“mean” also rhymes with a lot of other words, so what is your point. That you’re harmless joking around leftist dude and nobody’s getting the joke?

bean, beane, beene, bein, beine, biehn, bien, blouin, brean, breen, cheane, cian, clean, crean, dean, deane, deen, drouin, fiene, frean, freen, gean, gene, gheen, glean, gouin, green, greene, haen, jean, jeane, jeanne, kean, keane, keehn, keen, keene, kiehn, kiehne, kiene, kleen, lean, leen, lein, lene, lien, mein, meine, mien, nein, nene, peine, plein, preen, prien, queen, reen, scene, screen, seen, shean, sheen, skeen, skene, spleen, spreen, steen, stene, sween, teen, thien, treen, veen, vien, wean, wein, wien, xene

bwahahahaha!

Ok I’ll have to come back later, queen gene, Mr. Green Genes.

Second, if you think I’m going to accept Michelle Malkin as someone with insight on this or any other subject, then you ARE funny. I’m sure you’d love to get a link from her someday to grab some traffic, but come now. Michelle Malkin? Yeesh. And Little Green Footballs? Good Lord.

Calling the New York Times the “New York Slime” is childish–stop it right now. It makes you look unserious.

Nowhere in your post do you mention what exactly the Times published that upset you. I can only assume you’re referring to the program used to track financial transactions that was recently disclosed. I don’t know how you expect to write a piece explaining why this is a bad thing when you don’t even say what the bad thing IS.

Here’s the issue at hand–the fact that we’re tracking possible financial transactions of terrorists isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s something we should be doing. In fact, if we WEREN’T doing it, the Bush Administration would be in dereliction of it’s duty. Just as they would be in dereliction of its duty if they didn’t use the NSA to intercept phone calls and emails from suspected terrorists.

Which brings us to the point of the matter. The Bush Administration is conducting this surveillence in violation of the law. There’s no oversight. They ignore laws like FISA that were passed specifically for this purpose. Instead of searching for messages or transactions of suspected terrorists, they look at whatever they want. In violation of the law. With no Congressional oversight. With no one even aware of what they’re doing.

Are you cool with this? With a President who believes he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, without obeying the laws Congress has passed and that he’s sworn to uphold? If the President wanted this sort of authority, he should’ve gone to the Congress and asked them to pass a law allowing it. That’s the way our system works–by the rule of law. Not by whatever the President’s legal advisors say he’s allowed to do.

Add in the fact that the Bush Administration has shown itself to be grossly incompetent when it comes to, well, just about everything. I wouldn’t trust any President with this sort of power–I sure as hell don’t trust George W. Bush with it.

And what happens in 2009, when Bush finally leaves office. What if, say, the next President is Hillary Clinton? You’re comfortable with her having the power to listen to any phone call she wants to, monitor any financial transaction she wants, arrest American citizens without due process and hold them without trial or counsel for as long as she wants? All, of course, absolutely necessary to prosecute the War on Terror. At least, we’ll have to take her word for it. Yinz better hope she doesn’t take that “Right-Wing Conspiracy” thing too seriously.

That isn’t America. We the People tell the government what it can or cannot do, and we do this through our elected officials in the Congress. When they pass laws, our laws, the President is supposed to obey them. He doesn’t get to follow the ones he likes and ignore those he doesn’t. That’s why what the Times has published has been of the greatest import–it shows the latest in a pattern of abuses of power by the Bush Administration.

If these programs are so important (and they certainly are) why didn’t the Bush Administration follow the law or ask that a new law be written? Do you really think this supine Congress wouldn’t have given him what he wanted? No, the President doesn’t think he has to ask. He should be able to do what he wants. No matter that his actions might actually make any evidence collected thrown out of court because it was gathered illegally. Just another example of the arrogance, incompetence, and stupidity of the Bush Administration. They could follow the law, they could do the job right–but they didn’t. And there’s no excuse for it.

Michelle Malkin says it pretty good over at her place:

The New York Times and their traitorous, leaking sources have done it again. (Hat tip: LGF) This time they’re broadcasting classified information on troop levels. Hey, Bill Keller–al Qaeda thanks you:

The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007…

…General Casey’s briefing has remained a closely held secret, and it was described by American officials who agreed to discuss the details only on condition of anonymity.

“Closely held secret.” Not. Anymore.

(Ed Morrissey thinks it’s a controlled leak. But the law, as I’ve noted before, does not distinguish between “good” and “bad” leaks, “controlled” or “uncontrolled” ones. As Ed rightly notes, whatever the case, “the New York Times has once again specialized in publishing classified material on a story with only marginal news value.”)

Special coverage at The Truth Laid Bear. And now…

Time for Round III from the Anti-Blabbermouth Army of Photoshoppers:

Slublog:

Xardoz (hat tip -
Impacted Wisdom Truth):

Richard Pucillo:

Are We Lumberjacks?:

George Ratton:

Russell Paine:

Larry Sweeney:

Kathy Yoder:

Doug Morris:

Blogs of War:

Anonymous:

John Schrenko:

But hey, if vague, hysterical charges against the shadowy forces known as the “Left” and the “Media” are what passes for “common sense” on these pages, who am I to judge?