A Few Post Worth Reading

Click over and check them out.

Firestarter5 has a no so gentle reminder of how good we still have it.


The next political distraction coming from the Republicans is considered at The Middle Earth Journal


Sacraments Wholesale notes the current absurdity where the government lacks the necessary security clearance to investigate itself.


A look at Ann Coulter's latest barge of lies, with Badtux the Snarky Penguin

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Blogs

Republican Corruption Roundup, Friday Edition

House Appropriations Committee chairman, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Ca., no, not that Jerry Lewis), one time friend of Duke Cunningham (R-convicted) is now being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

and Ernie Fletcher (R), Governor of Kentucky has been indicted for conspiracy, official misconduct and violating a prohibition against political discrimination. Others have also been Indicted in the case, but Gov. Fletcher has issued a blanked pardon in their cases.

Stay tuned, the day is young, who can say how many more Republicans may be exposed.

Click here to return to main page

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Republican Culture of Corruption

29%

I never thought we would ever see numbers this bad.

President Bush's job-approval rating has fallen to its lowest mark of his presidency, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. Of 1,003 U.S. adults surveyed in a telephone poll, 29% think Mr. Bush is doing an 'excellent or pretty good' job as president

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert







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Bush

Spying on EVERYONE

So, that is Bush's 'terrorist surveillance program'. He has ordered the tracking of every one of the phone calls that everyone in the nation makes.

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth

{snip}

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans, most of whom aren't suspected of any crime.

{snip}

For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made "across town or across the country" to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.

That sure sounds like a domestic spying program;

unless Bush thinks of it this way;

Every American is a terrorist.

In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. "In other words," Bush explained, "one end of the communication must be outside the United States."

As a result, domestic call records 'those of calls that originate and terminate within U.S. borders' were believed to be private.

Sources, however, say that is not the case. With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans.

And of course, as would be expected, Bush has been lying about this since his law breaking was first exposed.

He is the most corrupt, most dangerous President, this nation has even seen.


UPDATE, from Daily Kos

"Our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qaida and their known affiliates," Bush said. "We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans."

Um, Mr. President, you may want to check with your nominee, General Hayden:

I have met personally with prominent corporate executive officers. (One senior executive confided that the data management needs we outlined to him were larger than any he had previously seen). [...] And last week we cemented a deal with another corporate giant to jointly develop a system to mine data that helps us learn about our targets.

So, either the President is lying, or his nominee is a perjurer. Take your pick, Mr. President. We're waiting.


UPDATE 2
Even some of the rubber stamp Republicans in Congress seem very unhappy about this development.

touched off a bipartisan uproar against a politically weakened President Bush. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) vowed to haul telephone companies before his committee under oath to ferret out details the Bush administration refuses to supply, and more than 50 House Democrats signed a letter demanding a criminal investigation by a special counsel.

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Domestic Spying George Bush

Even Some On The Right

Can now see some the dangers that the Bush administration represents.

the Bush administration has simply gotten that bad and that, according to some polls, we are almost at the point where most genuine conservatives realize it.

His base is eroding and leveing him. The independents and the left have no use for him. All he has left are the culture war conservatives, and the neo-con imperialist.

So that is who he will pander to this summer, we should see lots of talks about gays, tax cuts and the war on terror, that is all he has left.




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Bush Administration

1,100 Dead

Last month, in Baghdad alone, the civil war killed 1,100 Iraqis.

President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday that nearly 1,100 bodies were found in Baghdad last month, the victims of executions, and urged Iraq's feuding factions to unite against surging crime and terrorism.

Talabani said in a statement that the 1,091 bodies found in the Baghdad area in April were the tip of the iceberg.

(emphasis mine)

That is the key, the 1,091 are those found in just one city. There were others killed from Basra, to Kikirk.

What a wonderful think we have done to the people of Iraq, I pray they will one day forgive us.

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Iraq

If You Want To Block Something

Address the demand.

