PRISM - new cross border infringement on privacy

By YLH

As someone who considers himself a great admirer of the US legal system, the American belief in constitutional rights and personal freedoms,  recent developments in the US vis a vis NSA's PRISM has saddened me greatly. I feel shattered, cheated - almost as if I have believed in a lie all these years.  One always suspected that there may be some surveillance but to think that it would be so widespread - worse than fiction (remember Enemy of the State?)- it is just mind blowing.  Remember we are talking of surveillance that goes beyond anything the former Soviet Union was guilty of.  What then of the leader of the free world?

Yasser Latif Hamdani on Obama-Romney Election Race; A Pakistani Perspective

I was asked a few questions earlier by a correspondent of Dawn.com. This being the election morning in the US, I am sharing my responses here:

 1.Why do you think the US election is important for Pakistan?

The US election is important for a very fundamental reason; a reason that is often ignored by our opinion makers in this country. There is a complete variance in how the Democrats and the Republicans approach Pakistan. Having long conflated the interest

s of the "deep state" with those of Pakistan as a country and its people, we seem to think that Republicans are better for Pakistan. However it is the Democrats who are for a more broad-based engagement with Pakistan in terms of cooperation on a strategic level underscoring long term common interests. 

Obama Healthcare and the US Supreme Court: Countdown

Countdown has begun.

Read this very interesting blog from SCOTUS. I reproduce an excerpt:

If the Court does decide to decide, it has four issues before it — three of which are somewhat clustered, and one of which stands somewhat (but not entirely) alone.
The three that are definitely bunched together could be decided with a ruling on just one of them, or with a ruling on just two, or with a ruling on all three, separately.   Those three issues all relate to the insurance mandate, or what is technically labeled the “minimum coverage” provision.   By that provision, the most controversial of all, Congress declared that virtually every American (there are a few exceptions) must obtain health insurance before the year 2014, or else pay a financial penalty with their tax returns until they do get a policy.
So the individual mandate is one of the clustered issues.  The second is whether the Court has the authority to decide the fate of the mandate.  And the third is whether, if the mandate is struck down as unconstitutional, other parts of the massive Affordable Care Act must fall with it — if any.

Obama and the legality of Libyan War

Book Recommendation: Fixing the War Powers Act (The Heritage lectures)
Bruce Ackerman's article is worth reproducing. The issue of presidential powers vis a vis the Congress on the issue of war has been the subject of much debate. Here are a few excerpts which I found enlightening:

Last Sunday was the 90th day of bombing in Libya, but Mr. Obama — armed with dubious legal opinions — is refusing to stop America’s military engagement there. His White House counsel, Robert F. Bauer, has declared that, despite the War Powers Act, the president can continue the Libya campaign indefinitely without legislative support. This conclusion lacks a solid legal foundation. And by adopting it, the White House has shattered the traditional legal process the executive branch has developed to sustain the rule of law over the past 75 years.