US Betrays Undercover Spy, again.

In an effort to justify last week's orange alert, the United States apparently blew the cover of an Al-Qaida turncoat. Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan had been captured, but was still allowed to email with his contacts. This allowed the authorities a rare peek inside the organization. That all came to a grinding halt when the United States publicized Khan's arrest last Monday. With Khan's cover blown, Britain and Pakistan were forced to prematurely arrest a dozen terrorists before they could be fully exploited as intelligence sources. Britain and Pakistan are furious. We should be, too. The Administration blew Khan's cover to advance a short-sighted political goal: they were, after all, desperate to show real progress against Al-Qaida. We have a word for this, by the way: compromising state secrets for personal gain is called treason.

One Disappointed Democrat

The most impressive thing about Kerry's selection of Edwards is that the force of JE's charisma (hair?) actually bumped Bill Clinton out of the news cycle. That's no small order--- Bill has been pimping My Life every night this week: Larry King, Jim Lehrer, etc etc... Over a year ago, Clinton famously said that the Democratic party had two stars (not counting himself): Hillary and Wes Clark. The surprise of the primaries was that Clark went from super giant to white dwarf in as much time as it takes to say "endorsed by Michael Moore." Clinton had the numbers right but the stars wrong.

In time for the 4th

In case you were wondering... Title 36, Section 10 of the U.S. Code specifies that the flag shall be flown at half-staff: * Thirty days from the death of the President or a former President; *Ten days from the death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; *From the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and *On the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress.

SCOTUS Upholds ATCA

The Alien Tort Claims Act was passed by the First Congress to combat piracy on the high seas, but since 1980 has found new use as a weapon against human rights abuses and genocide. Around the 1990s, plaintiffs began using the ATCA against corporations, rather than individuals, and ATCA became much more controversial. Opponents of the law, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Justice, believe that the law is overly broad, misapplied, and that it could create a whole host of diplomatic horrors. Supporters contend that the ATCA is a valuable tool to combat human rights abuses. In this context, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday in Sosa v. Alavarez-Machain that foreign nationals could use the Alien Tort Claims Act to sue other foreign defendants in U.S. civil court for violating the "norms of customary international law," although the abuses in Sosa specifically did not meet these standards. The decision validates a number of pending cases, but raises the bar for plaintiffs who must now prove that the defendant violated international human rights laws. In short, the court ruled that "...for the purposes of civil liability, the torturer has become

Jack Out

Now that Jack Ryan has dropped out of the IL Senate Race (if you don't know why, maybe you should... ...ok, ok, his recently unsealed divorce records contained the stunner that he repeatedly asked his ex-wife, hot sci-fi action "actress" Jeri Ryan, to engage in public "acts" during numerous trips to sex clubs in the US and, umm, France. Hey she is an actress, right?) The buzz is that the GOP may ask Patrick Fitzerald, US Attorney, to be Barak Obama's doormat. Fitzgerald is the attorney who just yesterday questioned President Bush in the Oval Office as the lead investigator of the Plame Affair. Quite a week for this guy.

Big Time Potty Mouth

From WaPost: "On Tuesday, Cheney, serving in his role as president of the Senate, appeared in the chamber for a photo session. A chance meeting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, became an argument about Cheney's ties to Halliburton Co., an international energy services corporation, and President Bush's judicial nominees. The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice. "Fuck yourself," said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency." ... Make that a weak, wheezing, somewhat unreliable heartbeat from the Presidency. Unfortunately, no press accout I have read thusfar gives Leahy's reaction--- which in my book is an essential part of the story.