More proof that conservative ideology results in bad government for everyone. Law and order party, my ass. To wit:
One of the most pressing, according to dozens of current and former federal prosecutors, is a budget squeeze at U.S. attorneys’ offices that has led to declines in crime prosecutions and delays in major investigations.
In the past few years, U.S. attorneys’ offices around the country have been unable to fill vacancies. Lawyers sometimes can’t travel to interview witnesses. Even funds for basic office needs such as photocopying documents and obtaining deposition transcripts have been cut, according to current and former officials….
Department of Justice data show the impact. Prosecutions are down overall, with large drops in categories such as drugs, violent crime and white-collar offenses….
People familiar with the matter say the then-Republican-controlled Congress was mainly responsible for the small increases in the budget for U.S. attorneys. Priorities set by the Justice Department also played a role. The department hired additional Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to fight terrorism but didn’t push for U.S. attorneys’ offices to get big increases, they say.
In written answers to questions, the Justice Department confirmed that “budget constraints have affected operations” in the U.S. attorneys’ offices and have had an impact on the numbers of cases brought. But it said the offices “continue to pursue cases in these priority areas where federal prosecution is appropriate.” The department also noted that Congress this year provided funding to restore some earlier cuts.
Some prosecutors say the impact has been largest in big cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and San Diego, which have the heaviest case loads and plenty of private law firms able to offer generous salaries.
In Los Angeles, a federal criminal investigation of Rep. Jerry Lewis, a California Republican, stalled for nearly six months due to a lack of funds, according to former prosecutors….
As Laura Rozen points out, counsel for Rep. Lewis is none other than Ted Olson, rumored to be in consideration for the AG opening at the moment. And Mr. Lewis’ spokesperson? None other than Barbara Comstock. It’s an embarassment of hitches, isn’t it?
(Photo of a big bathtub via JHill. Think this is what Grover had in mind? H/T to reader WB for the WSJ link. The WSJ law blog has a few more nuggets as well.)
PS — Do check out this great compilation of labor links from Maha. Good stuff.
Related posts:
- RNC Leader Steele Confuses Dick’s Pre-Crime with Justice
- Khadr Case Goes Nowhere at Gitmo (Again)
- Bush Officials Compromised Renzi Investigation for Political Gain
- Steele Decries Capturing, Prosecuting, Jailing Terrorists; Politicizing DOJ is A-OK
- FDL Exclusive: New Communications Guidelines Emphasize DOJ Independence
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
2
ZED!
ooo – Olson’s representing Lewis and then Comstock? there’s some great big flashing red lights and buzzers!
Foxed again.
Now, back to read! Sheesh. I can’t drag myself away this morning.
geez, this visit to Iraq sounds just like a pep rally…
Bush: “Your work in Anbar is making it safer in the streets of America”
What a lunatic
OldCoastie @ 5
Of course it is. The troops make wonderful props doncha know. At least as long as, you know, there’s none of them on crutches or icky stuff like that visible.
Wow. I recognize there are many people here, Christy included, who challenge the analogy that Bush and Co. act as an organized crime family. But the fact that someone like Lewis gets representation by Ted Olson begs the question, “why?” My casual knowledge of organized crime requires that legal representation is provided by a select set of attorneys and law firms. Sort of makes the analogy a little stronger.
Seems like someone from the Dem benches needs to get out there and point out that Olson is involved in Attorneygate right up to his neck.
Lanny Davis – that’s you I’m looking at RIGHT NOW
Steve-AR @ 1
You forgot to come get us downstairs. *sniff*
OldCoastie @ 3
That should disqualify Olson from becoming AG right there. Conflict of interest and all. We’ll have to see what name the Decider sends up to the hill.
I was thinking an embarrassment of bitches, what with Comstock stuck like a tick on a dog to major scandals like Libby and now Lewis. But you’re much nicer than I am, Christy.
Rayne @ 12
Whatcha got against bitches anyway? I got one fuzzy one here with big brown eyes lookin’ at me, tail a’waggin’…
Arrggg. Olson seems to be the latest molerat climbing up into the sunlight to do damage to the leaves, after doing damage at the roots.
scory @ 8
I don’t challenge tha analogy, at all. I think it is an easy short hand way to contextualize what they do and predict what they may do in future.
