This morning I was walking past, just as workmen were prying off the sign over a neighbourhood boulangerie.
The sign fell suddenly, landing upright against the old hitching posts on the sidewalk. Whether or not the boulangerie is closed forever or just for remodeling under the government's tax scheme remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. we thought capitulation on FISA, while battering the Fourth Amendment was bad...Seems there is more mischief in the making from our feckless leaders. Apparently, it's not enough for them to undermine our civil liberties; now their sights are trained on eroding the environment!
While ignoring Senate votes on important issues like FISA and Medicare legislation, John McCain seems to be living in some sort of alternate universe. Sen. Edward Kennedy left treatment from cancer Wednesday to cast his vote on Democratic legislation to avert cuts to Medicare doctors. Last month House Republicans defied their leadership to support the measure. On Wednesday the measure passed the Senate 69 to 23, with many Republicans crossing the aisle to vote with the Democrats. Yet again, John McCain couldn't be bothered to show up and vote.
Joking about killing Iranians isn't very diplomatic, much less presidential (And with its stupid headline, the Associated Press continued its run of shoddy reporting). Could this man be any more woefully ill-equipped and unprepared to lead a nation?
Dumb, dumber and delusional.
ACLU files lawsuit challenging FISA
As expected, this afternoon George W. Bush signed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA) into law. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wasted no time in filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging the law and suing John (Mike) McConnell, director of National Intelligence; Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander, Director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service and Michael Mukasey, attorney general.
Plaintiffs include The Nation magazine, journalists Naomi Wolf and Chris Hedges; attorneys David Nevin, Scott McKay, Dan Arshack and Sylvia Royce and several organisations, including Amnesty International and the Global Fund for Women. See the full list of plaintiffs here.
The lawsuit claims that the FAA violates the Fourth Amendment, allowing the government to eavesdrop on the constitutionally-protected communications of American citizens and residents without securing individualized warrants and without specifying the time, place or length of the surveillance, or how the information gathered will be disseminated or how long records will be maintained. Further, the bill violates the First Amendment by authorizing the government to intercept constitutionally-protected communications without judicial oversight.
The FAA also violates the principle of separation of powers, allowing the government to continue surveillance activities, even if the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has deemed those activities illegal. After all, even the government is supposed to obey the law.
The ACLU noted that not only has Congress legalized the Bush administration’s secret NSA spying program, it has given the government even more power to listen to phone calls and read email than the Bush administration illegally claimed for itself under its secret program!
Thank you Tara for your consistantly great links to keeping us in the know...I don't dig for a lot of this info...
Did love Obama's comments about languages, I was working this week with my multi cultural team, all of which speak at least 3 languages to my 1 1/8...
Posted by: stephanie | 11 July 2008 at 01:59
Tara
The flippant "joke" by John McCain regarding the cigarettes killing Iranians, not very funny. A man running for president should really try to be respectful and thoughtful, he comes across as some back woods rube when he talks like that. No offense meant to any back woods rubes who read this blog.
xo
Posted by: Gillian | 10 July 2008 at 23:03
My oh my! You have been a busy traveling woman of late! Looks like your trip to San Fran was wonderful! And I am so impressed with your daughters fashion designs! Her work is Amazingly Beautiful! Classic, yet New and Modern all at once!
Sandra Evertson
Posted by: Sandra | 10 July 2008 at 20:36
A presidential candidate seemingly living in an alternate universe - I shouldn't care, I'm too far away and I'm not American but that's very scary, I'm afraid!
Posted by: devil mood | 10 July 2008 at 18:49
Please tell me you got all those lovely letters from that shop sign
Tara responds:
Alas, the owner kept them.
Posted by: Di Overton | 10 July 2008 at 17:22
Like Michelle, I need to know if that sign is now propped up against your livingroom wall.
Tara responds:
No, the sign wasn't very nice. And the shop owner was going to use the letters, perhaps in another sign.
Posted by: materfamilias | 10 July 2008 at 17:14
I couldn't believe the kill-em-with-cigarettes comment when I saw it. What an unbelievable jerk. I just hope that comments like this steer swing voters over to Barack Obama. Speaking of Obama, I too am disappointed in his yes vote on FISA - hopefully he will rethink his position on this issue. JP/deb
Posted by: JP/deb | 10 July 2008 at 17:00
OK, I just wanted to know if you snagged the sign?
A neurologist acquaintance of mine says that McCain is not with us completely.
Tara responds:
No, the sign was in bad shape and the letters destined for the owner.
As for McCain, sadly this seems to be more and more obvious.
Posted by: Michelle | 10 July 2008 at 16:39