If you don't read Glenn Greenwald's blog at Salon.com regularly…..I highly recommend doing so. I have been reading Greenwald for a few years. He is a constitutional lawyer with a razor sharp writing style that's easy for laypeople, like me, to follow. Of all print media, Greenwald's blog ranks 9th in a list of the most widely read publications.

This morning Greenwald blogs about yesterday's released Inspector General's report on former president Bush's NSA activities.

If you recall, Bush started a secret and illegal program immediately after 9-11 that he eventually called the "Terrorist Surveillance Program"(TSP). Bush's new program directly violated existing wiretapping laws as set forward in the FISA laws passed in 1978.

Let's review….

Bush's secret and illegal program wiretapping Americans without FISA warrants came up for "renewal" in 2004. That was when the whole late night hospital room visit to then Attorney General, John Ashcroft, took place. Andrew Card and Abu Gonzlaes were dispatched to Ashcroft's room to pressure the heavily medicated AG to sign off on Bush's "programs."

The IG report informs us that it was Bush, himself, who badgered Mrs. Ashcroft on the hospital phone insisting that her husband must meet with Card and Gonzales. The reason for this frantic Soprano-like scene was because acting AG, James Comey, would not sign-off renewing the "programs."

Why not?

Conservative Bushies, James Comey, Jack Goldsmith and eventually, even Ashcroft, himself, threatened to resign rather than sign-off on the renewal of the president's illegal "programs."

From the IG report….

"On March 12, 2004 an interagency working group led by OLC (Office of Legal Counsel) was convened reanalyzing the legality of the PSP. In the days that followed, Goldsmith continued to express doubt that a viable legal rationale could be found for some of the Other Intelligence Activities being conducted under the PSP.

On March 16, 2004 Comey drafted a memorandum to White House Counsel Gonzales setting out his advice to the President. According to the memorandum, Comey advised that DOJ remained unable to find a legal basis to support certain Other Intelligence Activities that had been authorized as part of the program and that such activities should be discontinued immediately."

There's no question here that even loyal Bushies thought the President had violated law.

Here's Gonzales responding on the evening of March 16….

"Your memorandum appears to have been based on a misunderstanding of the President's expectations regarding the conduct of the Department of Justice. While the President was, and remains, interested in any thoughts the DOJ may have on alternative ways to achieve effectively the goals of the activities authorized by the presdiential Authorization of March 11, 2004, the president has addressed definitively for the Executive branch in the Presidential Authorization the interpretation of the law."

You see….Bush didn't care whether his own Justice Department had concluded that the "activities" were illegal and needed to be stopped, "immediately." Bush, alone, had already determined the proper "interpretation" of the law. Bush, through Gonzales, was telling his own supporters in the DOJ to f*ck off…..just sign the renewal like I told you to, nobody asked for your legal opinions.

Even though the illegal wiretapping program was eventually signed off on….the "Other Intelligence Activities" were dropped by Bush. We can only speculate on the nature of these "other", apparently, extremely illegal, "activities." The IG report doesn't tell us anything about them.

Now imagine…loyal conservative Bushies, Comey, Goldsmith, Ashcroft, were willing to resign over the "other activities", rather than sign-off giving their approval.

Just how rogue was the Bush White House?

We'll never know.

As I see it, America, the nation of 300 million, is being held hostage.

It is as if specific and powerful interests have kidnapped the population, placed knives against our collective throats, and then have continually sent ranson notes warning that the kidnappers will slit those throats if the proper authorities do not do exactly as the kidnappers demand.

AIG…

While this morning's "news" is about AIG doling out taxpayer bailout monies to other banks from whom they were taking bookie bets ….here's a piece from one of many ransom notes AIG officials have sent …..

An AIG report to the Treasury Department last month warned that if the government didn't come to its rescue again, its collapse would trigger a "chain reaction of enormous proportion" that would "potentially bankrupt or bring down the entire system" and make it impossible for AIG to repay the billions it already owed the U.S. government.

Four days later, AIG was given $30 billion in federal aid on top of the $130 billion it had already received.

A draft of the report, obtained by ABC News, was marked "strictly confidential." It said, "The failure of AIG would cause turmoil in the U.S. economy and global markets and have multiple and potentially catastrophic unforeseen consequences."

Paraphrasing AIG's kidnapping justification….

'Yeah, we f*cked everything up, we admit that, but if the taxpayers don't give us all the cash we need to pay off our irresponsible gambling debts to all our Big Bank Gambling Buddies, then we can't help it if the nation's collective throat gets slashed. We don't want to do the slashing, but if we don't get the money soon, we have no choice.'

