http://www.rockymountainnews.c…..66,00.html

yeah…. bmaz has had a different take (for example, in this discussion with emptywheel at TNH – which i’m sure you’ve already seen), but i haven’t been convinced there was some retribution involved.

p.s. will be interested in your take on holt’s bill (i just track ‘em down – you explain them to us all *g*). i’m going to try to put aside time this evening to read both house bills side by side.

Follow the money.

They really haven’t learned anything from last year, have they?

do-si-do @ 29

Think of the money we could save if we just dissolve Congress and restore the monarchy.

Ooops, didn’t mean to go all GOP on your asses.

The sad truth is that the dissolving of Congress and the restoration of the monarchy has already happened. It’s the “saving money” part we’re still waiting on!

I’d rather dissolve the Congress and replace it with a parliament. Multiple parties, much more beholden to the people, easier to disentrench and replace. No downside.

Awesome, selise @ 48. Thank you, great job.

I just stumbled on something that looks more than a little significant, thanks to newly-released court documents (great timing, there), and which is of a piece with Bustednuckles’s theory @ 20:

By Sara Burnett And Jeff Smith,
Rocky Mountain News
October 11, 2007

The National Security Agency and other government agencies retaliated against Qwest because the Denver telco refused to go along with a phone spying program, documents released Wednesday suggest.

The documents indicate that likely would have been at the heart of former CEO Joe Nacchio’s so-called “classified information” defense at his insider trading trial, had he been allowed to present it.

[snip]

Nacchio was convicted last spring on 19 counts of insider trading for $52 million of stock sales in April and May 2001, and sentenced to six years in prison. He’s free pending appeal.

The partially redacted documents were filed under seal before, during and after Nacchio’s trial. They were released Wednesday.

Nacchio planned to demonstrate at trial that he had a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, at NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Md., to discuss a $100 million project. According to the documents, another topic also was discussed at that meeting, one with which Nacchio refused to comply.

The topic itself is redacted each time it appears in the hundreds of pages of documents, but there is mention of Nacchio believing the request was both inappropriate and illegal, and repeatedly refusing to go along with it.

The NSA contract was awarded in July 2001 to companies other than Qwest.

[snip]

The documents maintain that Nacchio met with top government officials, including President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and then-National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice in 2000 and early 2001 to discuss how to protect the government’s communications network.

They portray U.S. government officials, even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, worried about a “Pearl Harbor” type of attack on the Internet. As early as 1997, a three-star general talked to Nacchio about using Qwest’s new fiber-optic network for government purposes, according to the defense.

http://www.rockymountainnews.c…..66,00.html

Just WOW! I mean POW WOW…;)

I just stumbled on something that looks more than a little significant, thanks to newly-released court documents (great timing, there), and which is of a piece with Bustednuckles’s theory @ 20:

By Sara Burnett And Jeff Smith,
Rocky Mountain News
October 11, 2007

The National Security Agency and other government agencies retaliated against Qwest because the Denver telco refused to go along with a phone spying program, documents released Wednesday suggest.

The documents indicate that likely would have been at the heart of former CEO Joe Nacchio’s so-called “classified information” defense at his insider trading trial, had he been allowed to present it.

[snip]

Nacchio was convicted last spring on 19 counts of insider trading for $52 million of stock sales in April and May 2001, and sentenced to six years in prison. He’s free pending appeal.

The partially redacted documents were filed under seal before, during and after Nacchio’s trial. They were released Wednesday.

Nacchio planned to demonstrate at trial that he had a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, at NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Md., to discuss a $100 million project. According to the documents, another topic also was discussed at that meeting, one with which Nacchio refused to comply.

The topic itself is redacted each time it appears in the hundreds of pages of documents, but there is mention of Nacchio believing the request was both inappropriate and illegal, and repeatedly refusing to go along with it.

The NSA contract was awarded in July 2001 to companies other than Qwest.

[snip]

The documents maintain that Nacchio met with top government officials, including President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and then-National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice in 2000 and early 2001 to discuss how to protect the government’s communications network.

They portray U.S. government officials, even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, worried about a “Pearl Harbor” type of attack on the Internet. As early as 1997, a three-star general talked to Nacchio about using Qwest’s new fiber-optic network for government purposes, according to the defense.

http://www.rockymountainnews.c…..66,00.html

Great picture. I sort of suspected that the Emperor Ming was behind all this. It had all the hallmarks: megalomanic contempt for the law, space age gadgetry, and a scheme that was so complicated and convoluted that it could never accomplish its stated purpose (finding terrorists) in a million years.

You betcha! I cracked up when I saw that picture! Excellent! Here’s some other similarities between Ming and Bush (from the Wikipedia entry for Ming the Merciless):

In addition to his army, Ming has access to a wide variety of science fiction gadgets, ranging from rocket ships to death rays to robots. Though evil, he has his weaknesses…

Sorry for the rant, but somehow I have seen this before.
I think we progressives are all that stand between fascism and getting back the country whose values I hold self evident.

Having faith in Democrats these days is like having faith that Lucy is really gonna hold the football for Charlie Brown this time.

I mean really, what do these crooks (repugs) have to do to be held accountable at all for a litany of egregious acts?

Where are the damn e-mails?

Why is “Cookies” Doan still on the payroll?

Where is the 8.8 billion dollars?

Et Cetera, et cetera.