Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Oath to Preserve the Constitution Means Get to Ignore it!
Bill Kristol makes this totally fucked up argument in today's Washington Post. What it boils down to is that even though the President swears an oath to protect the Constitution, he doesn't have to comply with it to carry out his duties. Also, the link below shows that his duties include lying to us about getting judicial permission before conducting wiretaps.
Here's a quote:
"That chief executive could, in times of war or emergency, act with the decisiveness, dispatch and, yes, secrecy, needed to protect the country and its citizens.
That is why the president uniquely swears an oath -- prescribed in the Constitution -- to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Implicit in that oath is the Founders' recognition that, no matter how much we might wish it to be case, Congress cannot legislate for every contingency, and judges cannot supervise many national security decisions. This will be especially true in times of war."
Haven't we been at war for decades now? Remember the war on crime, the war on drugs and, now, the war on terror?
I'm truly numb, both at the boldness of the president, the limp reaction of so-called "conservatives" and especially at the way most people don't give a rat's ass about these people lying and disregarding the constitution in the name of saving the country from terrorists.
We have met the enemy and he is us. We elected him. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine Bush would justify these actions and refuse to back down from taking them. This refusal is truly shocking, and revealing. These people truly think they are above the law and Bill Kristol truly believes the Founders created a king-like chief executive who is above even the Constitution from which he derived his powers.
Check out Huffington Post for snippets of editorial headlines, but be worried. These Neo-cons will stop at nothing it seems, and I wonder if anybody has the will to do it.
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Osama must be laughing as his enemy destroys American democracy in the name of saving it.
Here's a quote:
"That chief executive could, in times of war or emergency, act with the decisiveness, dispatch and, yes, secrecy, needed to protect the country and its citizens.
That is why the president uniquely swears an oath -- prescribed in the Constitution -- to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Implicit in that oath is the Founders' recognition that, no matter how much we might wish it to be case, Congress cannot legislate for every contingency, and judges cannot supervise many national security decisions. This will be especially true in times of war."
Haven't we been at war for decades now? Remember the war on crime, the war on drugs and, now, the war on terror?
I'm truly numb, both at the boldness of the president, the limp reaction of so-called "conservatives" and especially at the way most people don't give a rat's ass about these people lying and disregarding the constitution in the name of saving the country from terrorists.
We have met the enemy and he is us. We elected him. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine Bush would justify these actions and refuse to back down from taking them. This refusal is truly shocking, and revealing. These people truly think they are above the law and Bill Kristol truly believes the Founders created a king-like chief executive who is above even the Constitution from which he derived his powers.
Check out Huffington Post for snippets of editorial headlines, but be worried. These Neo-cons will stop at nothing it seems, and I wonder if anybody has the will to do it.
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Osama must be laughing as his enemy destroys American democracy in the name of saving it.
President's Pants on Fire!
Remember Bush's justification for the recently revealed surveillance on American citizens without court approval? Well, apparently the actions he must take to protect us include lying to us! Check out this report, from the White House website-which reveals the text of a speech in which he says "Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.
But a roving wiretap means -- it was primarily used for drug lords. A guy, a pretty intelligence drug lord would have a phone, and in old days they could just get a tap on that phone. So guess what he'd do? He'd get him another phone, particularly with the advent of the cell phones. And so he'd start changing cell phones, which made it hard for our DEA types to listen, to run down these guys polluting our streets. And that changed, the law changed on -- roving wiretaps were available for chasing down drug lords. They weren't available for chasing down terrorists, see? And that didn't make any sense in the post-9/11 era. If we couldn't use a tool that we're using against mobsters on terrorists, something needed to happen.
The Patriot Act changed that. So with court order, law enforcement officials can now use what's called roving wiretaps, which will prevent a terrorist from switching cell phones in order to get a message out to one of his buddies."
When you go to the speech, you have to skip down to get to the quote above. It's nine clicks on the toolbar. The paragraph starts with "Secondly,..."
Be careful what you say, though, or they'll wiretap your phones without ever involving the court and justify spying on citizens in the name of protecting the people.
But a roving wiretap means -- it was primarily used for drug lords. A guy, a pretty intelligence drug lord would have a phone, and in old days they could just get a tap on that phone. So guess what he'd do? He'd get him another phone, particularly with the advent of the cell phones. And so he'd start changing cell phones, which made it hard for our DEA types to listen, to run down these guys polluting our streets. And that changed, the law changed on -- roving wiretaps were available for chasing down drug lords. They weren't available for chasing down terrorists, see? And that didn't make any sense in the post-9/11 era. If we couldn't use a tool that we're using against mobsters on terrorists, something needed to happen.
The Patriot Act changed that. So with court order, law enforcement officials can now use what's called roving wiretaps, which will prevent a terrorist from switching cell phones in order to get a message out to one of his buddies."
When you go to the speech, you have to skip down to get to the quote above. It's nine clicks on the toolbar. The paragraph starts with "Secondly,..."
Be careful what you say, though, or they'll wiretap your phones without ever involving the court and justify spying on citizens in the name of protecting the people.
