Four Things

I get the impression that the FBI's moves are less about protecting civil liberties and more about protecting their turf from encroachment.

MS --
Item #1: I guess that falls into the lexicon of politcal oxymoronics.
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Item #2: I hope the person who recovered the documents doesn't go to prison.
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Item #3: I wouldn't bet the farm on anything the AP has to report.
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Item #4: You should have called your post Three Things.

What Andy said

PD's on target again. Justice's response to NYC, purportedly in support of civil liberties, is reminiscent of the dialogue between Otter and Boon: "He can't do that to our pledges. Only we can do that to our pledges.."

Flownover that's funny for this thread. MS having spent the whole election season screaming "All is well!" for the McCain campaign.

P-nnto:
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Thanks. In celebration I propose a quick round of Six Degrees of Michael Scherer– how about MS to John Wayne Gacy in under six moves?

Whatever. I hate Blackberries and iPhones equally.

Item #3:
While we reflect on the appointments as they unfold, it may be important to remember how Obama got the presidency:

1) Obama could have won the elections without a single the Jewish vote - or Florida.

2) Obama did not get a majority of the "white" vote - although he got a majority of the vote of the 10 to 30 year olds.

3) Obama could NOT have won without a majority of the vote from the African-Americans.

4) Obama could not have won without a majority of the Latino vote.
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Also by now, the Obamatons have probably noted the following:
i) We claim that we are committed to ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict - that drains the US tax-payer's coffers by billions of dollars every year (while over 30 millions kids of American starve!).
Yet our team is stuffed with those committed to Israel's supremacy in that conflict - and would, on a Bushite whim, commit our young Americans to die for it - a foreign sovereign.
If Obama were to resolve the conflict between the 'Bloods' gang and the 'Crypts' gang (of Los Angeles, CA), would he start off by stuffing his negotiating team with known ardent members of the 'Bloods' gang?
Who is in charge here?

ii) Lieberman can get away with gleefully stabbing and twisting the knife in the back of flag bearer for two long years and thumbing his nose at the ObamaLand. He did all he could to terrorize us and sabotage our movement. And he exacted his revenge for perceived past grievances.
Now we must NOT go in for retribution. Forget and forgive. And that that is the CHANGE we want, so we are told.
Are we going to forgive bin Laden - or are we going in for double standards and politics as usual?

iii) We are told that the total number of contributors in ObamaLand is about 3 million. We are told that the AVERAGE contribution was less than $100 - which accounts for less than half of over $600 million that that the campaign had to work with. Where did the rest of campaign funding come from?
Are there some super Obamatons that are better than others in this "Animal Farm"?
And are some BIG contributors and lobbyists and PACs ACTUALLY influencing the agenda and appointments working behind the scene? Certainly the unlikely appointment of Rahm Emmanuel (who couldn't possibly have passed the 63-point questionnaire to work in the administration), the saga of the holier-than-Leahy Lieberman and the staffing of the security (policy) area with rabidly bellicose persons raises our suspicions.

Ouch!
If and when my sterling article comes out of moderation, change the sentence to read:
"2) Obama did NOT get a majority of the "white" vote - although he got a majority of the vote of the 18 to 30 year olds."

+1 on what Paul Dirks said.

Anyone who has been even casually watching the Bush administration
knows they do not care about protecting civil liberties.

"...the Bush Justice Department has taken a more cautious approach than police officials, is something of an unexpected twist for an administration that has more often seemed willing to stretch legal boundaries to fight terrorism."

The why has also not been established, unless the Times has another domestic spying "inside story" they haven't yet published. Corrected: "...the Bush Justice Department has taken a different approach than police officials, is something of an unexpected twist for an administration that has more often seemed willing to violate the Fourth Amendment and federal law, ostensibly to fight terrorism."

Nate Silver quotes Michael Scherer's favorite author. Fantastic post, required reading:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/did-talk-radio-kill-conservatism.html

[...] had repeatedly indicated that Brennan — who served all year as Obama’s top adviser for intelligence [...]

[...] had repeatedly indicated that Brennan — who served all year as Obama’s top adviser for intelligence [...]