Day: January 18, 2006

ACLU to Argue ‘Chilling Effect’ of Domestic Spying

Trish

Sign me up: Slate reports the ACLU ‘s strategy in suing the government for spying on us.

[The ACLU] filed suit against the National Security Agency with a collection of litigants that reads like the guest list of an Arianna Huffington dinner party.

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union…filed suit against the National Security Agency with a collection of litigants that reads like the guest list of an Arianna Huffington dinner party.

Begin with Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens, an Iraq war booster who holds the distinction of being the only person to condemn both Mother Teresa as a fraud and Henry Kissinger as a war criminal. Then add Larry Diamond, a Stanford academic who advised the Bush administration on democratization in Iraq, and James Bamford, an Iraq war opponent who has written extensively about the National Security Agency. Tara McKelvey, a writer on military torture for the American Prospect, makes an appearance, as does Barnett Rubin, a New York University professor who advised the United Nations on the formation of a new Afghan government. And for good measure, the litigants also include Greenpeace, an activist environmental group, as well as several other lawyers.

The glue that binds this motley crew of pundits, scholars and activists was a legal theory that the ACLU hopes will convince federal courts to declare the wiretap program unconstitutional…they argued the mere disclosure of the hitherto secret program has had a “chilling effect” on the plaintiff’s willingness to communicate openly on international phone and data lines, violating their privacy and First Amendment rights.

I can dig it. The last time I checked out a book on Islam was shortly after 9/11 and before I realized the full sweep of the Patriot Act. But I’m not sure the “chilling effect” argument works here.

The fourth amendment, as we know, is the one that any potential Supreme Court nominee has to believe carries no promise of a right to privacy. The wording is this:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I’m not sure that says you have to be able to feel O.K. about who you talk to, and if you find out you should worry about who you talk to (or what books you check out, for that matter), then you don’t have freedom of speech. I don’t know if it says it, but we all know that’s how it works. The challenge will be winning a Supreme Court appeal on this basis. After all, Alito will probably be on the bench by then, and he already denies that Americans have a right to privacy.

How the Headlines Didn’t Read: ‘New Jersey Racist Nominated to Supreme Court’

Trish

Just asking: The question, of which I never tire (just ask my cousin Jon) is, “Why do people only see racism in the south?” When it crops up elsewhere, or is manifested by somebody from elsewhere, it’s not called racism.

Had he been a member of the Concerned Alumni of Auburn,* a group dedicated to keeping Auburn University free of blacks, women, and Latinos, would there be more outrage?

Take the case of one Samuel “Conservative Not Racist” Alito. Had he been a member of the Concerned Alumni of Auburn,* a group dedicated to keeping Auburn University free of blacks, women, and Latinos, would there be more outrage? As it is, not many people are concerned about Alito’s concern for Princeton. After all, it just shows he’s a conservative. Nothing wrong with that.

At least columnist DeWayne Wickham is paying attention.

In 1985, when he applied for a job in the Reagan administration’s Justice Department, Alito burnished his conservative credentials by touting his membership in CAP: “I am a member of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy … and a member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton University, a conservative alumni group.”

…When questioned about CAP’s opposition to the enrollment of women in the once all-male university and an article in its magazine that complained that blacks and Hispanics “don’t seem to know their place” in this country, Alito distanced himself from such talk. Alito said he joined CAP because he objected to a school policy that banned the ROTC, even though that decision was reversed in 1972.

“I am and always have been a conservative and an adherent to the same philosophical views that I believe are central to this administration,” Alito boasted in his application. He was talking about the presidency of Ronald Reagan, who launched his 1980 campaign for the White House in Philadelphia, Miss., with a speech in which he declared his support for states’ rights…

Ah ha! I knew sooner or later, we’d get back down south, where everyone feels noble calling a racist a racist. […]

Dems Ask Bush to Explain Abramoff Ties, Influence

Buck Banks

Feet to the fire: Top Dems, including Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Richard Durbin, Senate Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer and Senate Democratic Conference Secretary Debbie Stabenow sent George Bush a letter yesterday, and it was not an early Valentine.

The letter asks the prez to explain the nature of the quid pro quo between his administration and super-crook Jack Abramoff. It questions not only the influence deals covered already in the press, but asks bluntly how deep Bush’s hand went into Abramoff’s pocket and how many strings were attached.