The reason the war on drugs is on going, and may be an eternal fight, is we do little to address the demand. As long as their is a population who will pay, and pay well, for the drugs, there will be another segment of the population who are willing to take the risk to make the profit in selling drugs.

The same applies to the current illegal immigration debate.

building a wall will not work, refusing drivers licenses, medical care, access to education or any of the direct attacks on those who are here will not work. Only by removing the economic incentive will you start to slow the flow of labor across the US borders.

And, it appears that our nation is starting to try to do this.

Federal authorities announced the arrests yesterday of four construction supervisors and 76 illegal immigrants at a Kentucky home-building company, continuing a promised government crackdown on employers that rely on illegal labor.

The arrests at Fischer Homes, a leading builder in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, followed the April 19 arrests of seven current and former managers and more than 1,100 workers for Ifco Systems North America Inc., a subsidiary of a Dutch manufacturer of plastic crates and wooden pallets.

Of course, you do have to ask, why now.

From 1999 to 2004, the number of criminal employer cases referred for prosecution by the federal government fell from 182 to four, and the amount of fines collected dropped from $3.7 million to $212,000, according to a congressional report.

during Bush's first term in office we stopped enforcement of the law. Only now, when the debate is hot, do we see new attempts to uphold current law. If we had been doing this for the last 4 years there can be little doubt that the current immigration debate would be vastly different.

If there were no companies willing to hire illegals, if there were no executives conspiring to find low wage workers from other nations, if there were no jobs to be had in the US, there would be no incentive for the vast majority to try to come to this country.

Don't attack those who are just following the American dream, they are just trying to improve their families lives. Go after those who are looking for the cheap labor that these workers represent.

I would be very interesting to see where the immigration issue stood after a few years of aggressive enforcement at the management level. By destroying the demand, we may also end the debate.

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Immigration

The Party For America's Super Rich (The GOP)

Have agreed to run up the national debt by another $70,000,000,000.00, and give the vast majority of that money to the very very very rich.

The top tenth of 1 percent, whose average income is $5.3 million, would save an average of $82,415. Those in the top group would see their tax bill cut 4.8 percent, while Americans at the center of the income distribution — the middle fifth of taxpayers, who will earn an average of $36,000 this year — could expect a 0.4 percent reduction in their tax bill, or about $20.

Those who make less than $75,000 — which includes about 75 percent of all taxpayers — would save, at most, $110 each. Those making more than $1 million would save, on average, almost $42,000.

And our children and our grand children and our great grand children get stuck with the bill.


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Tax Policy

Does Anyone Wonder Why

All the accounting 'errors' that keep occurring at the large companies, seem to benefit the executives and their stock options.

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Fannie Mae

The Election Is Getting Closer

So, the talk of bringing troops home gets louder.

The Iraq deployment of the Army's 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division in Germany 'will not begin its deployment for Iraq in early May, as scheduled,' Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman announced Monday.

The 3,500 troops, who are based in Schweinfurt, were supposed to begin the deployment this week, starting with moving the brigade's heavy equipment toward the Middle East by rail, Whitman said.

Instead, the unit's deployment is 'on hold,' Whitman told Pentagon reporters.

If this is not politically motivated, it is great news. But it's timing, like the weekly security alerts of 2004, makes it appear that politics is at least part of the equation.

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Iraq

Blogger Is Unhappy

And not really workable. Since you get what you pay for, and I pay nothing, I will have to live with it.

But, I don't expect to do much real posting till it is working again.


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Blog

Ney (R-Oh), One Step Closer

to his perp-walk, a former aid has taken a plea.

A former top aide to Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney pleaded guilty on Monday and agreed to cooperate in the corruption and influence-peddling investigation involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Ney's former chief of staff, Neil Volz, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and to violating the one-year ban on lobbying after leaving Ney's office in 2002 and joining Abramoff's lobbying firm.

"Guilty, your honor," Volz told U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle.

Maybe these guys can all share one very large cell.


