"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Saturday, March 24, 2007

The US Attorney Purge

I haven't been writing about this one because a) I've been focusing on other things, and b) Josh Marshall and his crew are doing a bang-up job of covering it over at TPM.

But one thing that came up early on in the story that I don't recall seeing much about since: the provision of the Patriot Act that allows the appointment of US Attorneys without Senate confirmation was reportedly slipped in by a Senate staffer and none of our Senators knew about it. In fact, I seem to remember reading something about it being slipped in after the vote, but I won't vouch for that -- my memory does play tricks sometimes.

So, do you think we have a structural problem here? Staffers drafting and inserting clauses into legislation without legislators' knowledge seems to me to be a real problem. Legislators voting on bills they haven't read is a real problem.

Should be illegal.

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