Category: Civil Rights

New York Times Slams Senate and Obama Over FISA

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Mostly it’s the Senate, that they condemn, though the distinguished Senator from Illinois is mentioned. It is a remarkably full throated condemnation of Senate, and Democratic cowardice:

Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy, Russ Feingold, Christopher Dodd and Jeff Bingaman plan to offer amendments to do that, but there is little chance they will pass. The Senate should reject this bill and start over with modest legislation that makes the small needed changes and preserves Americans’ fundamental protections.

Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee for president, has supported the weakening of FISA. Senator Barack Obama vowed in January (when he was still fighting for the Democratic nomination) that he would filibuster against immunity. Now he says he will vote for an “imperfect” bill and fix it if he wins. Sound familiar?

Proponents of the FISA deal say companies should not be “punished” for cooperating with the government. That’s Washington-speak for a cover-up. The purpose of withholding immunity is not to punish but to preserve the only chance of unearthing the details of Mr. Bush’s outlaw eavesdropping. Only a few senators, by the way, know just what those companies did.

Restoring some of the protections taken away by an earlier law while creating new loopholes in the Constitution is not a compromise. It is a failure of leadership.

We know that the Times is right about this, because Fred Hiatt, the editor of the end worst OP/ED page in the nation™*, finds flip flopping by Obama, specifically on Iraq, to be laudable, , and believes that the FISA bill is just ducky thank you, which proves the NY times correct.

If you go against the WaPo editorial pages, you will be right an embarrassing amount of the time., and the Times is right this time; there is far more to hate about the bill than telco immunity.

*The undisputed champion of wanktacular OP/ED pages, by a knockout, is still the Wall Street Journal.

Zimbabwe

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Well, it’s not getting any better.the government is “embracing and extending” the idea of using food aid as a weapon, even after the election.

Mugabe is demanding that negotiations will not start until the opposition formally recognizes him as duly elected president of Zimbabwe.

The Guardian now has hidden camera video of voter intimidation, if you want to check it out.

Of course, Mbeki is still trying to be the mediator, even when it is unbelievably clear that he is no where near impartial in this matter.

Meanwhile, the US is pushing for sanctions against the government of Zimbabwe and its leaders, including an arms embargo and Freezing foreign assets of Zimbzbwean leaders.

We do have a potential promising development, a proposal in which Mugabe would remain president, but retain essentially no power, but this appears to be confused, with Mugabe apparently insisting that negotiations occur at the presidential offices, which would appear to cede that to Mugabe before the first words were said.

Crap. John McCain is Telling the Truth

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OK, now we have Obama “Puzzled” by blip flop charges, because he has completely reversed himself on FISA, and now he’s saying that in order for “mental distress” to be used to justify a late term abortion, it must be a formal psychiatric disorder out of the DSM IV.*

So, he’s selling the constitution out privacy, he’s reversed himself on free trade agreements, and now he is suggesting a heightened standard for late term abortion (while using the right wing’s language of “Partial Birth Abortion”).

John McCain can call him a flip flopper on the issues because Barack Obama is a flip flopper on the issues.

His only saving grace is the John Sidney McCain is a bigger flip flopper.

I guess that we’ll get the president we deserve.

*The 4th and most recent release of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Kafka Lives

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U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker dismissed the lawsuit by the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation claiming that the US government has wiretapped conversations with their lawyers, because the document that confirms this is classified:

A federal judge in San Francisco has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed the government illegally wiretapped conversations between lawyers and a client, a now-defunct charity suspected of terrorism.

The lawsuit relied on a classified call log the government turned over by mistake to the client, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker barred the foundation from using the document and dismissed the suit, according to the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. He gave the foundation 30 days to file a new lawsuit using publicly available information.

Catch 22.

Judge: FISA Is Already Exclusive Means of Electronic Surveillance

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Well, this ruling shoots a hole in the claim that Dems are getting something from the current FISA clusterf%$#. The Judge says that the original FISA bill is the exclusive means for wiretap.

That being the case, this means that Bush has been violating the law already, and a felony to boot, and that the bill does not change the legal situation.

So the Dems have nothing, except for proof of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Oh, I forgot:

NOT ON THE TABLE! NOT ON THE TABLE!

Thank you Speaker Pelosi for taking impeachment off the table.