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Ney Abramoff Republican Culture of Corruption

Now, Thats Power

The London press is speculating that George Bush was one of those behind Tony Blair's ousting of Jack Straw as Foreign Secretary.

Two London papers have speculated this weekend that complaints by President George W. Bush forced a British minister from his post because of his opposition to the use of nuclear force against Iran.

The Independent suggests that a phone call from the U.S. president to British Prime Minister Tony Blair led to the removal of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Friday.

The newspaper reports that friends of Straw believe Mr. Bush was extremely upset when Straw pronounced any use of nuclear weapons against Iran "nuts."

Both The Independent and the Guardian write that Straw's "fate was sealed" after a White House phone call to Blair.

I suspect that the 'fate was sealed' part is rather important. It would seem that another nation would not have the power to force the removal of a senior official, but if that same official's neck was already on the block and his removal would make others happy, then, off with his head.

It is clear that the UK media still dose not consider Tony Blair to be out from under the control of Bush, but lets face it, George's power is now so diminished that even some in the GOP are getting quite vocal in resisting his ideas.


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Jack Straw Tony Blair

Remember, We Put These People In Charge

A large man dressed in military fatigues, boots and cap approaches from behind and covers her mouth with his left hand. In his right hand, he clutches a large knife with a black handle and an 8in blade. He proceeds to cut her throat from the middle, slicing from side to side.

Her cries Ah, ah, ah can be heard above the 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) intoned by the holder of the mobile phone.

Even then, there is no quick release for Bahjat. Her executioner suddenly stands up, his job only half done. A second man in a dark T-shirt and camouflage trousers places his right khaki boot on her abdomen and pushes down hard eight times, forcing a rush of blood from her wounds as she moves her head from right to left.

Only now does the executioner return to finish the task. He hacks off her head and drops it to the ground, then picks it up again and perches it on her bare chest so that it faces the film-maker in a grotesque parody of one of her pieces to camera.

The London Times has a report of the murder of Atwar Bahjat, at, it appears, the hands of a Iraqi Death Squad. Or, she could have been killed by insurgents trying to make it look like a government death squad.

In the end who did it matters little. Did she care if it was agents of the government, or those fighting the government? She suffered greatly, and is now dead.

There is a lesson that we have to remember from this. We are the nation responsible for creating the environment where this could happen, for that we bear some responsibility.

The fact that the current Iraqi government is running torture centers, using death squads and extrajudicial executions is not being disputed. So, Atwar Bahjat's murder is at least symbolic of one of the results of our decision to invade Iraq.

A murder that was created by our actions. A vivid example of what is happening every day, ten, twenty, or more times a day, to people we will never hear about.

All because a few men in DC wanted this war.


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Atwar Bahjat Iraq

In The Middle Of Iraq

The song remains the same.

A number of car bomb attacks have killed at least 14 people in Baghdad and Iraq's holy city of Karbala.

{snip}

Baghdad police also said they had found the bullet-riddled bodies of 43 men killed in apparent sectarian attacks.

In addition, the Iraqis are still seeing the daily murders, kidnappings, and random unreported violence that is now considered normal.

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Iraq

And The South Of Iraq Is Considered Stable

Just another sign of just how bad things really are in Iraq.

Al-Basra, the home of the British forces in Iraq, is also considered one of the more stable and peaceful regions of the country. An area where local rule is advancing, and the hatred of the occupation forces is not as pronounced.

One little helicopter crash has vividly exposed this little lie.

Bloddy battles were fought on the streets of Basra last night after a British helicopter crashed in the city, reportedly killing four airmen and drawing an Iraqi crowd shouting 'Victory to the Mahdi army'.

At least three British army vehicles were set on fire as the crowd hurled petrol bombs at troops trying to reach the blazing wreckage. Iraqi police officials believed the aircraft had been brought down by a shoulder-fired missile. Four charred bodies were seen inside it, reports said.

In the ensuing fighting, unconfirmed reports suggested that four Iraqis - some of them bystanders and thought to include a child - had also been killed. Soldiers fired three live rounds as they moved to seal off the area. A curfew was imposed from 8pm local time in a bid to restore calm.

