] # Presidential Powers: "To protect subordinates should they
] be charged with torture, the memo advised that Mr. Bush issue
] a 'presidential directive or other writing' that could serve
] as evidence, since authority to set aside the laws is
] 'inherent in the president.'"

Why is everyone so surprised by this? Have you not read what the Project for the New American Century Stands for?

"Yeah, screw those surrender monkey frogs" the public said when Bush told the UN to screw itself and that he was going to war. We shouldn't be tied down by the UN, we are superior to the UN.

Why are you surprised that this same administration also thinks it is above things like US laws, the Supreme Court, International treaties?

RE: More really bad shit

] I was surprised [at the results], especially after the
] bombings," Obaid told CNN. The question put to Saudi
] citizens was "What is your opinion of Osama bin Laden's
] sermons and rhetoric?"
]
] "They like what he said about what's going on in Iraq and
] Afghanistan. Or about America and the Zionist conspiracy.
] But what he does, that's where you see the huge drop,"
] said Obaid, referring to the bombings that had already
] begun taking place inside Saudi Arabia at the time the
] poll was conducted.
]
] He also said he would like to update the poll numbers in
] the wake of the recent series of terrorist attacks that
] have taken place in Saudi Arabia.

CNN.com - Poll of Saudis shows wide support for bin Laden's views - Jun 8, 2004

] Ashcroft refused to provide copies of the memos, saying
] they were part of his private advice to the president.
]
] "We believe that to provide this kind of information
] would impair the ability of advice-giving in the
] executive branch," Ashcroft said.
]
] Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, said
] critical information was being withheld from the
] Congress. "These memos clearly do exist, and ... they
] appear to be an effort to redefine torture and narrow the
] prohibition against it by carving out a class of
] something called exceptional interrogation," she said.
]
] "So these memos actually either reverse or substantially
] alter 30 years of interpretation by our body, as well as
] the executive, of the Geneva Conventions."
]
] Ashcroft said it was not the Justice Department's policy
] to define torture.
]
] But he did say the international rules governing
] treatment of detainees did not apply to groups like al
] Qaeda since only countries are signatories to the treaty.

Remember the ABM Treaty. The "Oh its invalid, because that country no longer exists" crap. Do you think this will be different?

Ashcroft in 3 months: "Well Senator, those rules really didn't apply in Iraq, since at the time of the abuse, it wasn't a sovereign nation. Furthermore, the Geneva Conventions include an exemtption if a signatory is at war with a non-signatory country, that the signator is exempt from all convention mandates. The "Iraq" that signed the Geneva Conventions in 1958, was a Monarchy that was overthrown and completely dissolved in 1959. The US believes thse 2 reasons exempt it from needing to have followed the conventions during the Iraqi war."

And whats this about not releasing the memos? We aren't talking about the Bush Administration whoring itself to the energy industry and then not wanting to release the memos. We are talking about the discussion and decisions that lead to the rape, torture, and possibly murder of humans beings, imprisioned without trial. Ashcroft isn't Bush's lawyer; the conversations and advice are in no way private or privledged.

If you were on trial for conspircy to commit murder, and said "oh these notes to my accomplice just contain personal advice, and we will not turn it over" the judge would laugh while busting your ass into jail for contempt of court and obstruction of justice. Oh course, what do you do when the person obstructing justice is the head of the justice department?

Geneva Convention Exemptions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Geneva_Convention
Geneva Convention Signatoies
http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList150/9E9C42170FA44842C1256B66005AA139

Ashcroft answers re: Torture and memos

] Mary: You don't know about love.
] Hilary Faye: [throws Bible at her] I'm filled with
] Christ's love!

Wow. I can't wait for this. In my highschool, the "Christian" chicks slept with so many guys, we used to joke that the bible club met Friday mornings so they could beg forgiveness in advance for the all the sins they planned to do that night.

Saved!

] The North Korean government has banned the use of mobile
] phones by local residents, just weeks after allowing
] foreign visitors to use their mobile handsets in the
] country.

The Flat Earth Society is meeting here today,
Singing happy little lies
And the bright ship humana is sent far away
with grave determination....
And no destination, lie, lie, lie
-Bad Religion, Flat Earth Society

N. Korea bans mobile phones | The Register

] A customer database and the current access codes to the
] supposedly secure Intranet of one of Europe's largest
] financial services group was left on a hard disk offered
] for sale on eBay. The disc was subsequently purchased for
] just (pound)5 by mobile security outfit Pointsec Mobile
] Technologies.
]
] According to Pointsec, one of the hard discs contained
] "highly sensitive information from one of Europe's
] largest financial services groups with pension plans,
] customer databases, financial information, payroll
] records, personnel details, login codes, and admin
] passwords for their secure Intranet site. There were 77
] Microsoft Excel documents of customers email addresses,
] dates of birth, their home addresses, telephone numbers
] and other highly confidential information, which if
] exposed publicly could cause irrevocable damage to the
] company." Pointsec isn't prepared to name the careless
] company.

Yep. At a department I work at on Tech's campus doing computer support, we just put the surplused machines outside our door for people to pick out whatever they want before they get shipped out. No whipping of any drives, much to my protesting.

Oops! Firm accidentally eBays customer database

(20.1875 + 5.25 + 8.5) / (square root of 2) = 23.9974364

I love google

Google Math

] Sources said the United States found out about Chalabi's
] action when an Iranian official in Baghdad sent a cable
] to Tehran using the broken code, detailing his
] conversation with Chalabi and Chalabi's warning that the
] code had been compromised.

... hahahaha! Dumbass

Chalabi denies telling Iran about code

] "The line between news and entertainment is so blurred
] that I don't think people are concerned whether or not
] 'Dateline' does a serious, tough journalistic story and
] next week does a little fluffy thing that promotes their
] own network," said Angotti, a former NBC News executive.
] "I just don't think people care that much anymore."
]
] The criticism -- even some of his own -- now sounds
] archaic.
]
] "It's sad," he said. "It's sad that it's happening to me
] and it's sad that it's happening to the public. But it's
] a fact of life."

'Dateline NBC': How is 'news' defined?

] If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up
] with something more substantive than your
] heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given
] to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing
] your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing
] I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so
] woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever
] change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation
] to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or
] something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm
] puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation
] is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you
] could change it at will? If that's not the case, then why
] would you suggest that someone else can?

This is one of the better ways I've heard the "gay as a choice" -vs- "gay from birth" views compared.

Eschaton