"Wings Over Buffalo": John Yoo and Dick Cheney's hilarious sequel to "Canadian Bacon"
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
"Wings Over Buffalo": John Yoo and Dick Cheney's hilarious sequel to "Canadian Bacon"
The idea of American troops invading Canada -- as satired by the late John Candy and his offensive-line mate director Michael Moore in the film "Canadian Bacon" -- was a concept too silly even for good satire. But sending our fighting men and women into the streets of Buffalo, that idea made perfect sense!
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 generally prohibits the military from law enforcement activities within the United States. If armed officers are going to knock on Americans’ doors, or arrest them in the streets, they should answer to civilian authorities.
Despite this bedrock principle, The Times’s Mark Mazzetti and David Johnston reported last week, top Bush administration officials, including (no surprise) Vice President Dick Cheney, argued that the president had the authority to use the military to round up a suspected terrorist cell known as the Lackawanna Six.
Mr. Cheney and others cited a legal memorandum co-written by John C. Yoo (author of the infamous torture memo), which made the baseless claim that the military can go after accused Al Qaeda terrorists on United States soil because it would be a matter of national security, not law enforcement.
I was off for a couple of days when this story first broke, but I come back to it because...I just don't get it. Did Cheney and his posse really think that the FBI and local law enforcement weren't up to the task of arresting these six suspects? (Because clearly, they were.) If not that, what broader point were they trying to make in seeking to use the military for this unconstitutional purpose?
Maybe Yoo will "make sense" of it all in his next Inquirer column. Whatever their goal was, America is a better place because this did not happen.
Love the posts on Cheney and Yoo, Will. ARTs + red meat = many blog hits.— Talking point sleuth
Comment removed.- I think the first dirty bomb was manufactured in 1877, giving rise to this "bedrock" legislation a year later. Solid reporting, Willy.— A Friend
- If you don't need an aspirin or a tylenol afterword it ain't torture. No pain, no pain. Get over it.— valentsgrif
- Comment removed.
- Lemmie state it this way: Yoo is your white whale because he ok'd water boarding, which you feel is torture. I make the observation that pouring water on someone's head or making them wear panties on there head is NOT toruture because it doesn't result in pain, doesn't even require a baby aspirin or a Tylenol afterword, and you take my post down?— valentsgrif
You try to frighten me. Admit so, sir. This is some new form of torture. Say it, Brother Sir.— bird11- Comment removed.
- Classic post, LJL. Top 10 Attytood. All time.— Talking point sleuth
- LJL if military service is an important part of being President/V.P. please regail us with the military records of President Obama and V.P. Biden. (I'll save you time - Obama = none/zero/zilch (but his uncle did serve in WWII) and Biden - 5 deferments the exact same number as Cheney)— bird11
- "Biden received five student draft deferments during this period, with the first coming in late 1963 and the last in early 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War. In April 1968, he was reclassified by the Selective Service System as not available for service due to having had asthma as a teenager. Biden was not a part of the anti-Vietnam War movement; he would later say that at the time he was preoccupied with marriage and law school, and that he "wore sports coats ... not tie-dyed".[— bird11
- Most disingenuous Bird. Military service is not necessary. However, draft dodgers who send 4000 troops to die in a war of choice under false pretenses are hypocrites and, yes, war criminals. Obama had no reason to serve as there was no Vietnam War when he was 18.— mxlplk
- Comment removed.
- LJL if military service is an important part of being President/V.P.....he never said that, why are you making stuff up?— chasing history
- Comment removed.
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
