Warrantless Wiretapping Is No More
As unceremoniously as it unveiled, it was killed. In a two-page letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced the death of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, the super-secret program authorized by the president to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails of Americans believed to be communicating with suspected terrorists.
For the past 13 months, since The New York Times broke the news that the program existed, the Bush Administration vehemently defended it. From the president on down, every official called it "critical," "vital," and "crucial to our national security." So what happened?
In one grand, but unceremonious move, the Bush administration thwarted the critics, saved itself from potentially nasty court battles over the program, and at the same time, ensured surveillance would continue.
--- Woohoo we won and all that ….
5 comments:
I am nowhere near of your opinion (unless it was more cryptically tongue-in-cheek than I'm sharp enough to discern). These boys are pathological liers. They've spent two years doing exactly as they like while 'working' out the complications, as the little weasel claimed yesterday and now bamboozle with an appearance of aquiescence under very modest pressure.
This is the runt who defiantly told Spector "I meant by that comment that the Constitution doesn't say that every individual in the United States or every citizen has or is assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn't say that. It simply says that the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended."
Richard,
Warrantless wiretapping and habeas corpus separate issues. But "threat" to them is all part of the circus. The Supreme Court so far has not upheld Executive tyranny. But that too could be part of the greatest show on earth.
However, last fall after the "Supreme Court appeared to settle the issue in favor of the detainees … new legislation approved by Congress last month, which gives Bush the authority to try detainees before military commissions, included a provision removing judicial review for all habeas claims.
I believe this was the Military Commissions Act, which Specter had introduced an amendment to, to preserve habeas corpus for detainees, but the amendment was defeated. Specter voted Aye, approving the bill anyway.
As with most legal proceedings – it nearly always depends on how much justice one can buy, how much privacy one can afford. I didn't rig the system, but rigged it is.
Politicians and their paid pundits - by KAB definition - are all pathological liars. The BushCo "shredding the constitution" rallying cry is more distraction for reaction, the "freepers" shouted the same "shredding" accusation for 8 years under Clinton, who also was just doing as he was told.
As the war on terror is phony so is the effort being spent on legislating and arguing it. But congress looks busy, learned, educated, jockeying and struggling over issues - (tongue in cheek when I say 'learned, educated') as Reyes recently couldn't answer basic questions on Al-Qaeda. Most of them little more than clueless clerks drawing pay and benefits while prancing, preening, photo-oping for we the people as they carry our handbasket to a new economic order.
Bush, Gonzales, Cheney, etc. are puppets. It's the global fascists (corporate funded) running them that concern me. Neither the Constitution or Congress are going to protect us - the new world is a'coming.
Concisely said. Your wrap-up is, indeed, the bottom line!
Hi Kate,
When do we get to the part that is spoken of in the book of Revelations where it talks about "666" and that: You will not be able to buy or sell anything unless you have this mark, either on your right hand or forehead?
Anon,
Your pulling on my wings and horns right?
Who needs 666 when you can't buy or sell anything now w/o registering, transferring, recording it, paying tax on it. Tag, track, and tax doesn't need a tattooed forehead. And there's likely coming soon to a clinic near you – the biochip - to keep ya safe.
KAB does not believe in Revelations mythology or any other hogwartsia type writings, ancient or modern.
The "good book" and collection plate are one side of the protection racket, government and war being the other. Both sides controlled by perverts and parasites - one to save your soul, the other your property rights. (Which group has more power varies by nation.)
It's a partnership, league, they're in cahoots, hustling the huddled masses with bogeymen and saviors.
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