We're being held hostage by huge financial industry giants who are "too big to fail." Huge financial industry players, though totally bankrupt on paper and seemingly powerless, still control the nation. The ransom notes are the evidence.

Foreign policy….

Last week I blogged on the Israeli Lobby's successful 'kidnapping' of American foreign policy interests made manifest in the blackballing of Charles Freeman, named by President Obama to work directly under DNI Director Dennis Blair. Freeman spoke to CNN's Fareed Zakaria yesterday…..

3:35

American foreign policy discussions and decisions, and who is allowed to do the discussing and the deciding, is being held hostage by the extremist right wing Israeli Lobby in America. It's as if the Israeli Lobby in our country has a knife to our collective throats threatening to scream anti-semitism at the top of their lungs if anyone the least bit objective about Israeli policies is allowed to hold an official foreign intelligence position.

The Dick…yesterday….

The Dick, and those who think like the Dick, are still holding the nation for ransom using fear. For 7 years, their ransom note to all of us amounted to….'if we are not permitted to do as we please, including savagery, denying basic rights, extraordinary rendition kidnapping for savage torture purposes, wiretapping Americans at will, establishing secret assassination squads, wars of choice even though fraudulently ginned up, no oversight or accountability of our actions or decisions, and all of this to be done in total secrecy…..if we are not permitted to carry out all these activities…..the nation we're holding hostage, will be harmed, possibly fatally.'

Yesterday, The Dick held up his own ransom note for Obama to read, 'You, President Obama, by your challenging of all of our evil, lying and illegal actions, have made America "less safe."

Schrub and The Dick have been out of power for a couple months, yet they continue to send threatening ransom notes to the nation, and naturally, Village media continue to post those ransom notes.

Media….

In spite of massive public opinion stating opposition to honoring the kidnapping tactics and ransom notes of those mentioned above, (complete with a total rejection in the last election of the tactics used by these same kidnappers)….the Village corporate media has doubled down with their own ransom notes to all of us.

There's the laughable, "average American", Rick Santelli media ransom note, the astonishingly un-self aware "Obama started the fight with lunatic Rush Limbaugh" ransom note, the '2 Republicans for every Democrat' voices heard in the runup to the Obama stimulus bill ransom note, the Obama is doing too much too soon, ransom note, the fashionable 'Obama is a socialist' ransom note that's still circulating…..and on and on I could go.

The corrupt corporate media's ransom note, in real terms, reads like this….

'We know what's best, 300 million Americans do not. Our job is not to investigate and find out what is the truth. Our job is to do the bidding of the most powerful monied interests in our nation. We daily write a "kinder and gentler" ransom note to all of our American captives. We don't want to harm anyone, really, but silly Americans just don't know what they're asking for when they demand that we tell the truth. That's not our role. We can't tell Americans the genuine truth, that would simply be too dangerous.'

The official (whatever that could possibly mean) position of the U.S. government when faced with hostage situations has been to NEVER pay ransom.

Ironically, that's all America ever does.

Consider this post a language-syntax refresher for conservatives.

President Obama today…

"Information will not be withheld just because I say so. It will be withheld because a separate authority believes my request is well grounded in the Constitution. Let me say it as simply as I can, transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency."

Sentences like these are going to be extremely difficult for some conservatives to comprehend. I'm relatively sure that words like…"information will not be withheld just because I say so",…will sound like some foreign language jibberish to certain folks of the minority persuasion. For you see….to conservatives, presidents who don't withhold information aren't really presidents.

Conservatives don't fully recognize the Carter and Clinton presidencies. Never have. To conservatives, presidents are only presidents if they're Republican….and with W., that didn't even hold up. Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes would never in a million years say words like…"information will not be withheld just because we say so." Of course information will be withheld…..what the hell sense is it being president if you can't withhold information and keep lots of secrets? That's why we had Watergate, Iran-Contra and the soon-to-be investigation into the Crawford Cowpoke Gang. All of these GOP presidents withheld information, much of it implicating them in crimes, and did so on just their royal say so.

A word to conservatives here. We'll be patient as you get used to new, foreign-sounding-at-first, phraseology from President Obama.

Here's another….."separate authority". Say it with me…first word, sep-ar-ate….second word, au-thor-i-ty. Not so hard, really. I know, I know….believe me when I say that I know many conservatives whose eyes will glaze over at those two words when used by the president of the United States. Conservatives baptized in the deep waters of 'unitary executive' pools will most likely experience a sort of knee jerk reaction to a president using the words, "separate authority." The reaction will manifest itself in responses like this ….."There is no separate authority to the president. What's he talking about? Our nation is eternally at war and that means that there is no "separate authority"….there is no other authority but the president."

