The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[mousepod]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Where in that quote does he call Bush crap?

We have a one person recalling what another person said (that the Bush Aministration's work to produce a Middle East road map is crap), which other people present claim to not recall being said, which is then mischaracterized (in every headline I've seen) as calling Bush himself crap.


That's as lame as the contortions to bash Gore in the other thread.

The headline for the story is "Bush is crap, says Prescott".

While I agree that it's contorted - it's interesting to see the piece on the News pages, as opposed to the Op-Ed, where the Gore piece ran.

[Alex]

Putting it on the news pages just makes it lamer. All it is is second hand hearsay gossip.

That's not to say it isn't true but it isn't news either. And the headline writers screw it up further (and not just them, it is being repeated everywhere I saw the story).

[mousepod]

You make a good point, Alex. Since this came from a British paper, it seems the story is more of a piece about Prescott, anyway - trying to separate his public image of being close to Blair with the private feelings which are very different. Such a story must be based on hearsay, because if he were to come out and say such things publicly, the story wouldn't exist. Arguably, it would be a better story, though.

[Gemini Cricket]

Warrantless Wiretaps = Bad

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Yep, damn activist judge. I thought this quote from the judge pretty much summed it up.

"It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights," she wrote. " . . . There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent powers' must derive from that Constitution."

[Gemini Cricket]

The Justice Dept is going to appeal the ruling... No surprise.


Mel Gibson sentenced to 3 years probation.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

The Justice Dept is going to appeal the ruling... No surprise.

And a stacked Supreme Court will eventually come in very handy.

[Alex]

So the rulings you agree with are obvious but the ones you disagree with are political?

For the record, I agree with this one.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

So the rulings you agree with are obvious but the ones you disagree with are political?

For the record, I agree with this one.

No, I'm simply annoyed by the lack of balance. The republicans hold all of the cards in all three branches of Government and it's impossible to have any degree of fairness in that type of environment. The other two branches can be fixed, and in fact, I would have less of a problem with a republican president and democrat controlled congress (or vice versa) than what we have right now. And with the SC leaning decidedly right, I fear that the abuse of power will continue to go unchecked.

Then again, the supreme court has surprised me before.

[Alex]

I really, really hate civil forfeiture laws. I hate the anti-drug laws but these are even worse especially since they are generally used to further punish crimes that shouldn't be crimes in the first place (such as confiscating the cars of johns in prostitution stings).