Outside of the Kurdish areas (where war with Turkey and Iran are the new topics), the loathing of the occupation forces is palatable. Even the calm and safe regions can explode with no notice. This adventure is a failure, and the only question left is how great a failure will it ultimately be.

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Basra Iraq

Traveling Today

500 miles, and 14 hours away from about everything.

Visit some of the links on the right and check back later


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blog

A Few Good Reads For Your Friday

Jump over and check them out.

Seeding Spartanburg takes a look at how some of the right respond to sex education.


The rantings of Rabbi Aryeh Spero are the focus of Outside The Tent.


Oliver Willis makes a very good point about the Zarqawi blooper video being peddled by the US army.



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Blogs

Goss Is Out At The CIA

after an 18 month run.

I wonder if the his just more deck chair relocation by Bolten, or could it be, at least in part, inspired by the current prostitute for votes investigation triggered by the latest developments in the Duke Cunningham (R-Ca, convicted) affair.

No notice, no replacement, and no real reason for quiting, makes one suspect that something nasty has to be involved.

Update

I am not the only one who thinks the hookers might be involved, over at Firedoglake, the 'Fornigate' angle is getting a lot of speculation. It is also noted at talking points memo. Think Progress details some of the links

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Goss CIA

As Colbert Would Say

He is rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.

May 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair undertook the biggest overhaul of his Cabinet since he entered office in 1997 after the ruling Labour Party suffered defeats to the Conservative opposition in English local elections.

Blair's departure is will be the next major move, and it may not be far away.


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Tony Blair

3 More Killed

Another roadside bomb.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers in Iraq on Friday, the military said. The explosion hit their vehicle in a U.S. convoy at about 11:45 a.m. in Babil province south of Baghdad, the U.S. command said.

The bad decisions and outright lies of the neocon elite are now being paid by with the blood of everyday Americans. While those who promoted this war are left unharmed, richer, more powerful, and unrepentant.



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Iraq

Just Another Day In Paradise

Two US troops have died, a suicide bomber attacked a Baghdad courthouse, killing at least 10, and fighting continues in Ramadi.

In addition, a senior Iraqi officer was killed in a drive by shooting, and more tortured bodies have been found around the capital.

Isn't US imposed democracy wonderful.

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Iraq

Moussaoui Gets Life

and one last chance on stage.

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Zacarias Moussaoui will have just one more chance to taunt the United States, when a federal judge on Thursday formally sentences the al Qaeda terrorist to spend the rest of his natural life alone in a tiny prison cell.

I hope that I never have hear his name again.



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Moussaoui

It Is Amazing

What you can buy these days for a few hundred thousand dollars.

It appears that Jack Abramoff was able to buy daily access to the Bush administration.

Abramoff was a $100,000 fundraiser for Bush [in 2000] and lobbying records obtained by the AP show his lobbying team logged nearly 200 meetings with the administration during its first 10 months in office

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Jack Abramoff Republican Culture of Corruption

Suicide Bombers Return

Today one killed at least fifteen in Falluja. They went after a traditional target, a police recruiting line.

While this may get the most notice, it isn't the important news from Iraq. The important news is in the last couple of days over thirty tortured and executed Iraqis have been found in Baghdad.

Fourteen male bodies with bullet holes and showing signs of torture were found in Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.

The corpses, also blindfolded and bound, were found in the capitol's Shaab district. All the bodies were those of men between the ages of about 20 and 30, the police said.

A clear sign that the death squads are still operating. This indicates that the wider sectarian battle is still growing, and that aspects of the Iraq government are still involved in murder.

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Iraq

An excellent Reason To Never Vote For A Candidate

If they support the teaching of (not so) Intelligent Design.

It appears that Henry Jordan (Republican, running for Lt. Gov.) will not be getting my vote.

Why?

Aside from indicating a general lack of knowledge about science, his support of (not so) Intelligent Design indicates a mindset that is dangerous to the state and not fit for a position of leadership.

