One of our favorite bloggers, Patrick Frey, aka Patterico, says,
NSAâ??s controversial surveillance program has been ruled unconstitutional by Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, an ideologue Carter-appointed judge who has a documented history of bending the rules to obtain the leftist result.
Patterico notes that Judge Taylor stayed true to form in this case,
…but a limited sampling of reaction from intelligent lawyers across the blogosphere suggests that she did indeed twist the law, as I predicted she would.
Patterico also notes that many intellectually honest legal scholars disagree on the NSA program. However, the reasoning behind the decision appears so weak that it is uniting both sides.
It should be noted that some of the above commenters have expressed strong doubts about the programâ??s legality (like Volokh) or conclusive opinions that it is illegal (like Kerr) â?? yet they are still utterly critical of the courtâ??s reasoning, or lack thereof. The fact that intellectually honest people agree with the result but are so critical of the reasoning is damning indeed.
I’m not a lawyer, but it seems insane to me that we are tying our hands in such a manner, especially in light of what we just learned about the London terror plot, and the critical role intelligence and surveillance played in monitoring, tracking and preventing that massive attack.
From America’s newsman, Brit Hume on the grapevine,
Jimmy Carter Slams Israel’s Attack on Lebanon
Jimmy Carter says he’s concerned that Arab hatred of the United States will only continue to grow given the Bush administration’s support for what he calls Israel’s “unjustified attack” on Lebanese civilians.
Carter tells Germany’s Der Spiegel: “I don’t think Israel has any legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation of Lebanon.”
He adds: “What happened is that Israel is holding almost 10,000 prisoners, so when the militants in Lebanon or in Gaza take one or two soldiers, Israel looks upon this as a justification for an attack on the civilian population of Lebanon and Gaza.”
Jimmy Carter has a long history of cozying up to terrorists and tyrants. He called the 20th century’s greatest terrorist, Yassar Arafat,
“a powerful human symbol and forceful advocate”
In a New York Times column titled “America Can Persuade Israel to Make a Just Peace”, Carter plainly took Arafat’s side and attacked Ariel Sharon. He was essentially arguing that the United States should cut off funding to Israel because they had the nerve to defend themselves.
We have said it before, and we’ll say it again, Jimmy Carter’s record demonstrates that he is a champion of human rights abusers, not human rights.
And to think, like his good friend Yassar Arafat, he too has a Nobel Peace Prize on his mantle.
Our good frined Janet Levy from Jihad Watch sends us this urgent e mail from a Jewish citizen/friend in France who cites numerous incidents of anti-Semitism in France. We should all do whatever we can to raise public awareness of these intolerant/racist acts of physical violence. You won’t find these stories in elite media. You will find them here.
He writes, “I AM A JEW — therefore I am forwarding this to everyone on all my e-mail lists. I will not sit back and do nothing.” Nowhere have the flames of anti-Semitism burned more furiously than in France:
In Lyon, a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire.
In Montpellier, the Jewish religious center was firebombed;
so were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseilles;
so was a Jewish school in Creteil – all recently
A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Moloto v cocktails,
and on the statue of Alfred Dreyfus in Paris, the words “Dirty Jew” were painted.
In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars.
The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months.
According to the Police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti-Jewish incidents PER DAY in the past 30 days. Wake up, world! Walls in Jewish neighborhoods have been defaced with slogans proclaiming “Jews to the gas chambers” and “Death to the Jews.”
A gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher’s shop (and, of course, the butcher) in Toulouse, France;
a Jewish couple in their 20s were beaten up by five men in Villeurbanne, France. The woman was pregnant
a Jewish school was broken into and vandalized in Sarcelles, France. This was in the past week
The one and only Michael Yon joined us last evening to talk about the deterioting situation in Iraq, especially in Baghdad. He also touched on Afghanistan. Michael has been on our show about a dozen times to talk about Iraq. What makes his work so great, so valuable, is that he is agenda free. He gives you the good, the bad and the ugly. Right now, it’s looking pretty ugly.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Hailed as �??Groundbreaking�?� by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston�??s Talk Leader.
Matt from the #1 milblog Blackfive joined us for our weekly collaboration to bring the inspirational, true stories of the men and women that are fighting for us around the world to the radio.
This week we heard the story of Navy Seal Marc Allen Lee.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin & Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “Groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10pm EST on
AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Last evening on Pundit Review Radio it was our pleasure to speak with a remarkable young man, Dylan DeSilva. Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops is a non-profit organization started by then-12 year old Dylan. He wanted to find a way to honor our soldiers for their service, dedication and sacrifices to our country. With the help of his family and friends he sends care packages to our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan on a weekly basis.
Dylan’s organization is holding a Support The Troops rally this coming Sunday, August 20th from 2-5PM at Eldredge Park in Orleans, MA.
Listen to this interview, Dylan is really a special young man.
About Pundit Review Radio
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “Groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening at 7pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Leader.
Professor Richard Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, and a leading critic of the hysteria over global wariming, was our guest last evening. Talk about subject matter experts!
What’s the truth about global warming? Is the hysteria justified or is this more of a political than scientific phenomenon?
About Pundit Review Radio
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “Groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Leader.
Thank you President Reagan for the enormous economic prosperity you ushered into the world with your Economic Recovery Tax Act you signed into law 25 years ago this weekend. The elite big government tax and spend liberals scoffed at your accross the board pro-growth/pro-investment tax cuts labling it as “voo-doo economics” (as our recent guest on our radio show Peter Beinart did in his book “The Good Fight.”) But they were wrong. Thank you for having the wisdom and courage to advance fiscal conservatism President Reagan!
“Reaganomics at 25” in today’s WSJ (subs req)
What did Reagan inherit?
Remember 20% mortgage interest rates? Terms like “stagflation” and “misery index” entered the popular vocabulary, and declinists of various kinds were in the saddle. The perception of American economic weakness encouraged the Soviet empire to ever bolder adventures, as reflected by Soviet tanks in Kabul and Communists on the march in Nicaragua and Africa.
What did Reagan do?
Monetary restraint was needed to break inflation, while cuts in marginal tax rates would restore the incentives to save and invest. With Paul Volcker at the Federal Reserve and Reagan at the White House, those two levers became the essence of the “supply-side” policy mix.
What have the results been?
The results have been better than even some of its supporters hoped. The Dow Jones Industrial Average first broke 1,000 in 1972, but a decade later it was barely above 800 — one of the worst and most enduring bear markets in history. In the 25 years since Reaganomics, however, the Dow has climbed to about 11,000, accounting for an increase in national wealth on the order of $25 trillion. To match that increase in percentage terms, the Dow would have to rise to some 150,000 in the next quarter century. American living standards have risen steadily, and U.S. businesses have created entire industries that didn’t exist a generation ago.
And the “Gipper’s” Supply Side Tax Cuts have not only helped America but have spurred enormous economic growth world wide:
Daniel Mitchell of the Heritage Foundation finds that the average personal income tax rate in the industrialized world is now 43%, versus 67% in 1980. The average top corporate tax rate has fallen to 29% from 48%. This decline in global tax rates has been the economic counterpart to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Most of Eastern Europe has adopted flat tax rates of 25% or lower, and the Russians now have a flat income tax of 13%. In Old Europe, Ireland’s corporate and personal income tax rate cuts have helped generate the swiftest economic growth in the EU.
Thank You President Reagan!