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FISA Big Lie Alert
All of our emails and calls are giving Democrats in Congress the backbone to say NO to Bush's demand for warrantless wiretapping power.
So to avoid defeat, the Busheviks are once again playing their ace-in-the-hole - the Big Lie - which is being stovepiped into Congress through Rupert Murdoch's lie-filled NY Post.
On May 15, Spc. Alex Jiminez (left) and six other soldiers were on lookout in the Triangle of Death when insurgents attacked, killing 4 and kidnapping 3, including Jiminez.
While U.S. troops began a highly-publicized manhunt, NSA lawyers struggled to find a top Justice Department official to get an emergency warrant for a wiretap (of what I don't know - did the insurgents leave behind a cellphone or their personal address book?).
But it took them 10-12 hours because
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was out of town; Deputy AG Paul McNulty had resigned already; Solicitor General Paul Clement "had left the building"; and the other responsible official, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein was not yet authorized to approve the emergency order.
As Kagro X says,
It was the unprecedented level of corruption and idiocy in the United States Department of Justice that ground things to a halt. Everyone who hadn't yet been drummed out of government for their crookedness was just plain AWOL. And George W. Bush wants you to believe what was at fault was the only arm of government still at its post: the law itself. (Though they're trying to kidnap that in the pre-dawn hours, too.)
That's yer tuff-on-terrah pretzelnit for ya, ladies and gents. Unitary executivin' to th' max! Unless a lawyer shows up. Yikes!
And so, yet again on the FISA issue, total b.s. that has nothing to do with anything will be used to try to wrangle out a spineless surrender of everything the rule of law is supposed to mean.
When Congress held hearings on this event, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell lied to Congress - as he has now done several times.
A knowledgeable government source says the account Admiral Mike McConnell gave to the House intelligence committee about the procedure for wiretapping Iraqi insurgents earlier this year is "really terrible."
McConnell told the committee today that restrictions derived by the FISA Court this year on wiretapping foreign-to-foreign communications that pass through the U.S. prevented the NSA from surveilling Iraqi insurgents who had kidnapped U.S. soldiers for 12 hours. But the source, who is privvy to the timeline of the incident, says "internal bureaucratic wrangling," and not court-based restrictions, were responsible for the lag time. "To get an emergency warrant, you just have to believe the facts support the application that someone is an agent of a foreign power," the source says. "That takes approximately five seconds to establish if you're going after an Iraqi insurgent."
So the whole story is a Big Lie. Email and call your Representatives and tell them impeachment, not immunity:
http://democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/114
Update 1: Atrios nails it:
Republicans, as they often do, are going to rely on that tried and true rhetorical technique known as "lying." The Democrats can:
a) Use this to show how genuinely serious they are by pointing out that, once again, this administration is dangerously incompetent.
b) Use this to show how "serious" and "tough" they are by caving in to a bunch of lying bullies and handing the dangerously incompetent administration even more unchecked power.
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- Bob Fertik's blog
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I am not optimistic that the Bush owned Justice dept. will look into these accusations, but wouldn't it be great if someone with authority did?
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." ~ Sinclair Lewis
"I'm just pissed off that not enough other people are pissed off."~Bill Maher
Spy America, Inc.
"Psst! The Dems and Bush Don't Really Disagree Much on FISA. (Don't Tell Anyone!)"
But we do. "We the People" by a large margin demand they get a warrant from FISA. It is an important Constitutional right to not be spied on by our own government without reason. I understand it is easy to get one even after the event They just have to justify why and who. So the excuse of not being able to get a warrant to spy on someone in an emergency is just plain bull. They want to be able to do as they please when they please and not tell anyone. You know it will be used to spy on their political enemies. It won't be the NSA either. It will be privitized spying. Someone will make money doing it...Bush cronies.
BuzzFlash
BuzzFlash (www.buzzflash.com) is reporting this morning that Dems have caved in on FISA and have made a deal that will allow telecom compainies legal immunity for assisting with the surveillance program.
Washingtonpost.com has an article on this with more details.
It appears to be another win for the Bush adminstration.
FISA is back in the forefront.....the fight continues...
One of many good articles I've read on FISA.
Are you listening Senate Democrats??
Memo to Senate Democrats: No One Believes Bush
Democrats
by Cenk Uygur | January 25, 2008 - 10:05am
Senate Democrats are now busy giving away the store to Bush -- again. For what appears to be the one billionth time in a row. They are set to give President Bush yet another victory on the latest FISA bill. They will allow telecommunication companies who broke the law to get away with their crimes (and that is literally what it is -- a crime).
Plus, the public will be denied the opportunity to hear how the Bush administration broke the law because the lawsuits against the telecom companies will not be allowed to go forward in open court.
As usual, there is the speculation on why the Democrats would want to help the Republicans so much. Republicans, for their part, were merciless when there was a Democratic president. So, why are the Democrats such sad, feckless incompetents when it is their turn?
There are two schools of thought on this. The first is that they make money from the same lobbyists, so they don't want to upset their paymasters. They don't want to rock the boat because they are collaborators in the same corrupt system. In other words, they are paid to be the Washington Generals to the Republican Globetrotters.
That is such a miserably sad scenario, that I will give them the benefit of the doubt, and say we should consider the second option instead. The second possibility is that they are the only people left in the country who still think that anyone gives a shit what George Bush has to say.
Bush says that national security will be endangered if we don't allow AT&T and Verizon to break the law. That is a ridiculous claim that no one outside of Washington takes seriously. First of all, the guy is lucky if he makes it in to the low 30s in approval ratings. Whatever he says, the country wants to do the opposite. Second of all, his claims on the FISA bills have been proven false over and over.
The intelligence community claims there is a loophole in the current FISA law that forbids foreign to foreign calls from being spied upon because they are routed through the US. Great, fix that provision and move on. No one objects to that. Gratuitously granting immunity for wanton law-breaking on anything else is insane. And to do it because Bush talked tough on national security is even more insane.
Note to Senate Democrats -- no one believes George Bush. I guess, except you. You're the only people left in the country who think Bush has any credibility left. How could you possibly believe Bush when he says you will look weak on national security? Don't you get it - you look weak only when you cave in to Bush, not when you oppose him.
If we are to be kind and assume that the Democratic leadership is not deceitful and complicit, then we are left with the unfortunate alternative that they are hopelessly dense. How low does Bush's approval rating have to be before you realize it is to your political advantage to oppose him rather than to bend to his will?
How blind do you have to be to not see that helping Bush makes you look pathetically weak? I don't feel good speaking to our elected leaders this way. I would like to have some respect for these positions. But they make it impossible to respect them.
What's really sad is that they have no idea how much people would love them if they just fought back a little bit. They're too busy trying to get the Republicans, Fox News Channel and the Washington elite to love them. Turn around, your electorate is dying to support you.
Give them a chance and they would back you a 100%. But you make that impossible when you keep supporting the one man everyone else realizes is the least trustworthy person in the country -- George W. Bush.