It’s good to see the Democratic Party jumping on this scandal and making political hay with it. Read the whole letter here.

Thanks to Susan S. for the tip

Jeb’s Privatization Dream is a Nightmare for Florida Employees

Trish

Florida saved a nickel per page by axing state workers and contracting instead with Convergys to scan and digitize government employee personnel files. The price tag for offshoring that task — and spreading around social security and bank account numbers — could be considerably higher. Tallahassee Democrat:

People First employees were able to leaf through personnel files for their own amusement, download data to disks, e-mail it or print it out – often without leaving a computer trail.

Lawyers for state employees urged Attorney General Charlie Crist’s office Tuesday to make Convergys warn tens of thousands of state workers that their confidential personnel data – including Social Security and bank-routing numbers – may have been illegally sent to computer companies in India, China and Barbados.

A lawsuit is in the works, for among other things, failing to notify the affected employees so they could try to protect themselves from fraud and identity theft. But it gets even better. Looking for something to read in the break room? How about my personnel file?

GDXdata has said it will vigorously defend against the suit, which was reported Dec. 25 by the Tallahassee Democrat. On the same day, the newspaper separately reported on an investigation by Department of Management Services Inspector General Steve Rumph, who said People First employees were able to leaf through personnel files for their own amusement, download data to disks, e-mail it or print it out – often without leaving a computer trail.

People First is Gov. Jeb Bush’s biggest privatization project – a $350 million, nine-year contract for Convergys to provide online personnel services. The system has been haunted by big and small glitches for three years, but the Department of Management Services has recently said it is running much better.

“This is why privatization is a failed experiment,” Gonzalez said. “Ultimately, when you’re trying to get accountability, you can’t get anybody to take responsibility.”

Crist, who is running as a Republican candidate for governor this year, doesn’t seem anxious to get involved but his deputy AG, Clay Roberts, says he’s a victim too.

“My boss was among those people who, according to one of the news articles, had employees looking up things in his file for grins.”

Most state employees haven’t forgotten that when Jeb was sworn in, he surveyed all over which he now had dominion and proclaimed his greatest wish was that there was no government in Florida to run. You’re doing a heckuva job there, Jebby.

CNN to Launch New Conservative Talk Show

Buck Banks

Another talking bobblehead: According to Variety, CNN’s Headline News division has hired conservative radio talk-show host Glenn Beck to host an hour-long primetime program beginning in April.

While the network is counting on Beck to lure tube drones from Bill O’Reilly and Joe Scarborough, his style is supposed to be less rabid than those two dogs.

“Glenn’s style is self-deprecating, cordial; he says he’d like to be able to disagree with guests and part as friends. It’s conversational, not confrontational,” said HLN’s Ken Jautz.

Beck apparently already has a huge following. Variety noted he is tied for eighth with a national radio audience of 2.75 million, according to “Talkers” magazine. More importantly, however, Beck is third in the 25-54 demo (advertisers’ fave demo), according to Arbitron, behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

“We didn’t look for a conservative, a liberal or anyone of a particular ideology. It was about getting the best talent that would resonate with the most viewers,” Jautz said.

Texas GOP-Run Government Hires Former Abramoff Associate to Lobby Congress

Jon Ponder

Republican hubris:The state of Texas, which is controlled and completely dominated by the Republican Party, has hired a former associate of disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff to lobby the U.S. Congress, acording to the Houston Chronicle – via Buzzflash:

Todd Boulanger, who once worked closely with confessed influence peddler Jack Abramoff, now heads a group lobbying Congress for Texas under a $330,000 state contract.

Boulanger and his firm, Cassidy & Associates, were hired by the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations under a contract approved by Gov. Rick Perry, House Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

This is the second time the state has hired as a congressional lobbyist someone with connections to the lobbying controversies surrounding former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.

The state’s Washington office previously had hired former DeLay chief of staff Drew Maloney, the Houston Chronicle first reported last year. Maloney has not been connected to Abramoff’s activities, but he was a key figure in 2002 fundraising that brought DeLay a reprimand from the House Ethics Committee.

“It’s cronyism at its worst,” said Texas House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jim Dunnam of Waco. “All these guys are connected to one another.”

The combined Boulanger and Maloney lobby contracts will have cost Texas taxpayers $1.1 million by the time they expire on Aug. 31, 2007.