My brother sent me a link to a story on the Obama administration’s extrajudicial assassination program:

A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s authorization of the assassination of U.S. citizens accused of terrorism links abroad… case on behalf of the father of Yemen-based Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki… tossed the case on jurisdictional grounds, ruling that Awlaki’s father did not have legal standing to bring a case concerning his son. But Bates said the case raises serious judicial questions, including: “How is it that judicial approval is required when the U.S. decides to target a U.S. citizen overseas for electronic surveillance, but [not] when the United States decides to target a U.S. citizen overseas for death?”

I can’t remember if it was my brother’s article that made this point but: when the Bush administration got its “enemy combatant” labeling power, it insisted it’d only be applied to international terrorists. Then Jose Padilla happened… I wonder how long that “abroad” in the first sentence will be an important distinction of the program.

I’ve been cleaning this evening and now I sort of wish I’d first filmed a music video for this song.