December 2005 Archives

The backlash continues to build over President Bush’s illegal wiretap authorizations. I just hope that he isn’t allowed to wriggle out of responsibility for his poor choice. The Drudge Report helpfully reminded us Tuesday after the original New York Times article ran that Presidents Carter and Clinton also issues similar authorizations by executive order as if to mitigate the blame by spreading it around to some Democrats. Well, that just doesn’t cut it for me. I don’t know the circumstances of Clinton’s EOs, nor did Drudge expound of the details of their scope, calling them “similar” to Bush’s. If they are in fact similar then I am equally appalled with Clinton. But the point is Bush is the president now and he needs to be held responsible.

Now we find out that last month President Bush summoned the publish and executive editor of the Times to the Oval Office to discourage them from running the piece, after a year of additional investigation to ensure the story was accurate. What hubris, but that is par for the course. The president was desperate to avoid the at last persuasive evidence of his law breaking.

I am disgusted by Bush’s utter contempt for the rule of law and for the constitution that he claims to value so highly and swore to protect. He has done nothing to fulfill his obligation to defend the constitution against fear, overreaction, and power grabs.

Over the past three days I have walked no less than 320 blocks, which is 5 trips to and from work (minus 30 blocks in a van this morning) which does not include the 70 blocks for tonight. From where I am sitting this strike struck out and the TWU realizes it overplayed its hand, lost the support of regular New Yorkers, and earned the ire of the the state and the courts. And rightly so, if you ask me (which you did by reading my website).

The union revealed itself to be unreasonable and unrealistic by letting the issue of retirement and pensions muck up the whole negotiations. MTA employees under the just-expired contract are eligible for retirement at age 55. Who retires at 55? No one. So the MTA said, sure you can retire at 55, but you have to help us pay for the 10 extra years you get to enjoy your RV while we continue to slave away at work.

Majority employer-funded pensions can’t work anymore, because frankly people don’t die fast enough anymore. It’s time for everyone to take some responsibility for their own retirement through investments, more contributions to employer programs, etc. It is hard, but it’s better than the alternative, which is higher taxes for everyone and lower take-home pay in the end.

Mike Wallace has never been able to interview President Bush, but if he did finally get a chance, he would ask him this brilliant question:

What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn’t want to travel. You knew very little about the military… . The governor of Texas doesn’t have the kind of power that some governors have… . Why do you think they nominated you?

My favorite part is something I always said about Bush: the governor of Texas has very little authority or power. In Texas we give most of the executive authority to the Lt. Governor, so there goes Bush’s one piece of work experience.

The president has gone too far in authorizing an obviously unconstitutional wiretapping program. George Bush has repeatedly taken his position as the President of the United States to mean that he is essentially omnipotent, with far reaching powers over the Congress, Judiciary, and citizens. He disregards, manipulates, bullies and cajoles the congress to get what he wants and when he knows he won’t get it, he circumvents it entirely.

According to Gen. Michael Hayden, director of NSA when the program was authorized, “we have got information through this program that would not otherwise have been available.” Well, I have said it before and I will say i again, I don’t care how much information you got that you think that otherwise would not be available, it is not worth it. The constitution was brilliantly designed to allow the government to protect it’s citizens from external threats while at the same time protecting citizens from the government. The constitution protects people inside the US from unauthorized search and seizure, and that authorization must come from the court, not from executive branch.

The AG now claims that the war powers congress gave President Bush when the US invaded Afghanistan also gave him power to perform secret surveillance without any judicial oversight. That sounds like grasping at straws. Now that the cat is out of the bag the administration is searching for justification for something they know is not only utterly distasteful to the congress and the public, but is also illegal.

Senator Arlen Spector, a Republican from PA says he will hold hearing in the New Year. Thank goodness the congress, especially including Republicans, aren’t willing to let this pass or, even worse, to try to justify it somehow.

I am appalled and disappointed, but this simply reaffirms my long-held belief that the present administration is at best misguided and at worst outright dishonest. President Bush is unwilling to work within the limits of the already expansive powers granted to the President and he is using the excuse of “protecting the American people” to inappropriately expand his authority.

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They have, finally. The Senate has refused to reauthorize expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. This is a big win for those of us who have always felt that the Act did too little to protect American’s at the expense of our civil liberties. I am not willing to give up the things that epitomize America to save America. I is unnecessary and it erodes the essence of American freedom.

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After all, the point of Christmas is making sure that everybody else celebrates Christmas the same way you do. Now some people might say that the point of Christmas is charity and peace on earth. And some tricky people might even say that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Christ.

[Thanks John]

According to Bruce Schneier of Wired Magazine, “exactly two things have made airline travel safer since 9/11: reinforcement of cockpit doors, and passengers who now know that they may have to fight back. Everything else…is security theater.”

One of the best points I read regards CAPS and Secure Flight, the programs designed to prevent “dangerous” people from flying. The people on these lists are “too dangerous to be allowed to fly under any circumstance, yet so innocent that they cannot be arrested, even under the draconian provisions of the Patriot Act.”