Your Late Nite Zimbabwe Update

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Well, Officials: Mugabe has won his phony election, and has been sworn in.

It also that Tsvangirai has hardened his stance a bit, saying that there will be no unity government with the MDC as a junior partner.

Bush is calling for more sanctions, but they are not enough. If Bush were to threaten sanctions against banks with subsidiaries doing business in Zimbabwe, the cash that the ZANU-PF uses to reward loyalists, and Mugabe would be out in a week.

Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has declared that the “international community has the right now to override the sovereignty argument of the country.”

As a first step, he would shut down commerical air transport from Zimbabwe, which would mean that, “Mugabe and his sidekicks would not be able to — as they are now — escape the rigors of their own policies.”

Zimbabwe Vote Proceeds

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And it appears that it’s not enough that Mugabe and his thugs forced Tsvangirai out of the race, that they are now using violence to force people into the ballot booths:

In some other suburbs of Harare, the capital, residents said they had been rounded up Thursday night, forced to chant pro-Mugabe slogans until daybreak and then force-marched to the polls. They were told to copy the serial numbers off their ballots so it could be confirmed later that they had voted for their 84-year-old president.

(emphasis mine)

The interesting thing is that I think that I’m more disgusted with South African President Thabo Mbeki than I am with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

As near as I can figure out, Mbeki is Mugabe’s butt boy because he is afraid that what is happening in Zimbabwe, where the trade union movement became the basis for a popular political movement, will happen in South Africa, where the trade unions have become increasingly hostile to the ANC and its IMF driven cheap labor policies.

Barack AWOL Obama on FISA

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Just so you know, what is likely the real FISA cloture vote passed 80 to 15.

Voting against Cloture

Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting:

Byrd (D-WV)
Clinton (D-NY)
Kennedy (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)
Obama (D-IL)

He couldn’t even be bothered to show up.

McCain never shows up to vote. Byrd is sick. Kennedy has a brain tumor. Hillary Clinton is…well a Clinton.

What is your excuse, Mr. Obama?

Zimbabwe:

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We are getting some decent news now, specifically that MDC Secretary Tendai Biti was released on bail pending his treason charge, and Mugabe is suggesting negotiations following the runoff election.

Honestly, I don’t see Mugabe backing down until he is dead or in custody though, particularly since he is insisting that the election, which he has turned into a bloody farce, should be held on schedule.

I’m not sure why Morgan Tsvangirai is walking away from his earlier call for armed peace keepers, but he is juxtaposing this with a 24-hour deadline to enter into good faith negotiations with him.

I think that Tsvangirai may be playing to Mugabe’s allies in the ZANU-PF, with comments to the effect that Mugabe is “self-destructing”.

The implication here is that if he does, then the rest of the ruling structure is at risk too.

It also appears that South Africa’s ANC has finally be forced into doing the right thing, as they are finally condemning what is going on there.

My guess is that Nelson Mandela’s calling the events in Zimbabwe a, “Tragic Failure of leadership”, left them no other choice.

So, Where is Reid on Telco Immunity?

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Like many things with Harry Reid, it’s kind of confusing. He is a wheels within wheels kind of guy.

Reid is co-sponsoring cosponsoring the amendment to strip telco immunity, but as this is sure to be filibustered, it not going to happen.

He also says that he’s going to vote against the whole bill.

So at least nominally, Reid is on the side of Dodd, Feingold, Wyden and Boxer.

I think that all this is far less noble than one might imagine. I agree with Emptywheel’s analysis, that his objections are less about the merits of the bill than they are about holding back any approval until the Housing Bill and Iraq Supplemental, which has, “Webb’s GI bill and an extension to unemployment benefits” have passed and have been signed into law.

It’s Been a Busy Few Days in Zimbabwe

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It turns out that Tsvangirai’s withdrawal from the runoff has, if anything, intensified ZANU-PF thuggery.

Of course, in response, you have the African National Congress coming out in favor of doing nothing about all this. Increasingly, I believe that there are elements in the ANC who believe that Mugabe’s fate will be theirs one day, and so they will support him to the bloody end.

Morgan Tsvangirai is calling for international isolation and armed peace keepers before a fair election can be held.

I will say that when the most effective action taken on all this so far is Queen Elizabeth II stripping Mugabe of his knighthood, you know that the regional and international response is pretty pathetic.