By denouncing established science and embracing (not so) Intelligent Design, Dr. Jordan has also shown that he is, at his core, a creationist. His refusal to accept evidence based on fact, and instead allow his feeling and opinions to override scientific truth, indicate a major personal deficiency.

It is a childlike denial.

My four year wants their world to be just so. They create a reality that fits their understanding and desires. A world where baby chicks talk, night trains are monsters, and ice cream treats are an excellent dinner. The four year old wants it to be this way, so for him, it is. His parents know that chicks don't talk, that trains are just trains, and that ice cream is a treat, not the core of a solid diet, and work to change his understanding of the world to accept this.

Henry Jordan, on this issue, is like a four year old. He wants it to be just so, so for him it is, and facts and evidence will not change this. Not only is Dr. Jordan advocating teaching (not so) Intelligent Design, he is actually denouncing science.

I mean you've got to be stupid to believe in evolution, I mean really

He has made up is mind, and no amount of facts and data will sway him otherwise. Is this the type of person we want making decisions about our government? A person so dogmatic, that they can ignore evidence, rule against science, and override the truth, because they don't like it. Does Dr. Jorden subscribe to the, God said it, I believe it, that settles it mantra? Can a person so entrenched into their own ideas be expected to look at data and make a decision based upon the facts of the case?

And Dr. Jordan, people don't believe in evolution, at least not any more that they believe in Germs, or Gravity, or any other scientific principal. Evolution is, like germs, gravity, and oxidation, a reality.

we believe in thing that require faith, or some form of emotional attachment. You don't need faith or emotional attachment to accept a scientific fact.




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Henry Jordan

And They Still Might Not Be All The Meetings

Bush's White House has been forced to release it's entry logs. This will clearly show how many times everyone's favorite corrupt lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, visited. This administration has long disavowed any ties with Jack, going as far to claim that Bush didn't even know him. This new information may result in a more factual description of the Bush Abramoff relationship.

Now that these records have been forced out into the public's view, the Bush White House is placing a very intriguing caveat on the information:

The Secret Service's records documenting convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's contacts with Bush administration officials may not reveal all such meetings, the White House said Tuesday.

That leads one to ask, what other information is the Bush administration hiding about the relationship between George and Jack.

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Abramoff Bush

This Is Going To Upset The Pro Big-Business Right

Bolivia has nationalized their natural gas production.

President Evo Morales signed on May 1, 2006, the Decree #28701, placing Bolivia's energy industry under state control. Even companies such as the Brazilian Petrobras, the Spanish-Argentine Repsol YPF, France's Total, and even British Gas and British Petroleum were given a six-month deadline to renegotiate their contracts immediately.

It will be interesting to see if some of the rhetoric we are using against Chavez will now be shifted over to attack Morales.

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Bolivia

Ages Ago

Back when I was in college, one year I supported myself by working the graveyard shift at a 24 hour gas station, quick mart.

I was a good job for a student. I worked alone and as a result didn't have many responsibilities. In the 8 hour shift I was expected to make sure the cooler was stocked, the floor got mopped, and I didn't get killed.

After about 1am on most nights there was almost no traffic ( one or two people tops ) and if gave me a lot of time to study for class.

One very unpleasant aspect of the job was everyone who worked for the company was required to take a lie detector test every 3 months. This company has their own little testing room set up in the main office.

When I quit this job at the end of the school year (for real daytime work over the summer), the manager of the company took me into his confidence.

The lie detector was a useless tool for them. They didn't expect to find out liars or thieves by looking at the test data. He said that everyone responded differently, and they didn't even look at the results. They used the lie detector simply to keep the employees in line, in the fear of having to face the machine.

This was 20+ years ago, but lie detector technology hasn't changed much.

That is why I am surprised that both the FBI and the CIA use it so frequently, and trust it so much.

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lie detector

750

The number of laws that 'W' has decided (as the decider) don't apply to him.

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Constitution