The NSA has been spying on Quaker peace groups. Reminds of the DEA: guys with a bunch of money and toys looking for something to justify their current budget and increased future budgets.

Watch out for mis-guided zeal. Not nice. Not nice at all.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

THe ACLU needs to be looked at too....

as well as the peaceniks....none of them can be trusted....and I do apply that to the Right to life groups who think bombing clinics is acceptible behaviour too.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Welcome to the BHD police state. Please surrender your rights at the door.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

where are you guaranteed rights to commit terrorism in the Constitution?

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I think "the democrats did it" position got morphed over the past few weeks. Y’all know how lame and lazy the media are.

A key element to this is whether the president has the right, in their pursuit of protecting the US, to approve warrant-less searches. Since the act was approved (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) every single administration has taken the position that the executive (ie. President) has the right to circumvent the act under certain conditions. Dems and Reps alike have done this for, IMHO, a couple of reasons. The first and foremost reason is no president is willing going to cede to congress powers they believe the constitution reserves to them. Our history is full of struggles over which branch of government is the most powerful.

Our constitutional drafters came from a history of powerful executives (I think they were called Kings in those days). They’d seen abuse of power and our constitution was structured to give the executive the most power, but to restrain that power through “checks and balances”. Those “checks and balances” were powers designated to the legislative and judicial branches. Lastly, the powers not specifically designated to the three defined branches of the federal government were “reserved to the states”.

The 2nd reason is that issue of the applicability of the FISA has been before the SCOTUS on at least 3 occasions and the court has ruled that it cannot (in the situations presented) constrain the POTUS. To some degree this is "settled law".

So the “dems did it” threat came from this view of the applicability of FISA to presidential options. As, until 9/11, we’d not had a reason to monitor calls from overseas to persons residing in the US, the issue we now face had not come up. I make the distinction “persons residing in the US” for a reason. The media is obsessed with “US citizens”. As we know residence does not immediately equate to citizenship.

So, just like the blow up of the “undercover spy” (LOL) Valerie Plame, there’s no crime here. There’s liberal hot air, wailing and gnashing of teeth, but no crime. This whistleblowing cretin-Tice-ought to be prosecuted. I love the line about the folk at NSA willing to “we're going to do whatever it takes to get them”. Question for all you nattering nimrods who are worked up over this; If we’re fighting a war on terror, what other strategy would you want employed?” And don’t tell me, “one that respects the right of privacy.” I’m sure that top on Al Qaeda’s governing principles.

Ciao for now, y’all

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KyGuy
'04 E500 Brilliant Silver/Ash (50K)
'01 ML320 Desert Silver/Parchment (67K)
'99 C230 Kompressor Black/Black (62K)
'93 Mitsubishi Montero (134K)(Home Depot Express)


'70 6.3 Gold/Tobacco (128K) (sold and now in Germany)
'94 E420 Silver/Blue (80K) - Sold
'97 E320 PearlBlack/Parchment (77K) - Sold
'66 300SE Coupe (owned 2002-2003)

I don't know what those SCOTUS cases were about, but I assume they held that FISA can't constrain POTUS's powers as C-in-C under Article I of the Constitution. What those SCOTUS cases did not say is that POTUS can violate the 4th Amendment.There is plenty of that, no doubt, but there also appears to be a violation of the 4th Amendment. As more time goes by without the administration offering a single legitimate legal theory to support its position, the more I'm convinced that they have no legal basis for their wiretapping program. If that's not a big deal, I don't know what is.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K