Just called Brownback’s office. He supports Mukasey unequivocally, but opposes waterboarding and says that Mukasey found it morally repugnant. I said, “but not illegal?” “Of course, it can’t be illegal because then we would have to arrest the armed service personnel that does it, even for training.”
Sigh. Not the brightest bulbs, but then the big money doesn’t want the bright bulbs in Congress, does it?

Just following in the time honoured steps of “Sockless” J. Simpson, also from the great state of K…

bg @ 12

I happened to notice an article last week that said 875,000 names are on the travel watch list now. The extra scrutiny is “focused” on 875,000??? This is absurd.

There is no way the TSA (aka: Thousands Standing Around) can do anything meaningful with 875,000 and growing on a list.

How do 875K people get on this list? From unscrupulous spying and imaginary terra, terra, terra.

and, i think, an additional 20,000 added each month. (did i hear that in a congressional committee hearing?)

Just for reference J. Edgar Hoover and Atty General A. Mitchell Palmer only had cards on 200,000 individuals during the 1917-1921 “Red Scare” after WWI.

S. 2248, the Administration/Rockefeller bill is pretty much the same monster Congress passed in August, the so-called Protect America Act. The major difference is that it gives the Attorney General the sole discretion to provide retroactive and prospective immunity to any company that spies on its customers. Some of the highlights of S. 2248:

* Just like the Protect America Act, the Administration / Rockefeller bill allows the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence to issue year long orders for surveillance without any prior court review, as long as one participant in the conversation is foreign. As a result, the courts would not operate as a check on governmental access to our information.

* S. 2248 allows surveillance orders that do not even specify who is going to be listened to or what facilities the government is going to tap into, authorizing dragnets that can sweep up Americans’ communications just as long as a specific, known US person isn’t the “target.”

* S. 2248 allows the government to keep, use and disseminate any US person’s information collected under this new warrantless dragnet. The Administration / Rockefeller bill does not contain any statutory limit on how Americans’ phone calls and emails can be used, nor does it require that the information ever be destroyed, permitting the government to datamine or otherwise abuse it.

* S. 2248 permits the Attorney General to single handedly kill all pending and future consumer protection cases brought in either state or federal court that seek to hold the telecoms accountable for illegally handing our information over to the government. This authority is unlimited and would even end states’ utility commission investigations or suits that only seek to stop the companies from spying on us in the future.

* S. 2248 is subject to a six year sunset, on December 31, 2013, putting the next mandatory review of this law past two future elections.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio alleged in court documents that the federal government canceled a lucrative contract with the National Security Agency after the company refused to participate in a separate surveillance program that the telecom firm thought might be illegal, according to a news report Saturday.

So we want to give amnesty to those who break the law and punish those who uphold it.

Yes, indeed, this is the values administration isn’t it?

Maybe he’ll just withdraw himself…that would be the wisest move before the publicity gets even worse and ruins any reputation he already had.

“Of course, it can’t be illegal because then we would have to arrest the armed service personnel that does it, even for training.”

This has been the talking point of every Repug supporting Mukasey. It’s been/being bruited about for days on MSM.

Wow! So by the same logic they can’t make assault illegal either, right?