All that money that is no longer available for law enforcement and prosecutions? My bet is that it is being sucked into the giant vortex of warrantless surveillance and who knows what other secret illegal “anti-terrorism” programs. And the proof that the only thing the Bu’ushists are terrified of is our civil liberties? None of those programs seems to have borne any fruit, i.e., prosecutions. They’re just collected all that data and using it for other purposes.
I don’t understand why there is so little money. If they aren’t paying paychecks to the extra lawyers don’t they have money for travel and other stuff?
Christy,
Thanks so much for putting this story on the front page again. I realize that Late Night on the Sunday of a holiday weekend, might not have beeen the place of greatest exposure.
I think this is a VERY IMPORTANT story and deserves a lot of play in the MSM.
Every now and then the WSJ does something like this with really solid analysis and it makes me wonder.
OT Bush is on the news talking about fighting the Terroists in Iraq so we don’t have to fight them in America.
The Main Stream Media is still being a bunch of tools never once do they ask Bush why are we not fighting Al Quieda in Pakistan where Osama bin Laudin is!
Never once do they mention Al Quieda is trying to take over Pakistan a country with Missles and Nuclear warheads.
Never once does the media ask if our President has forgotten about 9/11 in his mad quest for oil.
So, what did we expect, when we turned our big government over to people who don’t believe in big governments? (Hint: they said ahead of time that they want to drown it in the bathtub.)
Whatever it is that they are trying to do, the Democrats aren’t doing much to stop them.
that sure is a great bathtub ………..
Wasn’t Bertie Walnuts’ main goal to protect our children? Won’t anyone please think of our children?
/snark
I think we need to clean the govt in a bathtub instead of drowning it. Some bubbles, a scrubber, the whole thing.
Yeah, but look how Carol Lam wasted her office’s money on–the Duke Cunningham scandal. And look how many scandals have been and are being investigated already. If they all had enough money, can you imagine what they would have done and how quickly they would have done it with the Abrahamoff scandal? What if someone wanted to investigate war profiteering, or profiteering and corruption involved in the reconstruction of NOLA? Why, these USA’s might harm all their friends! So instead they set them up for failure and then fired them if they succeeded anyway. At least, that’s my read of the situation.
On Bill Maher’s show the other night, former US Ambassador Barbara Bodine stated that the Neo-Cons goal in Iraq was to use it as a pertri dish for all of their no-government, maximally privatized society. (I guess something akin to the Bolshevik revolution — don’t all utopias fail?) Well she said that the US governments plan was for the Iraqi government to fail and for all of the agencies to be privatized.
Ever since St. Reagan, the republicans have been pushing for such a program domestically. They are only willing to abandon their holy grail when they have to bail out the mortgage industry (the LA Times used the word ‘bail out’ this weekend so it is official). Or to intervene in some other corporate mess.
The dollar has fallen by 45% over the past few years. This means we can’t buy as much stuff from China as we used to. We can’t make stuff cuz the equipment has been sold abroad. About the only things we can do is get a mortgage and pray — and one of those options is going away too (unless, ironically, the government intervenes).
SnarKassandra @ 17
Additionally, cutting taxes for Bush, his family, and his cronies always raises government revenue. It’s the magic of suppy-side economics! The magical thinking of the MBA Preznit easily guides the economic ship of state through all waters.
SnarKassandra @ 23
Exactly, Snarkita! Great idea.
looseheadprop @ 18
Well, I read your story LHP! I thought it was excellent! I just don’t think I commented, but 326 comments isn’t a bad showing. Still, the more light, the better the chances the mess will be cleaned up.
SnarKassandra @ 17
Yeah! What about the money that was suppose to be spent on New Orleans. If Bush does not want to do something then he does not spend the money.
But if the money is in a government account and its not spent is it getting interest?
I recall that Chicago a long time ago had funds in politicaly favored banks that got no interest. Could Bush be playing the same game?
You really don’t want to see a lot of justice when you’re busy breaking every law you can find. Ask Karl or W.
dead last @ 25
Thanks to Bush, the value of the dollar falls. Oil is priced in dollars. Less dollar value means higher oil prices. Higher oil prices mean higher gas prices. One day, there will be an honest assessment and blame will fall where it belongs, squarely on Bush.
SnarKassandra @ 23
Heh! Yes, indeed. And pay attention to behind the ears, etc.
