Go Johnny go!

We're proud over here to consider the lovely and talented John Amato, proprietor of Crooks & Liars, a friend of this blog. We've known John since '05, hung out with him many times, and I can say that he's a really smart, passionate dude.

So imagine our excitement when we heard this:

I wanted to confirm to my readers that I am considering running for Jane Harman's seat. I've had meetings with bloggers and activists way before this story broke and they have urged me on. I've also been contacted by established campaign managers who have won elections which included huge upsets in the past that have expressed a serious interest in managing my campaign. This is a very important step in the process. At this point I am considering it, but haven't made a decision yet. I'm going to take my time before I decide, but I thought I owed it to you to confirm this report. Now back to our regularly scheduled content.

Indeed! John would be a real asset to the CA congressional team, and his politics are sound. We'll do everything we can to help him in this venture. (Note the use of the royal 'we'. I mean Pam & I, here at SteveAudio central. My co-bloggers are under no obligation to follow. Though they should.)

Harman, while hardly the worst Democrat, is still deeply flawed, as recent events have conclusively proven. She represents the CA-36 Congressional district, and is married to Sidney Harman, who runs Harman Industries and has ruined vast areas of professional audio equipment manufacturing in the U.S.

Glenn Greenwald on Harman's latest debacle:

So if I understand this correctly -- and I'm pretty sure I do -- when the U.S. Government eavesdropped for years on American citizens with no warrants and in violation of the law, that was "both legal and necessary" as well as "essential to U.S. national security," and it was the "despicable" whistle-blowers (such as Thomas Tamm) who disclosed that crime and the newspapers which reported it who should have been criminally investigated, but not the lawbreaking government officials. But when the U.S. Government legally and with warrants eavesdrops on Jane Harman, that is an outrageous invasion of privacy and a violent assault on her rights as an American citizen, and full-scale investigations must be commenced immediately to get to the bottom of this abuse of power. Behold Jane Harman's overnight transformation from Very Serious Champion of the Lawless Surveillance State to shrill civil liberties extremist.

Yeah. So go Johnny go!