Random Monday Morning Links

Radley Balko | December 22, 2008

• Vice President Cheney says that if the president does it during wartime, "as a general proposition," it's legal. And of course, we're currently in a "war on terror" defined broadly enough to ensure it'll go on in perpetuity.
• A cool $1.6 billion of federal bailout money thus far has gone to pay the salaries, bonuses, and perks for the executives who put the banks in the position of begging for a bailout in the first place.
• Schadenfreude: The Oregon prosecutor who made national headlines last year by charging two seventh-grade boys with felony sex abuse for swatting the behinds of their female classmates now faces assault charges of her own. She allegedly punched her husband in the face.
• In Afghanistan: "As U.S. coalition tries to stamp out opium, farmers turning to pot."
• Passenger Twitters this weekend's scary plane crash in Denver. Best tweet: "You have your wits scared out of you, drag your butt out of a flaming ball of wreckage and you can’t even get a vodka-tonic. Boo"
• American Express cuts customer's credit line because, "Other customers who have used their card at establishments where you recently shopped have a poor repayment history with American Express."