difficult sometimes for Congress to step back and see the big picture when deep in the woods on complex legislative matters. But that's, you know, their job. Crafting legislation that's actually unconstitutional happens, as we've just witnessed with the DTA and MCA. But are they going to step into that breach again, on the heels of this major Supreme Court rebuke?

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/312132210/914

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McCain's Tightrope

post from TalkLeft on 14 June 2008 10:22:00 PM. © TalkLeft

John McCain has locked up the Republican nomination, but he may not have locked up Republican votes in the general election. Will he need to move farther to the right to keep the Republican voting coalition intact?

The size of the evangelical community ensures its voice must be listened to. In the post room of Focus on the Family, dozens of workers sift through the mail, which can be as much as 150,000 items a day. Such power and influence mean evangelicals are a voting bloc McCain cannot write off. His campaign is bombarding 600 nationwide leaders with regular emails and appeals for help. Plans have been drawn up to mobilise the evangelical vote in 18 vital states. His top staff, like senior aide Charlie Black, have regular meetings with evangelical leaders. It might work. McCain's record on the key issue for many conservative evangelicals - abortion - is solidly hostile. 'The evangelical community will come around in the end,' said Steve Mitchell, a political pollster and chairman of Mitchell Research. 'Some leaders have not endorsed him yet because they are just tough negotiators. They are playing politics.'

[more ...]

McCain's problems still leave him walking a tightrope. He needs evangelical voters, but also needs to retain his appeal to the more moderate middle ground. McCain was recently forced to renounce the endorsements of two religious leaders because of their past extremist statements on Islam and Jews.
McCain may find that his balancing act between the Republican base and the middle ground becomes impossible. Take two Colorado City women: Susan Henderson and Cindy Smith. Both were Bush voters in 2004. Both distrust McCain. 'I am pro-choice and he's not,' said Henderson. Smith said: 'I'm the conservative type. McCain is a bit too much for the other side.' Neither would say she would definitely vote for McCain in November. Nor would they reject Obama outright.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/312120055/0121

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VIDEO - Descending Triangles

post from Jutia Group on 14 June 2008 10:17:17 PM. © Jutia Group

A new video (Descending Triangles) has been added to the Leavitt Brothers’ Chart Pattern tutorials…

VIDEO - Symmetrical Triangles (bullish)

VIDEO - Ascending Triangles

VIDEO - Flags (bullish)

VIDEO - Wedges (bearish)

VIDEO - Descending Triangles

Here’s a summary of ETFs…

Report - ETF Summary

Here are many of our favorite Jesse Livermore quotes…

Report - Jesse Livermore Quotes

http://www.leavittbrothers.com/

No Related Post

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/jutiagroup/~3/312134464/

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Argentina Breaks Up Farmers' Protest, Strikes
Continue (Updated)

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 14 June 2008 10:06:45 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

cross posted from The Dream AntillesPolice Break Up Today's ProtestThis past Spring (Fall in Argentina) Argentina's president, Cristina Kirchner, decided to raise export taxes on grains. This has led to more than three months of bitter protests by[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/312631380/showDiary.do

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Euro 2008

I’ve been trying to rest for a few days. It’s not a vacation, but just a break from the insane pace that is known as the blogosphere. I still have to keep an eye on the pulse of things, but for the first time I started watching a full soccer tournament, Euro 2008. We have [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/14/euro-2008/

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Honesty in politics--or are those two mutually
exclusive

I was talking to a Muslim friend of mine who is very much a Barack supporter. He was explaining to[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2008/06/honesty_in_politicsor_are_thos.html

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