National Security Conversation

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

Gen. Hayden is Not fit to Head CIA

Any member of Congress that votes to confirm General Hayden to head the CIA will be ending their political career.

Hayden directed the NSA’s Domestic Surveillance program, and also directed the collection of millions of U.S. phone calls for customers of AT&T Corp., MCI, Sprint, Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp.

His role in these operations makes him an unacceptable candidate to continue to serve the American people.

The complexity of these issues are political HOT!

The matter of General Hayden’s involvement with 2 NSA Programs whose Constitutionality are in question is paramount to his appointment. These programs have not been proved to be legal because the Republicans refuse to allow for real investigations.

Furthermore it has not been made clear that the rules of FISA Courts are followed when surveillance is being conducted on a U.S. citizens. My position has been clear from the beginning. When it come to U.S. citizens the book must be followed zero exceptions.

It does not matter what opinion polls say, as public servants these people swear an oath to Executive the laws established by Congress not to make them. It was my understanding that traditional Conservatives too would support such my position.

This all began with Joe Wilson and his wife Valarie Plame, an CIA agent and has led us to a point where the position of the Directorship of the CIA is of great concern to the American public. The CIA and NSA both organization whom once held the complete trust and of the of the public, now whose operations both in sever question.

Years ago I had a gut feeling the moment that President Bush said in his State of the Union Speech “that terrorist were obtaining yellow cake uranium from Africa” that something was deadly wrong with Bush and his administration. An African nation who can barely produce food nether less high grade nuclear material.

All of these issues are connected and my gut tells me if we had an Attorney General other than friend of G.W. Bush Gonzalez that many more government officials besides Scooter “Loose-Lips” Libby would be indicted.
Administration policy is so corrupt that certain legal matters must be addressed:

"When sensitive intelligence is leaked it effects national security G.W. Bush". Mr. Bush authorizes the leak of classified information himself for political reasons, not reasons of National Security so this statement is clearly a contradiction.

My concern is the definition of sensitive.

Why is Congress asking for information from AT& T, Bell south and Verizon opposed to getting it directly from Executive Branch.?

Information is being collected on persons with known links to terrorist.
My concern is the definition of links.


WH on NSA Phone logs:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/05/20060511-1.html

USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-02-05-nsa-telecoms_x.htm

Hayden’s Words:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060512/ap_on_go_co/nsa_phone_records

The Price of Gas: Part IV

Gasoline Prices - How Are Gasoline Prices Normally Calculated?

FACT:
Crude Oil 49%
Federal/State/Local Taxes 26%
Refining 15%
Marketing/Distribution/Profits 10%


Source:
http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/4492D797DC0BD92F85256CB80055FB97/872136BEBD03D0A585256D02005A2880?OpenDocument

Comments:
Crude Oil is the greatest factor in determining Gas Prices. So why when Crude Oil goes down a buck or $2 our prices at the pump contines to go up like .10 cent a week?

I believe its Greed & Corruption.

Even the Republican Attorney General of Florida is implying that price gouging may be in play.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/14483366.htm

As for Congress, let me tell you something. These Republicans in charge in Washington D.C have sold out the government and forgotten their trust to the people. This Corrupt Congress passed some crazy bill allowing for fines upon Oil Companies for price manipulation, but failed to define the terms for determining such manipulation. Come on!!!

Mr. G.W. Bush is simply absent.

Come November 2006 these folk are going to be greatly surprised. I predict the entire House will be overturned because of these gas prices not to mention a few dozen other things. This is a much greater political crisis than the Iraq War because it effects all Americans right in their bank accounts.

The Price of Gas: Part III

This crisis with the price of gas is far to crucial to not respond to out right lies given by politicians and greedy Oil Executives.

This is what I know and have observed.

