a lil spying is good fer freedom

[Guest guest]

Surveillance Court Judge Resigns in Protest of Bush Spy Program

This news on the Bush administration’s domestic espionage program: the

Washington Post is reporting a judge has resigned from the country’s top spy

court in protest of the secret program in which the National Security Agency has

eavesdropped on Americans without court-approved warrants. U.S. District Judge

James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence

Surveillance Court, submitted his resignation Monday. The court is regarded as

the only authority to authorize wire-taps for domestic espionage.

 

Bush in 2004: “Wiretap Requires A Court Orderâ€

President Bush has argued eavesdropping without court-approved warrants is legal

under authority granted by Congress shortly after 9/11. But in April of last

year President Bush told reporters wire-taps were only conducted with court

approval.

 

President Bush, April 20, 2004: “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.â€

The White House is now claiming Bush was referring only to actions taken under

the Patriot Act.

 

Report: Espionage Monitored Purely Domestic Communications

Meanwhile, the New York Times is reporting the espionage program monitored

communications that were entirely domestic -- despite recent assurances from top

administration officials that one end of the intercepted communications came

from abroad. Government officials told the Times the intercepts were

“accidental.â€

 

Earlier this week, former NSA director Gen. Michael V. Hayden, currently the

second-ranking intelligence official in the country, told reporters: " I can

assure you, by the physics of the intercept, by how we actually conduct our

activities, that one end of these communications are always outside the United

States. "

 

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales made the same claim: " People are running

around saying that the United States is somehow spying on American citizens

calling their neighbors. [its] very, very important to understand that one party

to the communication has to be outside the United States. "

 

Cheney: Spy Program Enacted To Strength Presidential Authority

The new developments come as Vice President Dick Cheney has indicated the spy

program was enacted as part of an attempt to strengthen presidential authority

that has been weakened since Watergate and Vietnam.

 

Vice President Dick Cheney: " Watergate and a lot of the things around Watergate

and Vietnam, both during the 1970s, served, I think, to erode the authority I

think the president needs to be effective, especially in the national security

area. Especially in the day and age we live in … the president of the United

States needs to have his constitutional powers unimpaired, if you will, in terms

of the conduct of national security policy. "

 

what is peace

to the people

who work the land

and die in wars?

it was learned in a game

that was played by us all

who held the top of the hill

from the rest was called the king

and I can't believe it all

was good for humankind