LHP –
Thanks. This pattern of behavior has been going on in Republican administrations since, well, since Nixon. That the Democrats — h*ll, that the American public haven’t figured out that they need to put a stop to this, is really a case of “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Christy’s stunning post yesterday on the scam Arlen Specter pulled on Pat Leahy and Diane Finestein is a perfect example of why we will, more likely than not, end up with a nominee whose compromised integrity and relationship with Bush should immediately disqualify them. In a more perfect republic, where the ability to raise funds to campaign now appears to the primary qualification for office, we’d line up replacements for all of ‘em — which is, of course, the purpose of Blue America.
things come undone @ 19
It seems as if Pakistan is a tinderbox already, waiting to explode on a minute’s notice. Somethings gonna happen there soon, I’m sure of it. Benizar Bhutto’s coming back after all these years and after the government saying for years that she’ll be arrested on setting foot in Pakistan. I’d just as soon we weren’t the ones to ignite that powderkeg just now, since it may well lead to WWIII.
itwasntme @ 14
These guys are always there. They never go away. From the Arkansas Project, to Bush v. Gore, to Jerry Lewis, Olson has been in on it all.
This is where the blogosphere and the net are so important. They shed light on these stealth candidates. They remember. The old time politicians belonging to another era and another generation continue to think that they can put up whomever they want and no one will know the difference. It still works sometimes, but less and less.
We are learning. The definitive episode for me and probably a lot of others was the Iraq war. Its lesson is that we can not trust the media or politicians, theirs or ours. In one of the few things I will agree with Ronald Reagan about, he said, Trust but verify. And in this, it is not just the biggest and most visible players like Bush, Cheney, or Gonzales. It is those people in the smaller or less known agencies like Lurita Doan or those people like Olson who inhabit the second and third tier of the power structure.
It is our job to be ever vigilant because those we used to trust in the media and politics have shown over and over again that they can be trusted only so far as what they say can be verified, by us.
Christy,
I posted a link downstairs at #133. That’s me. I finally write a seriously considered comment and, at the end of a thread.
I encourage you to check out this article http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1272/135/.
If you’re in the mood for some Thourea-type thinking. You might consider it for a thread topic.
SnarKassandra @ 23
Don’t forget the rubber duckie!
looseheadprop @ 15
I think Domenici’s phone call to Iglesias might have started kind of like this: “Nice office you’ve got here, Mr. US Attorney. It’d be a shame if anything were to happen to it. . . “
And wonder of wonders, when he refuses to play ball, Iglesias ends up on AGAG’s immaculately conceived list of USAs to evict.
Yep — the crime family metaphor works for me.
ccmask @ 10
Just look for a hitch in FDL’s git-along with the refresh button thingie. It usually means there’s a new thread a-bornin’.
I just got here meself. Been downstairs throwin’ toys. Got out some demons. Thanks guys. ;->
Yes, our threats to Iran, instability in Pakistan (great post by Bhuto in yesterdays Huffpost), and via abu aardvark, rumors in Egypt that Mubarak is dead that their unbelieved, government controlled media can’t dispell. A fine mess youv’e gotten us into, Bush!
demi 36
stuff happens. the pups dash off after a new scent…
Thanks for re-linking to the article. ;->
Ann in AZ @ 37
the one they dare not name? shooter?
Woo Hoo would I scrub his ears! Then slap ‘em back on his ears back’erds!
And where’d I put that 6% vinegar rinse?
crinkle ‘im up like a, dried plum. heh.
Oh, I know, Adie. I wasn’t faulting the pups at all. Just saying my timing was off.
But, I did think it was an article that alot of folks here would find provoking.
Although, some of it is tough enough stuff that maybe an entire seminar would be needed to really discuss and digest.
AND the US Attorney for LA left to work for Rep. Lewis legal firm. The very USA who was working up a case to indict Lewis left for big bucks for the very same firm who is defending him…. NOT a conflict of interest anywhere is there?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…..=australia
Biggest Security Operation
“This is a huge deployment, the biggest we have had,” Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said in an interview on Aug. 10. “Nothing has been left to chance and it has followed two years of meetings between government agencies, police and security.
An outbreak of equine influenza in Australia means mounted police won’t be used to control protesters. Six police horses on Aug. 27 tested positive for the flu, which means they will be quarantined for a month from when the symptoms stop.