There seems to be Two Americas. The poor to middle class and the well off. Some say Liberals and Conservatives. Personally I have observed there is also a segment of citizens whom cannot traditionally be called Conservatives because they do not care about spending or accountability for Republicans. They tend to identify as Conservatives, I would call them Radical Christians whom put aside intellectual reason and put their trust in what they hear coming from the Government even though fact are contrary.

The division of America by conservative leaders is no accident.

I respect & work with many of these Radical Conservatives. One day while discussing gas prices 1 of them said that this something we’ll have to live with for 3 more years as stated by a G.W. Bush official.

I strongly disagree because I believe we are being cheated by the Oil Industry.

You see a person like myself when I hear such comments from the government remembers when gas was just a buck $1.50 3 years ago. I remember when Hurricane Katrina was used as an excuse for high gas prices. I know for a fact that supply has actually increased approximately 15%. If you understand economics & the markets, the reason given by politicians & Oil Executives, this increase in supply should have decreased the price of gas. When I see that Oil Companies have posted record profits so high they could pay the National annual deficit of America I know that too much is wrong.

Too me it is like a used car salesman trying to sell you lemon. We the American people, have a bunch of lemons running our government in Washington D.C. and our State capitals.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Radical Conservative, Conservative, Liberal, Independent. You need transportation, our children’s schools need these moneys in the class room not all spent on gas for buses, and we ALL deserve to the ability to save our hard earned income not give it too greedy excessive Oil companies CEO’s.

Florida Politics: Governor ‘s Race

I predict that Rod Smith- Democrat and Charlie Crist- Republican will be the contenders to be the next governor of Florida.

Both men are addressing crucial issues to citizens utilizing their current respective positions.

Smith has proposed election reforms such as verified voting & measures to restore confidence in the new electronic voting systems.

Crist is discussing investigations of Oil Companies and price gaulging.

Both issues are very important to Floridians. The candidate which is most successful in their efforts will cause many swing voters to support them.

My initial oppostion to Charlie Crist was that he was not using his position as Florida Attorney General to purse the Oil Companies. This could be a major Democratic campaign strategy against him. His recent moves shows that he is aware of this lack of action. This may be the issue that wins the election.

More to come…….

Rod Smith:
http://www.rodsmith2006.com/index.jsp

Charlie Crist:
http://www.charliecrist.com/

Money for Iraq: A Must Pass Bill?

There is no Bill that is immune to being rejected. We now constantly hear of funding for the Wars in Iraq and on Terror as “must pass bills”.

The proposed Emergency & Supplemental Spending for Iraq must be rejected.

In addition there are several other financial matters to discuss.

Congressmen are pressured to “bring home the bacon” to their home districts by abusing earmarks. In my opinion there’s no more bacon left. Its time to cut back on government spending, not from already stripped domestic programs but from the Dept. of Defense, the Iraq War, Congressional earmarks, and the Dept. of Homeland Security.

Soaring gas prices are also related to the corruption in Congress. The current fiscal irresponsibility is related to corruption and void of moral accountability.

Lobbyist have more access & influence to government than everyday citizens.

A prime example of such a lack of accountability is the former WH House Budget Director Josh Bolten who oversaw the current deficit spending now being promoted to WH Chief of Staff. Personally I viewed Bolten give a presentation on the budget where he expressed concerns about the deficit but entirely ignored the cost of supplemental & emergency upon the deficit.

“I’m the Decider”

“I’m the Decider”

These words from Mr. G.W. Bush reminds me of a quote from South Park by Eric Cartman, 'Respect My Authority! '

Bush might as well have said “I’m the Dictator”.

