Kaiser Soze twins

* noise in the comments:

"Almost every single article I've read about political corruption of late involves two people...Judith Miller and Michael Ledeen. What is the deal? Are they the Kaiser Soze twins?"

lol.

* jack balkin on State Secrets:

"I Could Tell You Why What I'm Doing Is Legal But Then I'd Have To Shoot You": "If the issue were not so grave, the government's arguments would simply be farcical. If the federal judiciary accepts the government's argument to dismiss the case without requiring the government to make somewhat finer grained distinctions about what it can and cannot disclose, it might as well close up shop. The state secrets privilege normally allows the government to refuse to disclose certain information within an ongoing litigation in the interests of national security. Now the Administration is trying to use the privilege to prevent litigation entirely, and, in particular, litigation that accuses the Executive of illegal and unconstitutional activity. Letting the government march into court and shut down inquiries into its possibly illegal actions on its mere say-so creates the worst of bad incentives. If the government can do so in this case, it can and will do the same thing whenever the legality of its actions is challenged in the future, and then we will be well down the road to the destruction of our constitutional system of checks and balances. What is at stake in this case is the principle that the Executive, like all other government servants, is subject to the rule of law."

I must say - all this talk of State Secrets give me at least an inkling of hope that Sibel's case will get some more exposure.