About 200 low security prisoners will be freed for the weekend to make room for protesters. The prisoners will perform community service for the two days and be allowed to stay home in the evenings to free up 500 jail beds, New South Wales Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said Aug. 24.
No Beer
“We have been booked out by people who don’t want to stay in a city fenced with barbed wire,” said John Tubridy, owner of Colliery House bed and breakfast at Neath, in the Hunter Valley wine region 200 kilometers north of Sydney. “I don’t blame them.”
dead last @ 25
When the dollar was at its maximum against the Euro, $.82 would buy one Euro. Now it takes $1.37 to buy one. That is $.55 more or 67% more (.55 divided by .82) but you would not be aware of that, it never made the papers. It is why a $40 barrel of oil is now priced at $70 and the oil companies are maximizing their profits at record levels. The dollar, in short, is worth a lot less than your 45%.
understood. and agreed – lots of the best ideas for posts are introduced that way.
I gotta go, & stop botherin’ you guys.
Happy Labor Day. But the garden doesn’t tend itself.
Neither does the gov’t, sigh. So thanks pups. ;->
Ann in AZ @ 24
There are some really corrupt Representatives and Jerry Lewis is at or near the top of the list. His case is not the only one that seems to have gone nowhere. How is it that Abramoff has been cooperating and yet the investigation into all of his corrupt dealings with members of Congress and the Bush Administration just doesn’t seem to produce much? What about the Foggo case with its tie-ins to Porter Goss? Yes, Foggo has been indicted but to say things are moving glacially would be kind. It is not just a matter of funds or delaying cases at the US Attorney level. It is Chertoff crony Alice Fisher who heads the Criminal Division of the DOJ.
With the most corrupt Administration in our history it is no surprise that same Administration is using its network of cronies to see that nothing much happens until they are long gone.
I was updating my scandal sheet to include Mary Matalin and I see she is going to be helping out Thompson’s campaign…
demi @ 36
It is pointless – and counterproductive – to simply throw yourself under the wheels of such a monstrous machine in futile spasms of rage and despair. The machine doesn’t care. It will gladly chew up your life and move on. For the action of the ordinary individual to have an effect, it must be amplified by a larger social movement. And it is difficult to imagine such a movement arising in America today, in a society atomized by the engines of profiteering, its communities gutted or abandoned by elites seeking greener pastures – and cheaper labor – elsewhere, its citizens isolated from one another, locked in their own bubbles of electronic diversion, and their own struggles to keep their jobs (unprotected by unions, subject to the arbitrary whim of local bosses, or faceless corporate masters, or predatory hedge funds, etc.), hang on to their health insurance (if they’ve got it), and stay out of the hell created by the bipartisan Bankruptcy Bill for the benefit of the credit card companies.
That’s our problem – we are so isolated from eachother physically. Virtually, we are tight. But i don’t know how to find any of you to help form a human wall in front of the machine.
Peterr at 38:
How apt! I love it!
Christy’s on it again!
Gee, I wonder what their definition of “appropriate” is? Like, when the defendant is a Democrat, or likely to vote Democratic?
Bob in HI
Hi Kathryn in MA…how are you?
Peterr @ 38
*LOL*
Alas, the people I’ve been exposed to who have links to organized crime sound much more like W. than Tony Soprano. Not quite as colorful, but just as corrupt.
itwasntme @ 40
Mubarak might be dead! Egypt might shift to a radical Muslim government and we don’t have any spare troops to help prop up the Egyptian government.
Funny by wasting all our resources on Iraq we might be to preocupied to stop all the other dominoes from falling Pakistan, Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Jordan.
Iraq was the first domino in the row the neocons assumed that by pushing or not pushing it they could control the middle east.
Now suppose Al Quieda while trying to break our hold on the first dominoe decides they can knock all the dominoes down by shaking the table.
After all we can’t be everywhere at once Bush made sure of that by tying up all our resources in Iraq.
ccmask @ 49
Do you have Steven Griles and Italia Federici? Both Abramoff scandal, both convicted of lying to Congress.
Hi, Katiemine! ***smooches!!*** Putting in another working weekend – happens a lot now that i am salaried.
looseheadprop @ 18
Yeah, but a lot of us noticed! Thanks for keeping us on our toes– you done good, LHP!
Bob in HI
Katiemine, i soo look forward to Netroots Nation (YKos) meetups to see everyone again. too bad vaca days and lack of funds keeps it to only once a year.