End the Iraq War

U.S. Troops Wounded
May 1, 2003 542
Today 17,469

U.S. Troops Killed
May 1, 2003 139
Today 2,400

Size of U.S. Forces
May 1, 2003 150,000
Today 132,000

Size of Iraqi Security Forces
May 1, 2003 7,000-9000
Today 250,500

Number of Insurgents
May 1, 2003 5,000
Today 15,000-20,000

Insurgent Attacks Per Day
May 1, 2003 8
Today 75

Cost to U.S. Taxpayers
May 1, 2003 $79 billion
Today $320 billion

Approval of Bush’s Handling of Iraq
May 1, 2003 75%
Today 37%

Percentage of Americans who Believe The Iraq War Was “Worth Fighting”
May 1, 2003 70%
Today 41%

Bush’s Overall Job Approval
May 1, 2003 71%
Today 38%

Information from Daily Kos & ThinkProgress.org


This War in Iraq has been the central goal of the Republican controlled government. However a goal that is no longer embraced by the American people. This War must be ended immediately so that the United States can move forward with its economy and mending its deep political divisions. I do not agree with Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s statement that “the United States is on the brink of civil war“, however the severity of the polarity of current U.S. society has not been as such in decades.

After having a conversation with a former soldier he says all troops in Iraq could be removed in 3 months.

This is a Great President

The Honorable President Bill Clinton praying with victims of Hurricane Katrina

Talk about Impeachment

For some time there has been much talk about Impeaching the G.W. Bush Administration. The prime goal would be too remove Bush and Cheney both from Office through legal or procedural means.

The pieces are beginning to come together:

1) Rep. Jon Conyers Jr. of Michigan legislation for Investigations on the Iraq War and Impeachment
http://www.house.gov/conyers/

2) Senator Russ Finegold of Wisconsin move for Censure

3) The Illinois State legislature is exploring the power of states to call for removing Mr. G.W. Bush

4) California State discusses Impeaching Bush and Cheney
http://shows.airamericaradio.com/play.php?file=RandiRhodes/2006/APRIL/4-25-06/Randi_4-25.wma

