I’ve enjoyed reading Andrew Sullivan over the last several years. Among other things, Sullivan is "HIV-positive, gay, self-described conservative often at odds with other conservatives, practicing Roman Catholic, and a non-U.S. citizen who focuses on American political life." He has also recanted his support for things Bush/Cheney. This morning, my wife yelled from the other […]
It’s important to look at Yoo’s memos in the context of the period when he wrote them. In the weeks and months after September 11th, the idea of pulling out the stops, and of moving into a war-time mode wasn’t far from any of our minds. I travelled on an airplane on the weekend following […]
Iraq Report Details Political Hurdles and Future Options A new assessment of U.S. policy in Iraq by the same experts who advised the original Iraq Study Group concludes that political progress is "so slow, halting and superficial" and political fragmentation "so pronounced" that the United States is no closer to being able to leave Iraq […]
The biggest question of all is "Why did the Bush Administration come out swinging immediately after 9/11 with so many secret memos and programs?" They came out fighting at a time when they could’ve done almost anything they wanted to do. The F.I.S.A. judges saw the Twin Trade Towers come down too. They would have […]
There are some lawyer heros in this John Yoo/Torture Memo story. Well, maybe not exactly heros. More like people who refused to be anti-heros, whose integrity over-rode their ideology or political persuasions. One was James Comey [hospital stand-off with Alberto Gonzales] who stood up to the Administration on the unwarranted domestic spying issue, who appointed […]
The Continuation of Politics By Other Means: The Original Understanding of War Powers John C. Yoo 1996 In recent years, legal commentators have sharply criticized executive initiative in the war-making process. This Article examines the historical and legal background of the war powers in the Anglo-American world of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The author […]
It didn’t stop with Martin Luther King’s murder. It was like there were low dark clouds over Memphis during the next year. The end of the garbage striked brought no real resolution between the government and the workers. On the one year anniversary, there was a memorial march downtown. The tension was so thick you […]
This picture is from the NATO Summit in Bucharest, Romania. I wonder if Bush knows what this picture means? I wonder if other Americans will see this picture and know what it means? I hear these world leaders saying, "You arrogant jerk. Who cares what you think?" George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have done […]
I was an Intern at the City of Memphis Hospitals on this day forty years ago. We had a shortage of Residents, and I’d been temporarily promoted to "admitting resident" for the day. I was proud to be asked, but had spent the day terrified I was going to make some fatal mistake, send someone […]
I ran across this link on John Amato’s Crooks and Liars blog. John says, "OK, I really can’t comment on this right now. I’m just speechless." Me too… Insider: Iraq Attack Was Preemptive Pentagon Insider Tells 60 Minutes U.S. Attack On Iraq Was Anticipatory Self-Defense; Not 9/11 Retaliation The first Pentagon insider to give his […]