Ann in AZ @ 37
Here duckie!
Here little duckie!
ccmask @ 49
You got a scandal sheet Cool, could you please email it to me on my face book page if you have the time I can’t keep up with all the Bush scandals.
katymine @ 44
With a $1,000,000 up front bonus. How can this be legal? Is anyone investigating this, or have the funds been cut so this is not possible?
Hugh @ 56
Hugh, is your list of Bushie scandals posted? Off hand, do you recall the number you’ve reached to date?
things come undone @ 55
ohhh, good analysis, scary thought.
Hugh @ 56
Thanks Hugh.
Hugh @ 48
And they’ll do it any way they can! Still, they need cover…hence, absence of funds, not enough people, etc., etc., etc.
SnarKassandra @ 17
Sigh — because that’s not how funding Federal agencies works.
Each Agency is alloted funds by its’ Appropriation Bill. Those funds are broken into specific pools with specific amounts alloted to various areas. Travel, Personnel, Equipment, Space Allocation, are all separate pools.
We are not allowed to move money from pool to pool, and if we haven’t spent all the money in a certain category by the end of the fiscal year, we lose it — and our funds are decreased by the amount unspent for the next fiscal year.
That’s why there’s an orgy of spending on equipment and hiring new personnel at Federal agencies in August and September every year.
“The President deserves a lot of credit for making this visit to reality,” one aide said. “He doesn’t have a natural constituency here.”
“It’ll be good leaving reality and going back to Washington,” one aide said.
Brisingamen @ 67
Does the Bushie White House still hand out money to faith-based groups?
My pagan demo medic friends are gearing up for mass demos, and gas masks are sooo pricey.
petwrecker @ 68
Is this Snark?
With the most corrupt Administration in our history it is no surprise that same Administration is using its network of cronies to see that nothing much happens until they are long gone.
At least they can’t be pardoned this way…
I could go with Sheldon Whitehouse for AG. (obviously not now, but when a dem is elected president)
Isn’t it amazing that our heros now are simply people who respect and follow our Constitution?
Is
things come undone @ 70
si, should have tagged it? s
Could we not apply the RICO standards to this criminal conspirancy? Food for thought.
See you later.
Hugh @ 56
And Susan Ralston? Can we see your excellent list again, cc? And Hugh?
Kathryn in MA @ 50
[Emphasis added]
This kind of pessimism is not helpful. Pessimism is the enemy of hope, and hope is the engine that propels people to make a difference.
That’s what I like about FDL, and the progressive netroots. We ARE a social movement, and we ARE making a difference! And that is what I want to focus on.
Labor day is a day to celebrate workers. Unions deserve our gratitude and our support, but others who labor deserve our thanks and praise, too, and I want to specifically thank Christy, Jane, looseheadprop, Marcy “emptywheel,” Digby, Glenn Greenwald, and others too numerous to mention for their labors in support of true Democracy. They are an inspiration!
Bob in HI
Rayne @ 12
You fracture me Rayne! ;~)
SnarKassandra @ 23
A nicely turned analogy, that is.
Great point, Hugh, thanks for the up-beat side!
scory @ 33
Cristy’d post made me see red. I hope it got the same reaction from Sen.Leahy. Although he has been a blessedly forceful chairman, he has been treating Spector more like partner (which in normal times, would be a good thing; but these are NOT normal times)
Next time old snarlin’ Arlen asks him for a favor, I hope Leahy will remeber that old saw “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”
Arlen does a good job of fooling a lot of people. I have a friend who is a moderate democrat, and when we were discussing life as we see it now, she mentioned that Arlen was an example of a good republican. He snarls a good snarl for the cameras, and then votes the way he always votes. He fools people.
petwrecker @ 72
No the sad thing is your snark was so effective on a humorous level because of the Alice in Wonderland quality of this administration.
After stories of imaginary invisable WMD that weren’t there beliving in six impossible things before breakfest isn’t hard.
Believing that Bush had visited reality though…that was the hard part to believe you almost had me there.
SnarKassandra @ 17
Government agency budgets are very rigid. Once funds get assigned to a specific line item, it is virtually impossible to reallocate them.
katymine @ 44
We talked about this at length last night. The consensus view seems to be that the benign explanation seems more likely.
