Perspectives

From the "humorous" political blog Achenblog at www.washingtonpost.com:

Last night we made a pilgrimage to a friend's new house in Georgetown, an elegant manse where I immediately regretted not wearing a blazer and perhaps a jaunty cap. We talked about gay cowboys and closeted movie stars and sex-change operations -- traditional Christmas topics, in other words -- and the conversation eventually turned to impeachment. It's true: People actually talk about impeachment, in the wilds of Inner Georgetown, not just in blogworld. I won't go into great detail about what was said, because it was highly speculative, and because I'm worried that my phone, email accounts and blog are tapped. These people don't mess around. They have secret prisons. They are constantly sending memos to one another with titles like, "The Positive Side of Torture."

Today's front-page Post story indicates that the basic strategy for the domestic spying program is to listen to a tremendous amount of conversations on the off chance that something might be suspicious:

"Sources knowledgeable about the program said there is no way to secure a FISA warrant when the goal is to listen in on a vast array of communications in the hopes of finding something that sounds suspicious....One government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the administration complained bitterly that the FISA process demanded too much: to name a target and give a reason to spy on it."

Yeah, that's due process totally out of control.