they seek oppressive powers

* emptywheel:

"What I like about Judge Walton is he's a terrible poker player. Thus far, he has telegraphed every decision he has had to make in Libby's trial.

* today i learnt a new word: inapposite: of an inappropriate or misapplied nature

* does GWB have a voice coach? it's incredible how much he yells, toughly. every line. let's hope his larynx explodes. i just heard him yell "I WISH I COULD REPORT THAT THERE ISN'T A WAR. BUT THERE IS." (I'm not sure if I heard him on the TV, or across the ocean) Perhaps he could just ask his sound technicians to turn up the volume. (which reminds me of that steven wright joke where he deadpans 'I watched the Indy500 the other day. man - are those guys in a hurry! perhaps they should all just leave half an hour earlier')

* Glenn:

"Of all the despicable and contempt-producing acts we've witnessed over the last five years, I think that the absolute lowest -- and it is hard to choose -- is the continuous insistence from the administration and its followers that things have been going oh-so-well in Iraq, all because they were afraid of the political consequences of telling the truth or acknowledging their errors. They were so personally invested in the success of the war that they preferred to perpetuate a disaster, a true atrocity, rather than face up to the fact that this war was a grave mistake and is failing.

As a result, we have stayed in Iraq, changed nothing, and have completely destroyed that country, plunging it into chaos and violence so severe that nobody can even theorize how it might end. The war has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and we have no way out. The level of deceit and indifference from those who continued to claim that things were going well there long after there was any reasonable ground for believing that -- all to protect themselves politically -- is so criminal and soul-less that it is hard to put into words."

* glenn:

"One of the tricks which all governments use when they seek oppressive powers is to justify the power by first using it against particularly reviled individuals, so that hatred for the individual drives people to endorse the power being used against them. When the Bush administration wanted to obtain the power of unlawful detention of U.S. citizens, they first vigorously branded Jose Padilla as the "Dirty Bomber" so that everyone would focus on the evil of Padilla and therefore acquiesce to the powers to be used against him (who would oppose the detention of someone who wants to detonate radiological bombs in our cities?). When the Bush administration wants to justify torture or infinite detention or warrantless eavesdropping or black prisons, it does so by hyping on the evil of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (who would oppose detention and surveillance of the 9/11 mastermind?)."