The Constitution grants the president authority to wiretap citizens without court approval?

Waaaal, there was a thing on Public Radio this morning explaining where the cloacal logic comes from. Everybody agrees that the president gets a lot more power when the country is at war; there is a law from 2001 that says "the president can do almost anything he wants to to bring those bad, specifically Sept. 11 terrorists to justice;" and, well, this is a president who stocks his departments with bobble-head dolls, so of course they tell him that anything he does is legal.

OTOH, there's a pretty specific law from the 1970s to the effect that wiretapping in excess of 15 days without a FISA (or other) warrant is a big no-no. And, there is no specifically-declared, Congressionally-approved, officially-official War on right now. (Even the administration admits this, trying to rephrase/rebrand the whole thing every couple of months.) And, just because a bobble-head doll tells you yes is not a reason to go forward.

I think we can safely blame all this on Hoover, if we work at it. I am pretty sure the 1970s FISA law is a direct result of evil crap Hoover pulled like COINTELPRO, so if Hoover had never pulled his crap, Congress would never have reacted and passed a law, and the president could fall back on the "well okay I shat on the spirit of the Constitution, but what letter of it did I break?"

Which, I can think of a couple of letters too, but that would take lawsuits and the Supremes and all manner of delay, whereas "You broke this law right here, buddy" does not require somebody in a bathrobe to extrapolate from generalities.

I'm in the "I like gift cards if you paid attention to where I like to shop." Tower Records, great. Visa use-anywhere, well, I'll spend it, but less great.

And my lawyer instincts won't let me get away without saying: Don't sit too long on those gift cards. Some of them start charging fees if you go too long without using them. (This advice not valid in all locations.)

I love gift cards, especially when they're from Target. Yay Target! I still haven't spent the cards I got for my bridal shower (Fredrick's of Hollywood, Victoria's Secret, Aveda Salon), but all of the Target gift cards got used immediately. Teh Awesome.

My in-laws give me gift cards. I am not that complex or picky, I swear, and I even keep and Amazon wish list with books and music and clothes from Lands' End and simple non-intimidating stuff, so it does feel a bit like they are afraid of me (which I think they are, in a general way, because I have sophistication coming out of my bottom, you know) and/or can't be arsed to make a decision.

My ideal would be that the only people who buy me presents would know me so well that they would pick things that I would never have thought to ask for, but love anyway. The people best at this are my mother, Nutty, and rather less reliably (larger percentages of WTF?) my husband and grandfather.

What would you say if they went to Albany first, instead of contracting with the workers? They're going to Albany anyway. I suspect you'd find legislative approval of the new age limit before union agreement more weaselly.

I suspect you can't actually read my mind.

The city is not in this negotiation. The MTA is a state org.

The mayor appoints board members. The city's involvment is not direct but it's influence exits. Check out the West Side Stadium debacle for a good example.

Oh, also useful (in concept) in cases where I know my brother would absolutely love a thingamasocketplugamprotorgear crankshaft to make his car go faster/louder/make farting sounds, except he's the car person, not me so I'd most certainly buy the wrong thing.

So I paypal-ed (finally got it to work!) him $100 to spend at his favorite online parts dealer and told him I'm going to wrap up his dirty socks under the tree to stand in if the part hasn't arrived by christmas.

they are afraid of me (which I think they are, in a general way, because I have sophistication coming out of my bottom, you know)

Well, that is smellier than normal sophistication, so how can you blame them?

Me and my family are exchanging gifts from our last travels, it seems. Since my sister and I travelled together, I haven't gotten her anything. I feel bad. My mother, it seems, has gotten me a salwar kameez and other clothes, jewelry and a dagger, so it's the best Christmas ever.

OTOH, there's a pretty specific law from the 1970s to the effect that wiretapping in excess of 15 days without a FISA (or other) warrant is a big no-no.

Getting FISA warrants is almost a rubber stamp, so I gotta wonder what the heck are they doing that they won't even go to FISA. OTOH, this administration probably classifies the kind of dog food the first dog gets, so maybe it's just them being paranoid.

I love gift cards. As long as they're for places I frequent. I have this tendency to just buy things as I want them, which is hell on anyone trying to shop for me.

I love gift cards. Part of this is due to the fact that my family rarely knows what to buy me, especially regarding clothes. I'd prefer as elegant, tailored, dark, and timeless as possible. Mom and Sis's idea of Clothes for Calli tend toward pastels, bright florals, and, in one memorable shirt, pastels with bright florals surrounded by gold puffy glitter. There may have been allegedy cute animals involved in some way, too. Or maybe I'm conflating gift flashbacks. Mom says my taste is boring. I say standing in return lines is pretty dull, too.

However, Mom did come through with a long black leather coat last year, so I may have finally convinced her that I'm not Pastel Floral woman.