Some answers.
Don't recall your reflections uponSooYoo, the creature of the Cheney Shogunate-or-by-any-other-soubriquet, who: gamed the pseudo-science of The Law (as cynically as the iconic son arrested for killing parents--who then asked for clemency because he was an orphan.) He was asked to define 'torture' -vs- what activities were already in play. He invented some disingenuous rationales; ultimately he rationalized the status-quo. Unarguable Torture ensued, all 'legal-via-his-Imprimatur'. (You have, now on several occasions praised-with-faint-damn similar actions as ~ [his] treatment was excessively harsh.
That UC-Berkeley sees fit to hire this pariah To Teach Law! surely fits somewhere on the as-yet-uncreated, National Corruption Thermometer and I wonder what your thoughts were, upon hearing of this academic Appointment.
There are, I deem (on such a graph) some points on a line (which limns stages of 'corruption') and perhaps a third dimension so as to include Depth and Breadth of 'corruption'.
One of my comments on Yoo is here - http://forum.iwethey...iwt?postid=319951 Yoo was a monster. But if he hadn't written the memos, someone else would have. The result - the "torture memos" - was not in doubt under Bush.
I knew that commenting on Manning's treatment was treading on thin ice - there's no good way to comment on it without it sounding like I'm justifying his treatment. I was trying to summarize what the judge said - http://www.npr.org/b...r-bradley-manning
At a pretrial hearing Tuesday at Fort Meade in Maryland, a military judge ruled that the Army private accused of leaking a mass of classified documents to the website WikiLeaks was subjected to illegal pretrial punishment while being held in a military prison.
Col. Denise Lind found that during the nine months Pfc. Bradley Manning spent in solitary confinement in a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., the treatment he received was "more rigorous than necessary." She credited a total of 112 days toward any prison sentence Manning receives if convicted. (More from The Associated Press here.)
Ashton continues:
And I am sad to have to reveal that, I now have some doubts about your capacity ever to feel/then act-upon justifiable outrage, despite such acts occurring at a rate previously unimaginable: in This (or any sane 1st-World) Country. The huge acceleration Downward followed 9/11-Day immediately! As. If. Already. Outlined. (as was my take when Patriot Act sailed-thru with nary a Complaint from the subsidized Reps!)
Maybe you Can just suck-it-up and patiently await some beneficent phase to emanate--like a Compton-pair from a gamma?
Sorry. I don't see that NSA's activities themselves as being in any way comparable to Yoo's and Bush's trashing of the Geneva Conventions, Habeas Corpus, the 4th Amendment, the abuses in the Patriot Act, etc. I don't view the NSA's activities as being part of some "Deep State" that is repressing us, etc., etc. I just don't.
The NSA's job is to collect information and signals intelligence outside the US. It's been doing it for over 60 years. The trumped-up outrage that they're doing their job under a Democratic President is something that won't make me get out of the boat ( http://www.imdb.com/.../tt0078788/quotes ). YMMV.
The NSA needs robust oversight because of the potential for abuse. As does the FBI, ICE, DEA, and just about any 3-letter initialism you can think of. Too many in Congress aren't doing their jobs on this and too many other issues.
I think Franken's take on this is about right. http://www.huffingto...sa_n_3423413.html
"I can assure you that this isn't about spying on the American people," said Franken, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I have a high level of confidence that this is used ... to protect us, and I know that it has been successful in preventing terrorism."
Franken told WCCO he had been briefed on the controversial program and believed Snowden should be investigated for leaking sensitive documents.
Though he defended the program, Franken is also advocating for increased transparency. He's part of a bipartisan group of senators now pushing a bill to declassify secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance rulings.
The bill, introduced on Tuesday, would declassify legal opinions that have been used to justify the NSA's broad surveillance programs.
FWIW.
HTH a little.
I think I'm about done on this topic.
Cheers,
Scott.