April 22, 2006Bush Impeachment - The Illinois State Legislature is Preparing to Drop a Bombshell Utilizing a little known rule of the US House to bring Impeachment charges by Steven Leser The Illinois General Assembly is about to rock the nation. Members of state legislatures are normally not considered as having the ability to decide issues with a massive impact to the nation as a whole. Representative Karen A. Yarbrough of Illinois' 7th District is about to shatter that perception forever. Representative Yarbrough stumbled on a little known and never utlitized rule of the US House of Representatives, Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives, which allows federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of a state legislature. From there, Illinois House Joint Resolution 125 (hereafter to be referred to as HJR0125) was born. Detailing five specific charges against President Bush including one that is specified to be a felony, the complete text of HJR0125 is copied below at the end of this article. One of the interesting points is that one of the items, the one specified as a felony, that the NSA was directed by the President to spy on American citizens without warrant, is not in dispute. That fact should prove an interesting dilemma for a Republican controlled US House that clearly is not only loathe to initiate impeachment proceedings, but does not even want to thoroughly investigate any of the five items brought up by the Illinois Assembly as high crimes and/or misdemeanors. Should HJR0125 be passed by the Illinois General Assembly, the US House will be forced by House Rules to take up the issue of impeachment as a privileged bill, meaning it will take precedence over other House business.The Illinois General Assembly joins a growing chorus of voices calling for censure or impeachment of President Bush including Democratic state committees in Vermont, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada and North Carolina as well as the residents themselves of seven towns in Vermont, seventy Vermont state legislators and Congressman John Conyers. The call for impeachment is starting to grow well beyond what could be considered a fringe movement. An ABC News/Washington Post Poll Conducted April 6-9 showed that 33% of Americans currently support Impeaching President Bush, coincidentally, only a similar amount supported impeaching Nixon at the start of the Watergate investigation. If and when Illinois HJR0125 hits the capitol and the individual charges are publicly investigated, that number is likely to grow rapidly. Combined with the very real likelihood that Rove is about to be indicted in the LeakGate investigation, and Bush is in real trouble beyond his plummeting poll numbers. His cronies in the Republican dominated congress will probably save him from the embarassment of an impeachment conviction, for now, but his Presidency will be all but finished.---------------------------------------------------------HJ0125 LRB094 20306 RLC 58347 r 1 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION2 WHEREAS, Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of 3 the United States House of Representatives allows federal 4 impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of 5 a state legislature; and 6 WHEREAS, President Bush has publicly admitted to ordering 7 the National Security Agency to violate provisions of the 1978 8 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a felony, specifically 9 authorizing the Agency to spy on American citizens without 10 warrant; and 11 WHEREAS, Evidence suggests that President Bush authorized 12 violation of the Torture Convention of the Geneva Conventions, 13 a treaty regarded a supreme law by the United States 14 Constitution; and 15 WHEREAS, The Bush Administration has held American 16 citizens and citizens of other nations as prisoners of war 17 without charge or trial; and 18 WHEREAS, Evidence suggests that the Bush Administration 19 has manipulated intelligence for the purpose of initiating a 20 war against the sovereign nation of Iraq, resulting in the 21 deaths of large numbers of Iraqi civilians and causing the 22 United States to incur loss of life, diminished security and 23 billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses; and 24 WHEREAS, The Bush Administration leaked classified 25 national secrets to further a political agenda, exposing an 26 unknown number of covert U. S. intelligence agents to potential 27 harm and retribution while simultaneously refusing to 28 investigate the matter; and 29 WHEREAS, The Republican-controlled Congress has declined HJ0125 - 2 - LRB094 20306 RLC 58347 r 1 to fully investigate these charges to date; therefore, be it2 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 3 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE 4 SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the General Assembly of the 5 State of Illinois has good cause to submit charges to the U. S. 6 House of Representatives under Section 603 that the President 7 of the United States has willfully violated his Oath of Office 8 to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United 9 States; and be it further 10 RESOLVED, That George W. Bush, if found guilty of the 11 charges contained herein, should be removed from office and 12 disqualified to hold any other office in the United States.
NOTE: Sec. 603. Inception of impeachment proceedings in the House.In the House there are various methods of setting an impeachment in motion: by charges made on the floor on the responsibility of a Member or Delegate (II, 1303; III, 2342, 2400, 2469; VI, 525, 526, 528, 535, 536); by charges preferred by a memorial, which is usually referred to a committee for examination (III, 2364, 2491, 2494, 2496, 2499, 2515; VI, 543); by a resolution dropped in the hopper by a Member and referred to a committee (Apr. 15, 1970, p. 11941; Oct. 23, 1973, p. 34873); by a message from the President (III, 2294, 2319; VI, 498); by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State (III, 2469) or territory (III, 2487) or from a grand jury (III, 2488); or from facts developed and reported by an investigating committee of the House (III, 2399, 2444). In the 93d Congress, the Vice President sought to initiate an investigation by the House of charges against him of possibly impeachable offenses. The Speaker and the House took no action on the request since the matter was pending in the courts and the offenses did not relate to activities during the Vice President's term of office (Sept. 25, 1973, p. 31368; III, 2510 (wherein the Committee on the Judiciary, to which the matter had been referred by privileged resolution, reported that the Vice President could not be impeached for acts or omissions committed before his term of office)). On the other hand, in 1826 the Vice President's request that the House investigate charges against his prior official conduct as Secretary of War was referred, on motion, to a select committee (III, 1736). On September 9, 1998, an independent counsel transmitted to the House under 28 U.S.C. 595© a communication containing evidence of alleged impeachable offenses by the President. The House adopted a privileged resolution reported by the Committee on Rules referring the communication to the Committee on the Judiciary, restricting Members' access to the communication, and restricting access to committee meetings and hearings on the communication (H. Res. 525, Sept. 11, 1998, p. 20020). Later, the House adopted a privileged resolution reported by the Committee on the Judiciary authorizing an impeachment inquiry by that committee (H. Res. 581, Oct. 8, 1998, p. 24679). The authority to appoint an independent counsel under 28 U.S.C. 573 expired on June 30, 1999.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_060422_bush_impeachment___t.htm