In December 2002, Mr. Rumsfeld authorized things like hooding prisoners, using dogs to terrify them, forcing them into "stress positions" for long periods, stripping them, shaving them and isolating them.
Of course the most interesting bits are usually buried deep in the agreements and authorize things like the use of your child's likeness for doll faces.
Of course, there is one other thing, which is that most Democrats cannot get themselves to believe that the beloved Barack Obama would authorize things like this, so they just turn a deaf ear to it or try to make some sort of comical excuse for it.
We have authorized these things tacitly and officially, acknowledging their utility over years of development and slow growth.
Since then, the Justice Department has enlarged the intrusive powers of government by, among other things, authorizing "sneak and peek" searches of private homes and suspending traditional civil liberties for certain defendants.
The flurry of activity comes as the Assembly Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hold hearings today on the measure, which would, among other things, authorize a state financing mechanism to help in building a $355 million arena in Newark.
Drivers could also be authorized to do things most other service's drivers would be weirded out by, like checking your kids out of afterschool activities.
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, proposed a Save Our Schools bill that, among other things, would authorize Washington to reimburse state governments that use the National Guard to protect schools.
"I was very concerned that he was not authorized to do the things he was doing," said Wallace Henderson, an Austin, Tex.-based consultant and former chief of staff to Mr. Tauzin who squared off with Mr. Johnson as a Ford lobbyist.
"We don't really need the budget resolution to do a heck of a lot other than to not impinge on our ability going into the future to work with the authorizing committees to get things done," the senior Administration official said.
But if I were Assange, I'd be far more concerned with what the US has in store for him, with Attorney General Eric Holder having authorized a "number of things to be done" to combat Wikileaks.
