The dolt who would be king

I find it sickeningly comforting to receive a more detailed list of the nefarious bullshit the Bush Justice Department was pulling while most of America was busy buying magnetic yellow ribbons and Toby Keith records.

WASHINGTON — The secret legal opinions issued by Bush administration lawyers after the Sept. 11 attacks included assertions that the president could use the nation’s military within the United States to combat terrorism suspects and to conduct raids without obtaining search warrants

That part isn't so surprising, really. The real juicy bits are about halfway down, where we get a little more detail about the October 23, 2001 opinion written by then deputy assistant attorney general John C. Yoo and special counsel to the office, Robert J. Delahunty...

“The law has recognized that force (including deadly force) may be legitimately used in self-defense,” Mr. Yoo and Mr. Delahunty wrote to Mr. Gonzales. Therefore any objections based on the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches are swept away, they said, since any possible privacy offense resulting from such a search is a lesser matter than any injury from deadly force.

The Oct. 23 memorandum also said that “First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully.” It added that “the current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically.”

I'll bypass the easy point that this argument was made by a Justice Dept. we now know was highly politicized on behalf of the party that never passes up a chance to piss on the notion of the federal government being empowered to do anything but bomb brown people.

The real issue here is that this argument is so reactionary and short-sighted that you should all be genuinely frightened to know it was ever taken the least bit seriously in the halls of your government. Given that any terrorism or foreign policy expert worth their weight in salt agrees the next attack is not a matter of "if" but "when," we'd do well to remember how those in power tend to react to any threat to that position.

Point is: protecting the populace and maintaining order are not always the same thing. And while I don't necessarily see the Obama Justice Department reverting to the "England Prevails" approach, I wouldn't put it past them. Do yourself a favor. When Manhattan or Washington or LA are covered in radioactive dust in five or ten years' time, pay some fucking attention.