OT yet important info for the progressive netroots and especially FDL community.
Did you know you can hit the paypal donor link at the top of every post and contribute any amount and designate your contribution to our fearless founder Jane toward her nightmarish medical expenses?
Contribute what you can and as often as you can. I just paypaled a hundred bucks and hope someone might match it by the end of the day. ;~)
New thread!
OT continuing a theme I touched on in the last thread, the people at the NYT are idiots.
Carl Hulse has an article on Lamar ALexander. It begins:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09…..kUYac6eDLA
When Democrats don’t take a stand on an issue they are wishy-washy. When a Republican does the same thing, he’s a consensus builder.
Hulse describes Alexander as seeking a middle path. He supports the Iraq study group report but doesn’t want a timetable. He never says anywhere how this can be accomplished or what the h*ll this really means.
The Iraq Study report was never a practical document. Its recommendations could only be put into effect if you presupposed the recommendations had already been put into effect. It was at best a means to give political cover for a withdrawal. Bush rejected that cover. Now the ISG report is apparently being resurrected by mealy-mouthed politicians of both parties as some kind of a talisman, not to get us out of Iraq but to save their political skins. I wonder how many of them have actually read it.
But what really irks me about this story on Alexander and his “struggle” is that Hulse never mentions that Alexander is up for re-election in 2008. Yeah, I bet that has nothing to do with his position on Iraq, not a thing.
kirk murphy @ 63
If you click on my name it should take you to the list. It’s up to 244.
Loo Hoo. @ 71
I’m hoping for Hillary to be AG; I think it would have a certain “poetic justice” ring to it. Hmmm…think she could find a way to go after Ken Starr?
The Bushies are not going to nominate anyone that is not within their little circle of influence, and the Democrats, like it or not, will put on a grand show of dissent but ultimately approve the Bushies pick for AG.
Simply put, the Democrats smell blood in the water in the next election cycle, as well as they should, and so they will allow the Bushies to nominate one of their own so the Democrats can continue with the mantra that Democrats are needed in the all of the races coming up to effectuate change in Washington, instead of pushing thru someone that will hurt the Bushies and bring “reform and oversight” to the DOJ. There is only 1 1/2 years left of the Bushies, so why waste political leverage by insisting on someone that might actually bring some change. Instead, continue with “the Bushies nominate only cronies to protect themselves” and try and win some more seats in Congress. If the Democrats were going to bring any serious charges against the Bushies, they would have pulled the trigger long ago instead of dancing around and holding inane hearings.
The Iraqis cheer the British leaving via Yahoo:
“This is a victory for honest resistance. It is a pleasure (to see the troops go),” said trader Ahmed Ali Omar, 35. “We had long been wishing for the occupier to go so that stability can be restored.”
Army officer Sadoun Hami was even more jubilant.
“We are happy to be rid of the British. They were harrassing us in the streets and raided our houses and arrested our sons. We now want to see them out of greater Basra,” he said.
Can you imagine the celebration when we leave?
demi @ 36
WOW!! In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “A republic if you can keep it.” But, our fine Democratic leaders have given it away.
Bob,
In posting the link to the article, I wasn’t trying to bum out your holiday. I thought it was a thought-provoking piece.
There are so many words out there that we can agree or diagree with.
At the end of the article there is encouragement here:
So whatever we can do, we must do it ourselves. If we have no power or influence, if we cannot take large actions, then we must take small ones. Every word or action raised against the overthrow of the Republic will find an echo somewhere, from one person to another to another to the next — each isolated, individual voice slowly finding its way into a swelling chorus of dissent.
It might be too late. It might not work. But failure – and much more horror — is guaranteed if we don’t even try.
Bobschacht i HI – you are quite right -For the action of the ordinary individual to have an effect, it must be amplified by a larger social movement. – i just get frustrated that our physical get-togethers are so few, as i remember back to the late ’60s and early ’70s and the physical signs of movement.
Yes, it is difficult to organize today, which is why FDL, and the BlueAmerica coalition is so precious and so vulnerable. they pull the plug on the nets and where are we?
Would “an embarassment of Hitchens” have been redundant?
Hugh @ 87
If Alexander is pretending to be anti-war while still firmly astride the fence post (ahem, taking a wide stance) then it could well mean we oughta take a look at running someone against him. He wouldn’t act this way if he wasn’t facing some pressure.