Category: Edgewise

  • How Very Modest the Rule of Law Turns Out to Be

    “Lawmakers cannot reverse wrongdoing that has already occurred. But they can express outrage (in a resolution or on the floor) that the president saw fit to usurp Congress’s power to set the ground rules for secret surveillance.” –From legal commentary by NYU law professor Noah Feldman in the NYT Magazine 2/5/06 DKo: Similarly, when a…

  • Shooting Indians in a Barrel: The Trust Scandal

    It’s nearly as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Gale Norton’s Department of the Interior is so far winning the Bush Administration’s fight against the Indians. A ten-year-old struggle to right 118 years of wrongs against American Indians is at an impasse with the Bush government holding most of the trump cards. The fight,…

  • “Drop a dime, and we’ll bust a cap.”

    AP today: As Democratic lawmakers argued for more details, CIA Director Porter Goss lamented the leak of classified information on a variety of ongoing intelligence operations. “I’m sorry to tell you that the damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our mission,” Goss said. “It is my aim, and it is…

  • Last Minute Request

    Reuters tells us that the Supreme Court refused last night “to let Missouri execute a death-row inmate contesting lethal injection…turning down Missouri’s last-minute request to allow a midnight execution.” That’s right, the “last minute request” was from the state. They were irreparably deprived of their last opportunity to kill this man yesterday at midnight. I…

  • Killing Me Softly

    “…based on authority given to me by the Constitution and by statute– I have authorized a terrorist surveillance program…” –G.W.B. 2006

  • Play the SoTU drinking game

    Catch presents The State of the Union Drinking (& Other Stuff) Game: 1. Every time Bush says “freedom”: Take one very small sip of Wild Turkey (he said it 21 times during last year’s SOTU) 2. Every time Bush mentions Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Scooter Libby or Tom DeLay: Drink three bottles of Wild Turkey…