But allies of the administration called the decision legally questionable and politically motivated.

“It is an appallingly bad opinion, bad from both a philosophical and technical perspective, manifesting strong bias,” said David B. Rivkin, an official in the administrations of President Ronald Reagan and the first President Bush. “It is guaranteed to be overturned.”

Oh really? How about going beyond the sound byte and explaining WHY. Having read the opinion, it seems to have a sound basis in both precedent and interpretation. What makes this guy think it will be tossed other than King George and the Attorney Jester disagree?

Mr. Gonzales would not say whether the program played any role in foiling a plot last week to set off bombs in airliners bound for the United States from Britain. But Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois, suggested that it did play a role in the investigation.

In a written statement criticizing Judge Taylor’s ruling, Mr. Hastert defended the wiretapping operation and said that “our terrorist surveillance programs are critical to fighting the war on terror and saved the day by foiling the London terror plot.”

From everything that has since come out about the "London plot" the Brits are having a hard time even charging those guys with anything, much less making it stick. It seems we pressured them to make a move and now they've got bupkis, and what did any of that have to do the wiretaps other than Denny Hastert, who isn't on ANY of the committees that are required to be briefed about them, saying it did, but not giving any information about it?

I would ask them to give this side of their face a rest and start lying out the other side, but that side has been busy lying too.

Bush Vows to Overturn Wiretapping Ruling - New York Times

I love Crooks and Liars for posting these clips. I'm never home during the day to watch Jack Cafferty get pissed off.

Cafferty on the NSA Ruling: Bush is breaking the Law!

Consequently, the court finds Defendants’ argument that they cannot defend this case without the use of classified information to be disingenuous and without merit.

One place you don't want to be is on the wrong side of a judge saying you've been disingenuous. That's legalese for "lying sack of crap."

NSA Wiretap Decision

In a speech Wednesday Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman hailed Lieberman as a "different kind of politician, and a different kind of Democrat."

Yes, most of us call that "different kind of Democrat" a Republican.

Political order upended as Democrats slam, Republicans praise Lieberman - Yahoo! News

Now, some high-profile Democratic lawmakers, including Lautenberg and Barack Obama (D-IL), have indicated to RAW STORY that while they support Lieberman in the race, they will back challenger Lamont in the general election, should Lieberman walk away without the nomination.

Things are getting rough up in Connecticut...

The Raw Story | Support unlikely from fellow Senate Democrats, should Lieberman lose

If he lost his House seat for the party, Boehner is said to have cautioned, Ney could not expect a lucrative career on K Street to pay those tuition bills, along with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees piling up.

This is how the Republicans handle people in the party who should go to jail???

"Well Bob, we think you should take a seat, and if you don't, we won't let you get one of those jobs over on K Street. You know, the ones where those guys WHO BRIBED YOU AND CAUSED YOU TO HAVE THIS ETHICS DISATER IN THE FIRST DAMN PLACE work."

Go to Jail. Go down K Street on your way to jail. Collect a few dozen lobbyists from K Street. Take them to jail with you.

Embattled Rep. Ney Won't Seek Reelection

At the same time, all too frequently, members of the Bush Administration appeat to have placed political expediency above veracity. Whether it was then White House Press Secretary stating that “I spoke with [Karl Rove and Scooter Libby], so that I could come back to you and say that they were not involved ” in the leak of Valerie Plame ’s name, ” or President Bush declaring that “any time you hear the United States government talking about a wiretap it requires . . . a court order, ”there have been numerous instances where political convenience appears to have taken precedence over the principle of communicating fully, frankly, and honestly with the American people and their representatives.

350 pages asked for by John Conyers about how things work under W. It's sort of like Stalin, but with less shooting of the home populace.

The Constitution in Crisis

Prior to the ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967, there was no provision for filling a vacancy in the vice presidency. When a president died in office, the vice president succeeded him, and the vice presidency then remained vacant. The first vice president to take office under the new procedure was Gerald Ford, who was nominated by Nixon on Oct. 12, 1973, and confirmed by Congress the following Dec. 6.

* The Vice President Richard Cheney
* Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert
* President pro tempore of the Senate Ted Stevens
* Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

So here's today's scenario for President Rice. George decides to be the tough guy again and goes to visit Iraq, only this time, the big blue bird gets shot down by the rebels using some of those weapons Rummy sold the Iraqis back when Saddam was in charge. Cheney has a heart attack and keels over, Denny, three hundred pounds overweight does the same, getting us to Ted Stevens, who is declared physically unable to assume the office (he has alzheimer's as demonstrated by the "pipes" thing) and we get out first black, female president...

I just thought this sounded funny.

Order of Presidential Succession

Make no mistake, this isn’t about whether raising the minimum wage is good or bad for the economy. Throw that argument out the window. The Republicans have said, “It’s fine! We’ll raise the minimum wage. It’s not a problem.” What they’re haggling about is unless they get this tax break for the wealthiest 2% of the wealthy, they won’t help the poorest in need.

It’s that simple. It can’t be read any other way. Any attempt to explain it otherwise is false.

Yeah, yeah, I'm a bleeding heart liberal. Given what Hastert and co. are trying to pull with this one, the only people I can think of who would go for this is, well, no one. This is "steal from the moserately poor, to give to the poor, to tax it away from them to give to the rich," or something like that.

And the "but it hurts small business" argument got tossed right out the window. The estate tax doesn't affect them.

Robert J. Elisberg: Republicans in Congress Confirm Worst Fears About Them

$915 million on nearly 26,000 mobile homes and trailers to house hurricane victims and relief workers — none of which could be sent to disaster zones in Louisiana and Mississippi because of prohibitions on their use in flood plains.

Wow. Way to spend money there Chertoff! Schmuck.

Homeland contracts oversight deemed poor - Yahoo! News