In defense of his domestic spying program, George Bush said today, “When terrorist operatives are here in America communicating with someone overseas, we must understand what’s going on if we’re going to do our job to protect the people. The safety and security of the American people depend on our ability to find out who the terrorists are talking to, and what they’re planning.” He went on, “Federal courts have consistently ruled that a president has authority under the Constitution to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance against our enemies. My predecessors have used the same constitutional authority on numerous occasions. And…

There you are, you’re George W. Bush, you’re trailing badly in the polls, you’ve got this nasty little problem with domestic spying making headline news all over the place, your war in Iraq is continuing to go sour, and all your best buddies are getting indicted for corruption and bribery. So what do you do? You call out the heavy artillery, that’s what! Last week, after a year’s absence, George W. Bush’s biggest supporter, Osama bin Laden made a rare appearance, via an audiotape mailed to Aljazeera TV. In the tape, bin Laden alternately threatened to bring the war back…

The Bush administration continues in its downward spiral, its ultimate, grisly end now hastened by the charges of domestic spying by the National Security Agency. According to news reports, the Bush administration authorized the NSA to conduct wiretaps of hundreds if not thousands of American citizen’s phone and email conversations within the United States – all without warrants. Such warrantless wiretaps are prohibited under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, where it provides that: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and…

The movement to immediately end the war in Iraq gained an unlikely spokesman last week: John Murtha, longtime Congressman from Pennsylvania, a ranking member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. A consistent hawk for the 33 years he’s spent in congress, Murtha is a decorated combat veteran with a Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. Murtha, who retired from the Marine Corps as a Colonel, served in both Korea and Viet Nam. Murtha, who supported the war in Iraq initially, proposed a bill Thursday to immediately withdraw all American troops from Iraq. According to Congressman…

I was watching Meet The Press on NBC this morning. Tim Russert was interviewing Orin Hatch and Charles Schumer, talking about possible appointments to the Supreme Court. Everything was going along great, and then Russert asked Hatch about the possibility of “non-judicial” appointments – that is, making an appointment of a person who was not a judge to the court. Hatch picked it right up. He said something to the effect that the necessity of appointing judges to the judiciary was overblown. All that was necessary, really, was to appoint someone “who knew what was going on,” and that a…

Terri Schiavo Should Be Allowed To Die Bush the Savior There you are, and the worst happens: your wife dies after a sudden heart attack. Somehow, you get through the surreal nightmare of the funeral and all the rest, and begin the grieving process. Several years down the road, if you’re lucky, your life has more or less returned to normal. But not for Michael Schiavo. For him, the nightmare has continued for all of the last fifteen years. As a side-effect of bulimia in February 1990, Terri Schiavo suffered a heart attack and sustained severe non-reversible brain damage as…

Bush and an advisor in a stratgey session. Looks like we’ll soon be headed into Iran. The hysteria about possible nukes in the hands of the Iranians has been building and building in the past few weeks. The Bush administration has been making a much more subtle case than they did with Iraq – drawing the “bad” news out slowly, trying to shape public opinion, making it so the public can only make one conclusion: that Iran has nuclear weapons and it’s the United States’ job to go in there and disarm them – to save the world from the…

Washington Governor’s Race At right, Dino Rossi, at Today’s Press Conference Dino Rossi continues to plunge boldly ahead, working towards his dream of becoming Governor of Washington state. Too bad it’s all just in his mind. Although they won’t admit it, Republicans lost bigtime when Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges, ruled that he had no power to order a revote. The ruling means that if Bridges does eventually set aside the election, his possible options could then include either declaring the office vacant – which would mean Lt. Gov. Brad Owen could take over as interim Governor –…