What the Heck was I Thinking!?

I saw this article buried on page three of my local paper, the Annapolis Capital. I searched on the web and found only one entry: Diego.com > News > Nation > America’s War on Terror — Oversight board briefed on NSA surveillance program. What struck me were two quotes:

“If the American public, especially civil libertarians like myself, could be more informed about how careful the government is to protect our privacy while still protecting us from attacks, we’d be more reassured,” said Lanny Davis, a former Clinton White House lawyer.

and,

Alan Raul, a former Reagan White House lawyer and the board’s vice
chairman, said the group “found there was a great appreciation inside
government, both at the political and career levels, for protections on
privacy and civil liberties.”

“In fact, I think the public may have an underappreciation for
the degree of seriousness the government is giving these protections.”
said Raul, author of a book on privacy and civil liberties in the
digital age.

I guess this just isn’t newsworthy.

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Daniel Drezner writes a response to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s letter to the American populace at
danieldrezner.com Message of Dr. Daniel Drezner to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
I like what Mr. Drezner says in response to the President of Iran. Sign my name to it and send it on back.

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First they yell about government propaganda. Then they want to use discredited sources without criticism. There appears to be a pattern here of who gets to do propaganda work for whom.

JunkYardBlog: November 26, 2006 - December 02, 2006 Archives

AP-Iraq scandal blogospheric synergy

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AP is trying to use arrogance to address the challenge to their source in a report they filed on an alleged incident in Baghdad. USATODAY.com - On Deadline | Archives | AP, U.S. military spar over atrocities report

“The attempt to question the existence of the known police officer who spoke to the AP is frankly ludicrous and hints at a certain level of desperation to dispute or suppress the facts of the incident in question,” AP International Editor John Daniszewski said in a statement e-mailed to On Deadline this afternoon.

He added that “we have conducted a thorough review of the sourcing and reporting involved and plan to move a more detailed report about the entire incident soon, with greater detail provided by multiple eye witnesses.”

“The police captain cited in our story has long been known to the AP reporters,” Daniszewski wrote.

“The AP stands by its story.”

Well, it’s good that the AP has used this guy before. We wouldn’t want them to use an unknown source. The fact that they’ve used him before adds nothing to the veracity of his claim to be a police officer. Perhaps the AP reporter could check with officials in Iraq or in Centcom to see if his bona fides check out?

Junkyard Blog has more on the questionable nature of the sources used in AP’s and other reporting coming out of Iraq.

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for operating a back hoe without a license. Michael Richards has apparently been in touch with Sen. John Kerry, seeking guidance on how to deal with an embarrassing incident. Sen. Kerry’s alleged advice appears to have gone straight to Mr. Richards’ heart.
(h/t to Captain’s Quarters)

ABC News: Michael Richards: Jewish by Association?

LOS ANGELES Nov 28, 2006 (AP)— Just when it seemed Michael Richards was about to leave the most troubling incident of his career behind, his publicist is having to explain how the comic could consider himself to be Jewish.

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Yahoo News reported that Judge Collins of the now-infamous Ninth Circuit court has struck down portions of a law used in designating terrorist groups.  Judge strikes down Bush on terror groups - Yahoo! News. The article misleadingly focuses on the President’s Executive Orders with respect to the terrorism financing law. The net result is, though, that she has decided that the law as written was too vague.
Her name should sound familiar to those involved in counterterrorism:

In 2004, Collins ruled that portions of the Patriot Act were too vague and, even after Congress amended the act in 2005, she ruled the provisions remained too vague to be understood by a person of average intelligence and were therefore unconstitutional.

(h/t Michele Malkin)

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