A Little Light Reading

flickr: SI Neg. 77-13915. Date: 1977...A close-up of the face and hands of the statue of President Abraham Lincoln which sits in the Lincoln Memorial. Created by American sculptor Daniel Chester French, the sculpture was completed in 1920. ..Credit: Dane A. Penland (Smithsonian Institution)

This should have led every national news program: NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen testified to Congress on Monday that we have one year -- one year -- to deal with climate change. One year, or it will be irreversible and too late for the planet. One year. In 2006 he gave us 20 years, but things have gotten much worse so quickly. Here's a pdf of his testimony;

The Boston Globe reports that military contractor KBR exposed Americans in Iraq to a form of chromium -- the stuff in the wells in the movie Erin Brockovich -- and now they're getting sick. The only small justice here is that KBR has been playing games & claiming their employees were employed by a shell corporation in the Caymans so they didn't have to pay unemployment & social security taxes. As a result, these employees may be able to sue KBR directly rather than being limited to worker's compensation.

The networks are spending two minutes a week covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A near total news blackout.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge (and John McCain top adviser) lobbied for the government of Albania for two years without registering as a lobbyist. Laura Rozen asks, "curious if Ridge knows something about the strange DOD-US embassy-Albanian government-AEY-mothballed $300 million Chinese ammo weapons deal[?]" You can read all about that bizarre $300 million dollar contract being awarded to a bunch of 20-something losers here at TPM.

Surprise, surprise: The Bushies have loaded the Justice Dept. with unqualified Republican hacks, by illegally hiring on political grounds. Wingnuts in, liberals out. Dday at Hullabaloo points out that there will be a host of landmines awaiting Barack Obama when he gets to the Oval Office, crazed Regent University lawyers waiting to sabotage any Democrat.

Steny Hoyer is the Democratic sellout of the year, sez Digby. Farewell to the Fourth Amendment thanks to hack Steny.

Reading List

Crooks & Liars: Blue America’s Steny Hoyer FISA ad

Whatever happened to Jimmy Carter's solar panels?

Retired 24-year military veteran has to beg for cancer treatments. Sicko.

Read about the media's slobbering affair with John McBush: Loving John McCain

Newsweek sez Obama has a 15 point lead over McCain. Don't get excited; it's still June.

Profiles of Michelle Obama, from high-brow to low: New York Times, Guardian (uk), Telegraph (uk), US Weekly, Wall Street Journal (I put this next to US Weekly for a reason).

And now for something completely different: A 5-minute interview with English striker Kelly Smith.

Why'd I Waste All That Time in Law School?

Why did I bother studying the Fourth Amendment anyway? It's just about gone. The House just voted 293-129 for a new FISA bill eliminating my Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure from the Constitution. I mean, you can hem and haw around it, but when the President has unlimited power to let major telecoms spy on you & shovel the info to the government, and then Congress ratifies the spying, lets everyone involved off the hook, and gives the President even more power to spy, what else can you call it? Farewell, Fourth Amendment, I knew you well.

Hello, Verizon, enjoy listening in on all my telephone calls and reading my emails, and transmitting them to the government. Who needs the Stasi? We've got the telecoms, who will help Big Brother invade every aspect of our lives.

Maybe I need to buy a printing press, because the Interwebs ain't free any more.

Why did the Democrats cave yet again? (I am so goddamn sick of seeing Democrat and cave in the same sentence. I expect to see it next week when the Senate caves to Preznit Chimpy McSmirk on this very bill.) I saw an interesting theory somewhere on the blogs last night, that this is to protect the Democrats who got clued in to the illegal wiretapping program by the President (Pelosi, Reid, Steny Hoyer), who would have been liable if the telecoms were allowed to stand trial for their crimes. So they're really just protecting their multimillionaire asses. God forbid a member of Congress actually has to follow the law.

I mean, it's just the fucking Constitution, right, "It's just a goddamned piece of paper" as President Fuckwit once said.

So they all took an oath to protect and defend the United States Constitution. So what? They don't want to have to pay for violating their oaths. It's all about their precious Benjamins.

At least my Congressman, the estimable James P. McGovern, voted no.

One would hope that the law school professor who taught Constitutional law who happens to be running for President would stand up and oppose this in the Senate; I'm not holding my breath. One would think that my junior Senator would pull his head out of his ass long enough to do what Senator Kennedy would do if he wasn't in the middle of major cancer treatments, filibuster this abomination. But again, I'm not holding my breath waiting for Kerry to fight. Remember how he was going to fight for every vote in 2004? Right.

I will end with a comment from the firedoglake post announcing the vote:

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Hoyer and Pelosi will get their just desserts in due time. They spit on the graves of those who fought and died for the Constitution including the 4th Amendment. They would sell their country out and the honor and memory of those lying in hallowed and unhallowed ground around the world for a bag of silver.

That's about right. Selling the Constitution for 30 pieces of silver. Shame.

Thank god for sports so I can escape the fury I feel. Euro 2008, here I come.