I'll Just Leave This Here

Please read.

Nobody's Safe Anymore

This seems kind of important.

How Would a Patriot Act?

The Senate is trying to extend the Patriot Act without debate. Rand Paul apparently is the only senator opposing this. Go Paul! Boo everyone else.

Remiss

That's what I've been, not posting this stuff here. So much news has come out from Wikileaks, and all our media can do is report on the most banal and gossipy stuff. Well, read this, and this, and this, and this, and then try to claim that "there's nothing new here", or that it's unimportant fluff.

My new hero

He's kind of a dick, but it's impressive to watch him parry with the criminal officers in this video.

ID Reloaded

Getting back into it, with some quick hits:
On Arizona's illegal immigration bill, this is just about right.
On a related note, when dealing with the police, know your rights and how to defend them.
Sowell on the limits of power, examining the ultimate case. Whatever problems I have with him on foreign policy (largely because he doesn't apply his domestic/economic thinking consistently there), he almost always spot on with this kind of stuff.
Shorter Paul Krugman: When Democrats are in favor of something, it's because they're good people. When Democrats are against something, it's because they're good people. When Republicans are for something, it's because they're bad people. When Republicans are against something, it's because they're bad people. Glad we got that straight.

What's the Administration Doing on this Front?

Nothing it seems.
So let's see. Cheney endorses torture, says it happened under his watch, and the lawyers say they were ordered to cook up legal justifications by Cheney. Why isn't there at least an official investigation of this? Oh, right, it would hurt the gov's reputation too much. Right.
Maybe the lawyers are lying, maybe not. Either way, some people committed serious offenses. Crimes that should offend anyone, and that hurt national security. Do not abide this.

I <3 GG

Cass Sunstein scares the living bejeebus out of me. The fact that he has a significant (or any, really) role in the Obama administration is a disgrace. I particularly would like to point out his advocacy of what amounts to a conspiracy to deal with people advocating conspiracy theories. Think I'm exaggerating? "In 2008...Sunstein [proposed] that the U.S. Government...'cognitively infiltrate'...activist groups which advocate views that Sunstein deems "false conspiracy theories" about the Government."
Also, Greenwald makes some good points on the Jon Gruber situation in the same piece.

Freedom of what?

Disgusting. Simply disgusting.

Using force to control without ownership is...

Please read Bainbridge on what's going on with the Obama administration and pay cuts at (admittedly sleazy/corrupt) financial firms. Seems to fit a certain term, can't remember what it is, who's definition includes "private property that is controlled but not nationalized".

Don't Film Us, We're Undercover While Wearing Badges

Not much commentary to add to this video.

I Wish I was Shocked by This

Apparently, the US government worked with Bin Laden pretty closely right up to the September 11 attacks.

Obama Embraces his Inner Nixon

Ah, enemies lists. Suppression of speech. General dickishness (or Dickishness). Lovely.

What Country is This?

Hey Barney Frank! F You!

Completely Complicit

Gee, do you think this could anything to do with her refusal to let Kucinich's impeachment attempts go forward.

It's Easy to be Generous with Someone Else's Money...if You're Immoral

I know that I'm a bit late on this, but I loved Asness' letter about Obama and Chrysler. Asness = Awesomeness.

Wow

It's unconstitutional in Arkansas to hold public office as an atheist. Mike Huckabee's comments (here at 1:18, for example) suddenly make a lot more sense. Not sense as in rational, but as in expecting him to say something rational would be about as rational as expecting a dog to do calculus.

Let Them Be

And here's one to make most gay rights supporters annoyed at me. I think it would be nice if eHarmony voluntarily offered its services to homosexuals, but forcing them to is an assault on rights. The right of free association also means the right to not associate. You have the right to not associate with someone for whatever reason, whether that's because that person is mean, dumb, a criminal, or for bad reasons like that they're gay. The right to be an asshole is one of our fundamental rights. Feel free to criticize people for being assholes, but if you use force to change their behavior, you're the asshole.

Oppose the Coup

I'm not questioning that Paulson (et al) truly believes that he is doing right. Nor do I question his intelligence. However, don't let this power grab just happen. This is classic expansion of government power during a panic, power that will never truly go away. The recent deals make me uneasy, but this faux RTC, buying (roughly) $700bn of assets, with no oversight, is a disaster. It will not fix the problems, or it will involve significant transfers of wealth from taxpayers to financial firms and morph the problems, like a virus that evolves. Probably some mixture of these things. Naomi Klein is wrong about a lot of things, but she is right that we have to keep our heads in crisis/pressure situations, so as to not be hoodwinked. Somehow, this is all reminds of early 2003.

Addendum: Please read this.

Bailout snark

Well done by Tyler. A bit passive aggressive, perhaps, but I liked it.
Note, I'm actually not too worried about moral hazard and the like in the AIG case. It seems to me that they've pretty effectively dealt with those issues here. I am worried about the Fed's growing power.