Barack Obama has condemned Mugabe, and has talked with Tsvangirai on the phone.

Truth be told, this surprises me.

I don’t think that there is really any electoral advantage in all this.

Zimbabwe

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Morgan Tsvangirai says that he will leave the Dutch embassy shortly, and the UN Security Council is now saying that the violence has made the runoff election a sham.

Needless to say, it does not help that the African National Congress has explicitly rejected any international intervention, though the Congress of South African Trade Unions has called Mugabe’s regime illegitimate.

As Will Bunch says, the only way to get a meaningful intervention there is to find massive oil reserves, so perhaps the MDC needs to start drilling.

An Update on Regina Thomas (GA-12)

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I just wanted to note that about a week ago, the Regina Thomas act blue page was under $5,000, and now she is at $35,713.00 $36,039.00. The campaign web page is here.

This is because the incumbent in the district, Bush Blue Dog John Barrow, is one of the major proponents of the FISA capitulation, and he has ardently advocated for telco immunity, and taken lots of telco money to boot.

Georgia’s 12th district has its primary on July 15. John Barrow is white in a district where 70% of the primary voters are black, and State Senator Regina Thomas is black, so knocking him off in the primary is possible, though it won’t be easy.

Barrow currently has $1,311,478 cash on hand, 55% of it from PACS, so the amount that Thomas has may not be enough.

The good news is that Barack Obama’s endorsement of Barrow has increased interest in Thomas:

In an effort to control my enthusiasm, I asked Thomas about the depressing news that Barack Obama endorsed Barrow and recorded a radio ad, which caused outrage this week on many blogs. Thomas would have none of it. “That’s the best thing that happened to me!” she countered. “People are angry about this! Here’s a man who has not served his district, and Obama is messing in our local businesss. I’m getting emails from Illinois, Pennsylvania, even Taiwan! A man in his 80’s with a small retirement was sending a check to Obama each month, and now he’s sending it to me. The response is incredible,” she said.

I asked if there were any polls. “We haven’t had the money for a poll, but Barrow took a poll and he didn’t like the results, because he got Obama to make the ad. He refuses to show up for debates, and is sending surrogates who look like me. But people aren’t fooled, they see right through it. Why is he afraid to debate me?” she asked.

(emphasis mine)

Things seem to be trending her way, and there are still 3 weeks to the primary, so check her out.

Supporting Lawyer-Client Confidentiality

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There has been a problem of late, with Federal prosecutors using coercive techniques to make companies waive confidentiality on discussions with lawyers, but there is now Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007, which codifies the oft-ignored McNulty Memorandum into law, and so would reduce the leverage that prosecutors might have to make companies waive confidentiality.

I support the change, it’s a basic bedrock principle of our legal system, but it also removes a tool in white collar crime, and we need a whole bunch more CEOs and Wall Street types doing the perp walk, because they are guilty as hell, which does not make me an enthusiastic support of the bill.

Tsvangirai Takes Refuge in Dutch Embassy, but Here Comes Mbeki to the Rescue

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While he has not formally requested asylym, it’s clear that Tsvangirai believes that his life is in danger, which is why he’s sleeping there.

We also have Thabo Mbeki traveling to Zimbabwe, to make a “final plea” to Mugabe about doing the right thing. We can be sure that Mbeki’s effort will be ineffectual, and will be full of enabling language. That is what he’s done for the past 10 years.

Tsvangirai Withdraws from Zimbabwe Runoff, Calls for International Intervention

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Basically, he’s saying that any election would be a sham because of the levels of violence.

Needless it does not help that Mugabe is claiming rule through divine right:

“Only God, who appointed me, will remove me, not the MDC, not the British,” Mugabe declared in the city of Bulawayo on Friday. “Only God will remove me!”

Tsvangirai is also calling for international intervention, though it is clear that as long as Thabo Mbeki is involved in the process, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will do nothing, so any meaningful intervention will have to go through the UN, as South Africa is the colossus of the region, but Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s president, is the functions as the moral pygmy shielding Mugabe.

Thankfully, he should be succeeded by Jacob Zuma in the less than a month.

Hopefully, individual countries will go the route of Australia, and impose tough sanctions, such as, “financial sanctions and suspending non-humanitarian aid, and defence and ministerial links, besides travel bans on members of the Zimbabwe regime.”