Archives, eh
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# Prove it
Reasonably sure my remarks about David Hicks are enough to inform the non-casual reader as to what I might think about the move by Kevin Andres to revoke a visa for the sake of locking up a terror suspect who had made bail.
In case it isn’t, it basically goes like this. The letter of the law may very well give the Minister the power to revoke a visa based on character issues, but without some standard of proof being applied what the Minister has done – in this case and potentially in the future – smells suspiciously like executive rule.
Not tyranny or totalitarianism as suggested by some of the more excitable blogs I read i, just a member of the Executive deciding – based on advise from the Federal Police and the civil service – using a power for which there is no functional oversight – I suppose the PM could overrule him – and for which he can provide no proof to back his usage.
Is it too much to ask that that the Minister be able to respond coherently when asked to “prove it”?
Recklessly provided material assistance to terrorists? Prove it.
Associated in some meaningful manner with terrorists? Prove it.
Not of good character? Prove it.
A flight risk? Prove it.
Actually, that last one is a trick – the Federal Police already failed to prove that one.
i I think it is fair to say that if Kevin Andrews is the face of totalitarianism then it will be a lot blander than we all expected. And am I the only one to be unsure whether or not he is a Muppet?
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# It goes dumb ditty dumb dumb dumb
In April 2005, Gonzales testified before the Senate that “there has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse” as a consequence of expanded FBI powers under the Patriot Act. We now learn that at the time, he was in possession of at least six FBI reports detailing unlawful surveillance, searches, and improper use of national security letters.
The more fantastic defense, however, comes from other Justice officials who “could not immediately determine whether Gonzales read any of the FBI reports in 2005 and 2006.” That is to say, perhaps Gonzales did not perjure himself because he may not have bothered to read the reports in the first place…
Dahlia Lithwick, the coolest lawyer in the world.
Hold on a moment; I’m sure I know this song. Oh, oh it’s on the tip of my tongue. I can even see the guys who sang it, some glam act in the seventies it must be cause the lead guy is wearing fishnets.
Ooh, don’t you hate it when it just won’t come to you?