I'm here to help my conservative brethren. See….actually, there is no such thing as a "unitary executive" privilege elevating one man or woman above any and all "other" authorities. Calm down. I realize the word "other" is a more mature word, especially when used in conjunction with the word "authorities"…..but it shouldn't frighten you. It's okay. The Islamofascists won't get you in your bed if you acknowledge that there are, indeed, "other authorities" outside of the presidency.

Also difficult to comprehend will be, "well grounded in the Constitution." The difficulty is understandable in light of George W. Bush's regard for what he so patriotically called, "a goddamn piece of paper." Conservatives, at first shocked to hear about the Constitution, should not seek outside help for the ringing dissonance they encounter when hearing the words "well grounded" or "in the Constitution." Though it will take time, I believe the most drunken conservative kool-aid drinkers out there will, eventually, find that those words are all good.

I saved the most challenging for last. "Rule of law." Repeat it with me, "rule of law." Not so hard if you go slowly. This phrase by the new president will be the most difficult for conservatives, and even some of the zillions of centrists that David Broder keeps telling us are out there, to commit to memory and full understanding.

The president is, in reality, the chief law enforcement officer of the country. He isn't, as many folks have gotten used to, the law MAKER. Hyper down….I know this stuff is frustrating. The Congress MAKES the laws…..the president enforces those laws….and the Supreme Court reviews those laws comparing them to W's "goddam piece of paer", I mean, the Constitution. It's called….brace yourself for this…..separate yet equal powers. Also, most likely, a foreign sounding phrase to those who know for sure that Islamofascists are hiding everywhere in America, as well as counterintuitive to those who insist "everything has changed" since 9-11. In actuality, and please take this in the right way,…..nothing changed.

I think that will be enough for today. Brain drain, and that's what's required now, literally, is very exhausting. But don't forget to commit the new words and phrases to memory. "separate authority", "well grounded in the Constitution", "rule of law." We'll be using those words a lot over the next 8 years.

A new, and evil, mind-virus is raging in America. The virus was contracted first inside the executive branch, the branch of government over the past 8 years that has insisted on "unitary executive" status. The "unitary executive", in short, is an extra-constitutional notion declaring that any and all decisions made by the president for "national security" reasons supercede any and all existing American laws. In actuality, the "unitary" doctrine is simply disgraced president Richard Nixon's, "if the president does it, it's not illegal", sentiment….warmed over in some new petri dish labeled "neo-conservative."

The new virus quickly spread to the media Villagers, a group extremely susceptible to Republican presidential claims of being above the law. These Villagers, then, methodically and faithfully spread the destructive virus on to the American public. Severe outbreaks of this virus have been witnessed recently, intensifying because Villagers aren't sure whether the newly elected president has really contracted the virus, or whether he's immune.

The virus leaves it's victims delirious, unable to tell right from wrong, forgetful that America is a nation of laws, not men. One of the most debilitating symptoms of catching this virus is witnessed in the tortured logic spewing out of the mouths of those inflicted with it…..

In recent weeks, Mr. Bush, Vice President Cheney and other officials have strongly defended their counterterrorism methods and credited them with preventing attacks on the United States since 2001. Their implicit argument — that the Obama administration should not question policies that protected Americans — was made more explicit and personal by Michael V. Hayden, the departing C.I.A. director, in a session with reporters on Thursday.

“If I’m going to go to an officer and say, ‘I’ve got a truth commission, or I want to post all your e-mails, or, well, we’ve got this guy from the bureau who wants to talk to you,’ ” Mr. Hayden said, it would discourage such a C.I.A. officer from taking risks on behalf of the new president’s policies.

“We have no right to ask this guy to bet his kid’s college education on who’s going to win the off-year election,” Mr. Hayden said, alluding to legal fees that such a C.I.A. officer might face.Link

Simply consider…..

A bank employee is told by his manager that his work at a bank will be strictly scrutinized according to bank rules and regulations, as well as state and national laws. The employee's e-mails will be subject to regular review, and he will, from time to time, be required to answer questions about his performance by auditors and/or bank regulators.

The bank employee responds….

"If such scrutiny is part of my job, I will be discouraged from taking the risks I need to take while working to reach the greater policy goals of the bank…..making more profits. I can't place my child's college education fund in jeopardy, which is what I would be doing if I had to constantly worry about what lawyers might accuse me of doing while I'm taking risks for the sake of the bank. Sending or receiving e-mails subject to review could place me in a situation where I might have to defend myself with very expensive lawyers and that would be very discouraging and frustrating. Unworkable, really."

In Michael Hayden's fatally infected mind, and in the fatally infected minds of many stenographic Village workers…..the response by the bank employee in my hypothetical is reasonable, sound, and indisputable.

Truthium tablets are the only known cure….and they're, sadly, in short supply.