House Rejects Immunity in Eavesdropping Bill

post from uncomfortably numb on 14 March 2008 11:15:00 AM. © uncomfortably numb

After its first secret session in a quarter-century, the House on Friday rejected retroactive immunity for the phone companies that took part in the National Security Agency?s warrantless eavesdropping program after the Sept. 11 attacks, and it voted to place greater restrictions on the government?s wiretapping powers.read more | digg story

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Revote Recap: MI Dems Fighting For Their Voters,
FL Dems Intent On Handing FL to The GOP

post from TalkLeft on 14 March 2008 11:14:00 AM. © TalkLeft

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only.

What is the status of the revote processes in Florida and Michigan? In Florida, because of recalcitrant and foolish Democrats in that state, coupled with a lack of fight from the Clinton campaign, the FL revote plan is near dead on arrival:

The Democratic Party's unprecedented plan to conduct a do-over presidential primary by mail sustained several potentially fatal blows Thursday, leaving state party leaders with few remaining options. The entire Democratic House delegation opposed the plan, Barack Obama and representatives of Hillary Clinton expressed concerns, and state officials said Florida law would prohibit them from authenticating voters' signatures.

(Emphasis supplied.) The "can't do" spirit did not infect all Dems. Some looked for solutions to the problems raised:

The key concern that arose Thursday involved the verification of voter signatures. [Dem Minority Leader Steve] Geller arrived at Gov. Charlie Crist's office at noon with a stack of statutes he said already authorize state or county election officials to verify those signatures. And Mark Bubriski, a spokesman for Thurman, said Crist can order the secretary of state to make a state database of signatures available to the Democrats or their representatives.

Crist said he would do it. But if you do NOT want a revote to happen, saying NO is the easiest way. At this point, it is Florida Democrats who are intent on disenfranchising Florida. And the Clinton campaign is going along with it.

In contrast, Michigan Democrats want Michigan to count:

Key Michigan Democrats were negotiating feverishly toward breaking the impasse with the national Democratic Party over the state's 156 national convention delegates. The most promising compromise on the table was a June 3 do-over primary.

. . . Sources close to the negotiations said the talks were centering on a state-run, privately financed June primary of voters who would be willing to declare themselves Democrats.

A compromise may be announced as early as today, the sources said, but they added that details must be negotiated, including figuring out how the party declaration would work, nailing down $10 million or more in private financial backing and securing legislative and gubernatorial approval to call the election.

If you WANT to get it done, you can get it done. In Michigan, the Democrats want to get it done, to have their votes count. In Florida, the Democrats are looking for excuses to say no. IF and when Michigan has its revote, what will Florida Democrats and Democrats in general have to say to the people of Florida? I know what those voters will say to Democrats in November if it turns out like that - I am voting for McCain and the Republicans.

The actions of the Democrats in Florida, with the exception of Bill Nelson, are incredibly irresponsible and I believe they will reap in November what they are sowing now - an electoral disaster in Florida in November.

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Audit: FBI Tried to Cover Patriot Act Abuses

post from uncomfortably numb on 14 March 2008 11:13:00 AM. © uncomfortably numb

FBI headquarters officials sought to cover their informal and possibly illegal acquisition of phone records on thousands of Americans from 2003 to 2005 by issuing 11 improper, retroactive "blanket" administrative subpoenas in 2006 to three phone companies that are under contract to the FBI, according to an audit released Thursday.read more | digg story

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FBI Found to Misuse Security Letters

post from uncomfortably numb on 14 March 2008 11:12:00 AM. © uncomfortably numb

The FBI has increasingly used administrative orders to obtain the personal records of U.S. citizens rather than foreigners implicated in terrorism or counterintelligence investigations, and at least once it relied on such orders to obtain records that a special intelligence-gathering court had deemed protected by the First Amendment..read more | digg story

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The Daily Rant

post from My Left Wing - Front Page on 14 March 2008 11:10:38 AM. © My Left Wing - Front Page

This is more of a whine than a Rant?.

I have a problem from time to time with vertigo. The room spins, I have trouble with balance, and I haven't even had a drink. Usually this happens during hay fever season, for obvious reasons: stuffy nose, congested sinuses, and inner ear pressure screwing up the balance centers. It makes my brain feel a little out of focus, too.

It kicked in really badly last night---the room was literally spinning. I managed to find a position for my head which wasn't too bad, took some Sudafed, and went to sleep.

And this morning: ittt's baaaack! And I have to be in surgery all day.

Going to be interesting...

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Clinton/Obama has turned into a boring,
slowed-down basketball game in the last 2 minutes

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 14 March 2008 11:08:14 AM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

_{Photo from this blog.}

Vince Lombardi once said "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." But in the Democratic race, that may not be true. -- Chad

I'm not a basketball fan. Oh, I used to follow basketball. And living in Chicago in the 1990s, you couldn't help but follow Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

One element of basketball that I hated even when I did follow the sport was the last two minutes of the game. Teams always seem to have tons of timeouts that come out of nowhere. And the team that is behind fouls the other team to force them to the free throw line, which slows down the game even more.

I feel like the Democratic presidential race is a basketball game in the last 2 minutes. Barack Obama is winning, but not by a huge margin. Hillary Clinton is behind and committing fouls to try and get her back in the game.
Bookmark/Search this post with: buzzflash | delicious | digg digg | technorati Technorati Tags: Be-Elected Chad Rubel 2008 race Barack Obama Hillary Clinton primary basketball

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The Fed Cant Save the Day

post from Moue Magazine on 14 March 2008 11:04:41 AM. © Moue Magazine

Typically, the Federal Reserve appeases economic concerns by printing more money and buying bank bonds. The banks use that investment to make loans, which gets passed on to consumers and businesses. Everyone has money, spends and the economy is well[...]

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The Iraq Recession

I'm not sure how to analyze this topic, and invite others to participate. Surely, there's a column here for Dr. Krugman.

Starter theses:

1. Spending $1 trillion over the last 5 years, funded with debt, has contributed to long term interest rates remaining higher than the Fed would like;
2. Incurring additional costs of $1 to $2 trillion in payments including, inter alia, medical care for veterans, military equipment replacement, and new weaponry, also contributes to a higher cost of capital for investment by Americans in America.
3. The extra spending on the war has contributed to inflation in commodities.
4. All this extra governent spending represents a very large opportunity cost: if we had spent even $500 billion

on infrastructure, we would now have a more efficient transportation system, cheaper and cleaner water, and cheaper and more efficient electric utility systems.
4. Productive and useful public goods investment would have generated many new jobs in America, buffering the impact of globalization and increasing the size of the economy and the tax base -- another huge dimension of opportunity cost.
5. Spending on the Iraq occupation will continue to increase inflation, raise the cost of capital, and generate opportunity cost: as long as the occupation continues, the United States will have limited resources to use in funding the converstion from carbon to non-carbon energy generation and distribution.
6. The war itself appears to have reduced oil supply and contributed to rising oil prices.

Are these theses correct? Is there available research on these topics?

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Military Stigmas Treat War Trauma as Admission of
Weakness

Army studies say one in three soldiers will return from Iraq with significant mental health problems, but the system isn't there to help them.read more | digg story

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Mikes Blog Roundup

The Pump Handle: It seems that the EPA has failed to fulfill its mandate under the Clean Air Act. So they decided to change the Act, magically transforming a failure into “success.” Majikthise: Feds probe Spitzer’s records back to 1999. I’m thinking Spitzer was probably avoiding a reporting requirement to his wife and daughters, not [...]

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