Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Who does a guy have to screw around here to get impeached.

Let's talk about the President's program of illegally spying on the American people. I know, the President says it is legal, but just as Condoleeza Rice admitted that she was not a lawyer, and therefore unable to answer questions about the legality of the program, W's opinion is, shall we say, dubious. Now, let's get Lindsey Graham's opinion. He said on Face the Nation, "I don't know of any legal basis to go around that. There may be some, but I'm not aware of it. And here's the concern I have-we can’t become an outcome-based democracy. Even in a time of war, you have to follow the process, because that's what a democracy is all about-a process." By the way, he is a lawyer. And a Republican.

The President has authority to wiretap anyone's phone, and intercept any communication for 72 hours, according to Senator Joe Biden, the self-described “guy who wrote the FISA statute 25 years ago.” After that, the government must go to the FISA court, which is secret, and give its justification. If the court rules that the justification is inadequate, the remedy is to destroy the evidence seized.

This raises the first of three big questions, namely: Why then did the President need to resort to illegal wiretaps?

The President says that he briefed Congress about these activities. Serious doubts exist about this. Clearly, the letter of Jay Rockefeller dispels the implication that Congress assented to these wiretaps. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has stated "leaders of the relevant oversight intelligence committees" -- had been briefed on the NSA activities. This is just another one of her lies. Former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) was the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time the program was initiated. Graham says that he was never briefed by the administration about the program: “There was no reference made to the fact that we were going to...begin unwarranted, illegal, and I think unconstitutional, eavesdropping on American citizens.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she had been “advised by Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), Ranking Democrat on House Intelligence Committee, that the Bush Administration reversed its decision to brief the full House Intelligence Committee on the details of the activities.” Tom Daschle, the former senate majority leader says that the White House briefed him, but withheld important details. Though the White House ommitted the most egregiously illegal aspects of their program, Daschle nevertheless objected, and he disputes the White House assertion that no one objected.

Something is big time fishy here, which gives rise to the second question, namely: Why is W lying about this?

We've gotten used to a lot of nasty things done by W and his crooked cronies. Things like:

  • Lying to Congress regarding reasons for going to war against Iraq.
  • Condoning and supporting treason regarding the disclosure of a CIA operative’s name.
  • Subversion of the Bill of Rights by engaging in practices designed to undermine the free press such as the bribery of journalists publish propaganda.
  • Negligent malpractice in protecting the country from disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.
  • Criminal conspiracy to deprive the American people of free elections.

    All of which gives rise to the third big question, namely, "Who does a guy have to screw around here to get impeached?"

    ... tell 'em Big Mitch sent ya!"
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