“…the West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion…but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do.” – Samuel P. Huntington

Huntington was one of the ’20s Robber Baron railroad men and he was completely familiar with using force.

What he may have overlooked was that we were strong enough to use that force, at least in part, because of our Democratic Society and our consistent belief that if our cause was based on what was Right, then we couldn’t fail. Force, as history shows, often fails when the spirit isn’t agreeable.

Teddy Roosevelt said it isn’t a question of who will win, but whether the cause is Righteous. Even Reagan understood that.

What’s our reason for being in Iraq? Last time Helen Thomas asked Georgie Boy he just brushed her off. We have no Just Cause, at least none that shall be uttered in public.

LS,
The paper yesterday had a list of about 11 nearby bridges in poor or serious condition. The one that’s very heavily travelled, like 60,000 cars a day, is in serious condition.

I suspect there will be a LOT of bridges (especially with older construction methods) getting inspected very soon.

However, I don’t know if Congress needs to intercede to make that happen.

wigwam @ 105

I think there are people out there who would argue that you would never use that to prosecute the transmission of classified information, because they think that would convert that statute into what is in England the Official Secrets Act.

Let me back up. The average American may not appreciate that there’s no law that’s specifically just says, “If you give classified information to somebody else, it is a crime.”

There may be an Official Secrets Act in England. There are some narrow statutes, and there is this one statute that has some flexibility in it.

So there are people who should argue that you should never use that statute because it would become like the Official Secrets Act.

When the Espionage Act was being debated in Congress, the Wilson administration specifically wanted the press included in it. Congress refused (so, that’s part of the legislative history any court would consider in the application of the act).

Unfortunately, Judge Bates is gradually undoing that one in the Franklin/A*P*C officials case, since he’s issued rulings that include the press as recipients of information which could be prosecuted, making of the 1917 Espionage Act a de facto official secrets act.

Possibly the worst things Wilson & FDR did was muck around in the Alien & Sedition area. They were worried they wouldn’t have the unity and power they needed to handle national emergencies.

Now, even today, we’re still carrying that burden and the modern Conservatives are using it.

New Logic board-check

New battery-check

I’m all ready for impeachment. It’s still on the table, right? I’ve been lost without a puter.

I suspect we’ll see the Hinchey/Feingold censure vote and then if all goes well we’ll be moving on to the impeachment of Gonzales. I can’t imagine anything standing in the way of that right now. There’s certainly plenty of evidence for ‘lying to Congress’, ‘incompetence’, ‘politicization of DoJ business’, ‘allowing WH interference and involvement in DoJ cases and selection of cases to prosecute’.

Re: corporations not complaining about their overseas calls being monitored.

Actually, there have been quite a few who’ve complained–European corporations, specifically about the ECHELON program, which enables both technical and political sharing of raw signals intelligence between some of our allies (in fact, I think there was a suit to that effect a year or two ago, which was dismissed). That suit alleged that corporate secrets compiled by the NSA and analyzed by the CIA were routinely transmitted to U.S. government agencies not directly involved in spying activity, such as the Commerce Dept. And that such was done with the knowledge of participating countries such as Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

So, yes, some corporations have complained. :)

ECHELON was supposedly terminated shortly after it was outed.
But there’s still ProMIS and that ain’t going away any time soon.

Buy nothing – do nothing! Bring this country to a standstill!

Pass it on. Post a sign.

The quality of the comments and questions have really improved on WJ over the years.

Kathleen -

Haven’t been watching for many years but it sure seems under bushco the callers who support him have generally become a lot more stupid. Could be an irrational reaction on my part. *g*

If the new FISA legislation is to be used to wiretap enemies of our nation. Start with Rove, Ledeen, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Cheney, Wolfowitz.

I like to think that the NSA might be wiretapping the real enemies of this nation, most of them are operating within the Bush administration.

Don’t hold your breath. Them what holds the power get to stick it to everyone else.