Constitution, schmonstitution

[sspadowsky]

I guess they figure no one will riot in the streets if they leak this evil PATRIOT Act shit in piecemeal fashion. Emphasis below is mine.
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Federal Prosecutor in BALCO Probe Quits

Jan 17, 3:49 PM (ET)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The federal prosecutor who has led the high-profile BALCO steroids investigation announced he's stepping down.

Kevin Ryan, U.S. attorney for California's Northern District, has handled the probe into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the lab at the center of a doping scandal that has touched some of sports' biggest stars.

Ryan, appointed to the post in 2002, did not give a date for his last day on the job.

The BALCO case has resulted in five guilty pleas, and a federal grand jury is investigating whether slugger Barry Bonds perjured himself when he told a 2003 grand jury he hadn't knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs. Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters are facing jail for refusing to tell prosecutors who leaked secret BALCO grand jury testimony to them.

U.S. attorney spokesman Luke Macaulay said Tuesday that Ryan reached a "mutually agreeable decision with Washington" to step down.

Ryan is one of 11 top federal prosecutors who have resigned or announced their resignations since an obscure provision in the USA Patriot Act reauthorization last year enabled the U.S. attorney general to appoint replacements without Senate confirmation.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, complained on the Senate floor Tuesday that the White House is using the provision to oust Ryan and other federal prosecutors and replace them with Republican allies.

"The Bush administration is pushing out U.S. attorneys from across the country under the cloak of secrecy and then appointing indefinite replacements," Feinstein said.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales denied the claim, saying administration officials "in no way politicize these decisions."

Macaulay declined to say whether President Bush had asked Ryan to resign.
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This article was in the Sports section. Ordinarily, I'd be pissed about something like that, but it occurred to me that more people might be inclined to read it then.

[NightOfTheLivingDon]

This article was in the Sports section. Ordinarily, I'd be pissed about something like that, but it occurred to me that more people might be inclined to read it then.

You're too right. One particular Jello Biafra line comes to mind "My news of the world comes from Sports Illustrated." I run a teen center, and these kids could rattle off football stats for the Houston Texans but have no idea who Barack Obama is. The parents are just as bad. It's all Yankees, Jets, or Giants. Not even the NY Rangers. I could take that at least. Being in the sports section means more people will probably exposed to it, but the real problem will most likely illude at least half of those people. They'll be more concerned with whether or not Barry will get put through the ringer. Though I'm being harsh, and I'm not always the most skeptical guard in Troy.

So Al-Go can appoint anyone he wants anytime he wants. I wonder who they're going to appoint to the BALCO case, and if Bush's ties to the Texas Rangers has anything to do with it...conspiracy theories are abound! I love the "no way (we) politicize" quote. In Washington? Politics? Never! We put that provision in there provisionally to provide protection for the prosecuters protecting provisional provisions. All this politicking talk is profoundly preposterous! ...are they gone yet...

Finding something else wrong with the Patriot Act is like hearing fuck in Scarface. It's going to happen again, and it's going to happen soon.

Maybe they'll start using a Bond's style defense. "I found that provision in a fellow Congressman's locker, I just turned it in without really knowing what it was."