Friday morning quick hits

One Nation, Under Surveillance For more than a year of Robert Ehrlich's term as governor of Maryland the state police were used to infiltrate groups that opposed the war in Iraq and capital punishment. The records show that over 288 hours of surveillance were undertaken over 14 months and continued even though the logs not only contained no reports of illegal activity, but consistently indicated that the activists were not planning violent protests. "To invest this many hours investigating the most all-American of activities without any scintilla of evidence there is anything criminal going on is shocking," ACLU lawyer David Rocah said at a news conference in Baltimore yesterday. "It's Kafkaesque."


Yes, we agree, Chertoff needs to be investigated A million names on the terrorist watch list? That's a lot of terrorists! But how many of them are actual terrorists and how many of them are peace activists and death penalty opponents in Maryland? The ACLU wants Congress to investigate the creation of "militarized zones" in the United States in the zealous overuse of the terrorist watch list. “The Department of Homeland Security has far too many ill-conceived programs that fail to account for privacy, due process and other principles that assure fairness to the innocent,” Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office said in a news release. “It is time for Congress to recognize the Bush administration’s security apparatus is an emperor without any clothes."



Nancy and the art of the understatement Nancy Pelosi leveled her harshest criticism yet against the current occupant, in so many words calling him a bumbling, inept buffoon. "God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States -- a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject," she said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. She was responding to aWol's criticism of congress and his insistence that he's doing just fine 'cuz he is outpolling congress (we've been over this a bazillion times - congress inherently has low ratings because my congressman is a saint but the other 534 are polecats who should every last one be indicted before lunch.) Pelosi said the president was in no position to criticize Congress and brushed aside the criticisms as "something to talk about because he has no ideas.
"For him to be challenging Congress when we are trying to sweep up after his mess over and over and over again -- at the end of the day, Congress will have passed its responsibility to pass legislation," she said. We have an idea on how she could improve the public perception of Congress - she could put impeachment back on the table before the fucker whips out his pardon pen and lets all his criminal cohorts slide.


And we are not the only ones saying that, either and we have been in worse company than Jonathan Turley. Speaking to Keith Olberman during an episone of Countdown this week, Turley was blunt. "An impeachment hearing needs to be focused and it needs to deal with things directly and frankly, as whether the president committed crimes," he continued, "And there is considerable evidence to say that the answer is yes."

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And now for somethign completely different - Elmo, did you find the aspirins yet? And can you pass them to me after you take a handful?

Everyone needs to go to www.faithoftheabomination.com and watch the trailer - I had the deep honor last night of going to the home of the couple who made the film and watching the entire thing - all I can say is Wow! and what an honor - thank you Han and Ceil - and Elmo - for letting me be the first person to see it. When the awards start rolling in, I am going to have one hell of a story to tell, right down to I was the schlub who spilled beer on your carpet during the private showing. It was truly an honor to be the first to see this amazing film, and I hope that it is wildly successful. Speaking of which - I have a promise to keep, so I am outta here for now - there is schmoozing to be done, and I am just the gal to do it...Thanks again for letting me see it first. I truly feel honored and blessed.