Under the headline "With Democrats Like These..." The New York Times editorial today begins "Every now and then, we are tempted to double-check that the Democrats actually won control of Congress last year."
The Senate Democrats and their Republican masters have put forth a bill that authorizes "warrantless surveillance of Americans' homes, offices and phone records." They want to repeal the Fourth Amendment without all the bother of amending the Constitution.
Even when the Times tries for a little outrage, the editors still come up about nine miles short of the reality of the situation. They want this to be a story about partisan politics, but it's really a story about treason.
The new FISA bill also retroactively exempts telecom corporations from prosecution for divulging the confidential records of their customers without the court warrants required by law.
This provision is not primarily about protecting patriotic businessmen, as Mr. Bush claims. It's about ensuring that Mr. Bush and his aides never have to go to court to explain how many laws they've broken. It is a collusion between lawmakers and the White House that means that no one is ever held accountable
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This isn't just about the Constitution, it's about the rule of law in general. It's about whether the President and all his agents can break any law any time anywhere with the full expectation of retroactive immunity.
If anyone who ever enlisted in the armed services or held an office of honor in the United States happens to read this essay, I hope you remember your oath. "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
"All enemies, foreign and domestic..."
You know who they are. What are you going to do about it?
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“No one is doing that. The
“No one is doing that. The question really is whether Congress should toss out chunks of the Constitution because Mr. Bush finds them inconvenient and some Democrats are afraid to look soft on terrorism”.
“This provision is not primarily about protecting patriotic businessmen, as Mr. Bush claims. It's about ensuring that Mr. Bush and his aides never have to go to court to explain how many laws they've broken”.
Those quotes from the article say a lot. I had been under the impression that Congress hasn’t been able to do much because they really aren’t really a majority of them until there are enough Democratic representatives to overturn the Presidents veto. I had believed that there simple wasn’t enough of them. Apparently I have been wrong. If they are not willing to uphold the Constitutional laws, these guys are just not right for the job.
For a long time now President Bush has been trying to circumvent the Fourth Amendment and even redraw the line in the sand about free speech. It’s not so free when Big Brother is reading and listening in on communications. I wish I could remember where I read that this has been going on since February 27, 2001, which was quite some time before 9/11 attacks. Actually I believe it was on this blog that I encountered it. No wonder why President Bush needs to push protection of his illegal actions retroactively!
Siphoning domestic communications is entrapment and illegal in the eyes of the law regardless of what Constitutional Amendments it violates. President Bush violates his oath to uphold the Constitution and that, in my opinion, is grounds for impeachment. And, impeachment of Bush and Cheney is something that many of us want to see happen. The Democrats have not pursed the interest of the American citizens who voted for them to do just that, for starters.
So here we are – more dysfunctional members of Congress instead of upstanding leaders to represent our interests. I still believe that we do need an adequate number of Democrats in Congress to override a Presidential veto in case we do end up with another Republican in the White House. However, we need men and women of integrity who will actually represent the interests of the citizenry. Non-binding resolutions are a waste of time and serve no real purpose. But that’s another blog topic…..
Thanks for your comment. You
Thanks for your comment.
You can find one story about warrantless wiretapping before 9/11 here.
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