Kevin Drum points out that George Bush has at least five constitutional amendments in the past few years.
I think bloggers can appreciate Bush’s view of the Constitution. Is there an issue that’s hot among the Republican base? Great. Simply hit “Post” and update the Constitution accordingly.
Strangely, I notice that one amendment is missing. Where’s the balanced budget amendment? Remember when that was a winner for Republicans? Those were the days. Can you imagine the GOP trying to balance out tax give aways and pork barrel spending now?
Take Action
The ACLU has a web form you can use to contact Congress and voice your opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Senator Frist is a lost cause, but it sounds like Senator Alexander is leaning against the amendment. Remind him that the Constitution is supposed to protect rights, not take them away.
Sweet Justice
I received a letter from the Attorney General for the State of Tennessee in response to my signing up at this site.
According to the letter, Attorney General Summers is happy to “return value” to us consumers who have been ripped off by CD pricing policies and who opted into the class action lawsuit.
How much value? $13.86.
I know, I know. Don’t spend it all in one place.
Another Victim
This is one reason why they have the Secret Service:
A man yelling “I’m a victim of terrorism” jumped a White House fence and ran across the North Lawn on Wednesday before being caught by Secret Service officers.
The man scaled a fence along Pennsylvania Avenue and ran about halfway across the North Lawn before he was surrounded by uniformed Secret Service officers and led away in handcuffs.
“He is in custody,” said Charles Bopp, a spokesman for the Secret Service. “He was unarmed at the time. We are conducting an investigation.”
A photographer for The Associated Press, who witnessed the incident shortly after 5 p.m. EST, said the man was shouting, “I’m a victim of terrorism and I need the president’s help.”
Not too much detail there. If I was interviewing him, I’d like to find out what he meant. Was he saying he was a victim of terrorists? Or might he be a victim of the government’s response to the terrorists? The fence jumper might have been a suppliant bringing a legitimate grievance about the PATRIOT Act to the president. Probably best to call and make an appointment, though.
D.C. Mystery
Washington’s Metro transit system is gearing up to raise rates for the second time in two years “to help cover a shortfall between its revenue and expenses.”
Why might there be a shortfall between revenue and expenses, you ask? I don’t know. The fact that parking lot attendants have stolen untold millions from the system might have something to do with it.
To add insult to injury, Metro officials are refusing to release the auditor’s report on the thievery because “audits are not public documents.”
Nice.
When Al-Zawahri Speaks
. . . people should listen:
Ayman al-Zawahri, the al-Qaida second-in-command whose voice was heard on audiotapes broadcast this week on Arab television, has made 10 similar public statements in the past six years, five of which were followed within three weeks by deadly terrorist attacks, an NBC News analysis shows.
In two cases, the attacks came within three days of the broadcast of audiotapes or videotapes attributed to al-Zawahri. In both those instances, more than 200 people were killed.
U.S. intelligence officials, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said they cannot definitively link al-Zawahri�s statements to the subsequent attacks. But they said that U.S. security officials take seriously any such pronouncements by Osama bin Laden�s right-hand man and study them for any possible “go signals” they might contain instructing al-Qaida operatives to carry out terrorist attacks.