I'm Back - Judge Vaughn Taylor's Ruling

Sorry for the long absence. It was precipitated by a couple of things. I was very sick for nearly two weeks. But I have also been busy planning another endeavor that I will reveal in a few weeks.

I did want to comment briefly on Judge Vaughn Taylor’s ruling in In Re National Security Agency Telecommunications Records Litigation that President Bush’s electronic eavesdropping without warrants was illegal. The first thing to be said is that the government’s spying on the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. was not merely “illegal” in some benign sense. It was criminally felonious .

The second, and more important thing that needs to be said is, now that a sitting federal judge has determined, in effect, that the Bush administration committed numerous felony offenses, what are we going to do about it?

I anticipate that the answer will ultimately be, “nothing.” And that’s a prospect I find alarming. If we fail to summon the national will to hold our leaders accountable for judicially determined criminally felonious behavior, we are saying that our leaders are not bound by the law. That is about as un American a position as we can take.

Joe H.