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February 12, 2003

Vestigial spine discovered on Capitol Hill! So it looks like the Senate provision blocking the “Total Information Awareness” program is actually going to survive the House-Senate conference committee. The telling paragraph in the Times story:
One important factor in the breadth of the opposition is the fact that the research project is headed by Adm. John M. Poindexter. Several members of Congress have said that the admiral was an unwelcome symbol because he had been convicted of lying to Congress about weapons sales to Iran and illegal aid to Nicaraguan rebels, an issue with constitutional ramifications, the Iran-contra affair. The fact that his conviction was later reversed on the ground that he had been given immunity for the testimony in which he lied did not mitigate Congressional opinion, they said.
In other words, it turns out that if you lie to Congress, members of Congress don’t trust you. Interestingly, we’ve become so inured to watching Congress roll over for the Executive Branch that this actually comes as a surprise. Which says quite a lot about how divorced from everyday common sense our politics have, overall, become. [07:32 AM]
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Comments on Vestigial spine discovered on Capitol Hill!:

Stefan Jones ::: (view all by) ::: February 12, 2003, 12:51 PM:

Putting down Poindexter will take more than an act of Congress. Unless he's cornered in a sunlit room with people armed with wooden stakes and Uzis full of silver bullets, he'll slip away and be reassigned to, say, the Cyberspace Neighborhood Watch, or the It Takes a Village Community Mindfullness Program.

Until black Night Watch armbands become available, stock up on TIA logo gear!

http://www.cafeshops.com/totalawareness

Jeff Crook ::: (view all by) ::: February 12, 2003, 01:09 PM:

They don't mind if you lie to Congress. Everyone lies to Congress. Ted Olsen lied to Congress, John Ashcroft lied to Congress, Slappy Thomas lied to Congress. If you are a right-wing wack job with dreams of Armageddon running like a pure black sewer of corruption beneath your every action, you have to lie to Congress.

What matters is getting caught. They don't like people who get caught lying to Congress, as that shows what gullible fools they are. Or, what gullible fools we are for believing they are gullible enough to believe the lies being told to them. Getting caught reveals the little man behind the curtain.