U.S. District Judge John D. Bates is a Bush II appointee, and therefore prone to the abuse of his position (and the law) in order to assist his "asshole buddies" (an old Texas expression). OnDec. 9, 2002, for instance, he ruled that Congress lacked the standing to sue Cheneyover access to the records of the latter's energy task force. And in August of 2006,Bates ruled very helpfully that it was okay for the president to sign a bill that had notbeen passed by Congress. (See http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/091, if youthink I'm kidding.)
Thus Bates is what the old-school mobsters liked to call "a stand-up guy." (As of March,2006, moreover, he's been serving on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which should make us all feel terrifyingly secure.)
This dismissal of Plame's lawsuit, then, is no surprise--although it is a major
outrage; and so it has to make you wonder (if you're reasonably patriotic) how much more of this far-right judicial activism We the People will accept.
Link to Associated Press article:
click here
Mark Crispin Miller is a professor of media studies at NYU and the author of numerous books including his most recent "Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them)".
