The Conservative attempts to circumvent laws such as the 4th Amendment, & the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act justified only by asserting these changes are in the name of national Security is absurd, illegal, unaccountable, and unethical.
Laws must be followed with no deviation. National Security is not justification enough to support creating new programs, first without Congressional approval.
The laws must be changed first.
ALL policy should not be based on public opinion. The founders of our nation intended to secure freedoms for all Americans not simply a mob majority rule. That is why all States have equal representation within the Senate. They were intelligent enough to foretell corrupt people abusing their powers like we see now.
If the NSA & CIA cannot act within the Law then hell yes there operations need to be brought into the Sunshine.
Every agency within the U.S. government must be held accountable. There must be Checks and Balances at all levels.
The full Congress is not even aware of the activities of such agencies.
This is unacceptable within the United States of America.
An elected member of Congress is just as privileged to intelligence information as a 4 Star General. It is through this oversight that Congress is charged to do, that WE the people exercise our American birthright of democracy.
****With ZERO exception any surveillance upon a U.S. citizen must follow the book, not some ad-hoc program created in the name of National Security!!!
Gen. Michael V. Hayden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_V._Hayden
Explanation of Warrantless Surveillance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_controversy
4 comments:
Mr. Brooks:
You consistently say that "laws must be followed"..."with no deviation".
Can you show where the laws have not been followed? Please educate myself and your readers if you are going to make statements that the programs initiated by the President & Congress are illegal.
Also, please give the respect to the President of the United States that he deserves. We live in a great country where we are allowed to speak our minds and disagree but that shouldn't mean we stoop down to the level of being rude.
Being Rude? Because of the picture of him asking Clinton for help?
I have lost faith in Mr. Bush because of his failure with Iraq, the Economy, and Hurricane Katrina.
I believe he has knowingly misled the American people in numerous matters.
Thus I can no longer refer to him as President.
Mr. Gruber if you have information the rest of the nation does not showing this administration is leading us in the right direction I’d like o see it.
The only thing he has done is cut taxes for the rich. Speaking from what I know such tax cuts have not benefited me at all.
From his approval ratings even with Conservatives I know I am not alone in such sentiments.
Legally:
The President has no power to initiate laws. He only has the power to execute laws as written by Congress.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is the sole law by which the government can spy on foreigners.
The 4th Amendment is the sole law for which American citizens can be spyed upon. A warrant must be issued for spying on a U.S. citizen. The NSA, the CIA has no Constitutional Power to circumvent such processes.
That is why I and millions of other Americans call such policy illegal and will never support them.
Every week something new is learned that this Administration has authorized something they previously stated they did not do.
Even the Republican Chair of Senate Judiciary Committee is asking question about the legality of these programs.
Reports:
http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/051606/news1.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/25/AR2006022501402.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-27-specter-eavesdropping_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-11-nsa-reax_x.htm
Yes -- the picture was modified, including modifying his hair, to show him in a non positive light. This is typical Democratic slander. If you don't agree with someone instead of having an educating argument many Democrats stoop to the level of "making fun" of the person they don't agree with.
On your other points:
a.) As the President of the United States and for the rest of his life he should out of respect called President. You, President Brooks, should understand the title more than others.
b.) I believe the country is being led in the right direction. You ask for information showing this -- what would you like to see? I am more than willing to have a discussion on what you believe to be a misled country.
c.) Taxes where cut for all. You state "I know such tax cuts have not benefited me at all". Are you telling me you did not receive a refund check in 2001? Do you own any stock? If so are you telling me you didn't get your dividend tax cut? It sounds good to say only the rich are getting tax cuts but it's not true. You may want to get a better tax person. ;) Yes, the rich are getting tax cuts -- but I believe, and this is truly a Republican statement, that the rich should not support the rest of this country. I'm sure you'll strongly agree with all of this.
d.) Lastly, you need to get the 4th Amendment right. It reads: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." No where in there do I see any reference to spying as you state. Either way however, no Americans where spied on. The only information collected was calls originating from foreign countries into the united states. No information about the American citizen was collected. How is that spying?
Mr. Brooks you seem happy to repeat what others say however you do not have any facts to back up your arguments. If you are going to argue a point provide facts that support it. Don't just say that the "Republican Chair (...) is asking questions" but please let us know specifically what you disagree with and why.
Mr. Gruber,
The phone database being kept does not simply consist of those where a foreigners is involved. It consists of a phone log of ordinary Americans
And remember my position has 1 premise: that all surveillance on U.S. citizen must first have a warrant.
How do we the People verify what these agencies are doing? From listening to Hayden’s remarks all oversight is done in house in the NSA. A hand full of Congressmen were briefed on these programs opposed to the full committees.
There are 2 Programs:
#1 an intercept where a foreigner with a link to terrorist is involved.
#2 a database of domestic calls
As for Taxes all I have to say is I work a 40+ hours a week and for the past 2 years I barely have gotten anything back on taxes. So from observation all these tax cuts are just for the rich.
Mr. Gruber everything on this blog is original. It’s what I believe, not repeat of what anyone else is saying.
Spying is equivalent to searching.
Phone calls are information.
Hayden is live on NPR today.
As for respecting the President Mr. Gruber. Disagreeing with his polices is not disrespectful. The edited picture of Mr. Bush was removed.
I made statements to laws that I believe were broken in my previous response.
I hope you will consider respecting and defending the word of the Constitution, Rights of Privacy and Freedom as much as you defend Mr. Bush.
We obviously will not agree. I would like o know if I would your view to allow for this Administration to continue functioning as it with no question of its policy?
When I see clear failures in Intelligence with Iraq, and Homeland Security with Katrina I cannot reach any other conclusion.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5411958
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