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The Truth will prevail, but only if we demand it from Congress! 9-11 Inside Job and Neocons Hacked 2004 SCROLL DOWN
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Bush's illegal Wiretaps-A Strong Case for Impeachment to Add to All of the Others There is not a single bit of authority in any of this for the absurd and dangerous proposition that the President has the right to violate a criminal law passed by Congress. Period. The Administration is trotting out lawyers to make legalistic arguments designed to cloud this extremely clear issue, but none of that can change the fact that Bush defenders are arguing that he has the right to enage in conduct which Congress made it a crime to engage in, and there is nothing in the law which gives a President that right. To the contrary, as one would expect, it has been repeatedly made clear that under our system of Government, the President does not possess the authoritarian right to engage in behavior which Congress expressly prohibits under the law. ______________________________________________________________________________ Closing in on the Crawford Crimelord Posted on Tuesday, August 22 @ 09:42:50 EDT
over here at Empire Burlesque, and in the Moscow Times, and CounterPunch and anywhere else they'd let us come in with the hammer: George W. Bush and his minions are committing crimes -- actual crimes, clear-cut violations of American and international law, genuine offenses in the most literal sense, not just metaphorical transgressions against some moral law or political ideal. They are criminals by their own admission, have even boasted about their offenses: the unprovoked invasion of Iraq and all the putrid horror that has followed in its wake; the kidnapping of captives off streets all over the world and their "rendition" to secret prisons and foreign torture chambers; the "extrajudicial killing" -- i.e., murder -- of uncharged, untried individuals, including at least one American citizen; "taking the gloves off" on torture techniques that were carefully considered, in detail, in formal legal documents seen and signed by the highest government officials; and on and on. __________________________________________________________________________ Oversight of Warrantless Wiretapping by Capitulation By Robert Parry Despite a dip in his opinion polls, George W. Bush’s transformation of the United States into an authoritarian society continues apace, with new “compromises” with Congress actually consolidating his claims to virtually unlimited executive power. Bush’s latest success came as part of a supposed “concession” to Congress that would grant two new Republican-controlled seven-member subcommittees narrow oversight of Bush’s warrantless wiretapping of Americans. While “moderate” Republican senators – Mike DeWine of Ohio, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska – hailed the plan as a retreat by the White House, the deal actually blesses Bush’s authority to bypass the courts in spying on Americans and imposes on him only a toothless congressional review process. Indeed, the congressional plan may make matters worse, broadening the permissible scope of Bush’s wiretaps to include Americans deemed to be “working in support of a terrorist group or organization.” _______________________________________________________________________________ White House Rejects Special Counsel
______________________________________________________________________ White House Working to Avoid Wiretap Probe By Charles Babington At two key moments in recent days, White House officials contacted congressional leaders just ahead of intelligence committee meetings that could have stirred demands for a deeper review of the administration's warrantless-surveillance program, according to House and Senate sources. ________________________________________________________________________ Spying Necessary, Democrats Say ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE COMPLICITY OF THE DEMOCRATS By Walter Pincus Two key Democrats yesterday called the NSA domestic surveillance program necessary for fighting terrorism but questioned whether President Bush had the legal authority to order it done without getting congressional approval. Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) said Republicans are trying to create a political issue over Democrats' concern on the constitutional questions raised by the spying program. At the same time, the Republican chairmen of the Senate and House intelligence committees -- Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), who attended secret National Security Agency briefings -- said they supported Bush's right to undertake the program without new congressional authorization. They added that Democrats briefed on the program, who included Harman and Daschle, could have taken steps if they believed the program was illegal. All four appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." ___________________________________________________________________________ Bush's real motive: Why is W. acting so recklessly in pursuit of the right to spy?' Whatever else he may or may not be, Bush is strategic: what better vehicle for delivering himself sweeping, unchecked "inherent" presidential power than through an appeal to national security in an area -- electronic surveillance -- where public-opinion polls indicate that Americans are most willing to sacrifice civil liberties in exchange for perceived security? The dirty little details of surveillance law are sufficiently esoteric and legalistic that the average citizen remains largely in the dark, distracted by siren calls of security. After all, who isn't in favor of protecting America when all that is at stake is privacy? Why worry about a little wiretapping when you know that you are doing nothing wrong? _________________________________________________________________________
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY HENDERSON, Nev. Former President Jimmy Carter criticized the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program Monday and said he believes the president has broken the law. "Under the Bush administration, there's been a disgraceful and illegal decision _ we're not going to the let the judges or the Congress or anyone else know that we're spying on the American people," Carter told reporters. "And no one knows how many innocent Americans have had their privacy violated under this secret act." ________________________________________________________________________ Senate Intelligence Chairman: Bush Can SpyBy PETE YOST, Associated Press WriterFri Feb 3, 8:13 PM ET Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts said Friday the Bush administration's domestic spying is within the president's inherent power under the Constitution, and he rejected criticism that Congress was kept in the dark about it. The program is "legal, necessary and reasonable," the Kansas Republican wrote in a 19-page letter, taking a particularly expansive view of the president's authority for the warrantless surveillance. "Congress, by statute, cannot extinguish a core constitutional authority of the president," Roberts wrote. _________________________________________________________________ House Judiciary Committee Refuses Investigation 'What the President ordered in this case was a crime'
that he is not one of their number, a dwindling cadre of public servants still take seriously the dictates of the Constitution and the intents of it authors. And there is no more serious dictate of the document -- and no more solidly established intent -- than the one that requires the Congress to serve as a check and a balance against the excesses of the executive branch. Most particularly in a time of war, the founders intended for the Congress to question, challenge and constrain the president and his aides so that never again would Americans be subjected to the illegitimate, unwarranted and illegal dictates of a King George. places a particularly high demand on the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It is in the House, the Constitution tells us, that the work of holding an out-of-control president to account, must begin -- and it is on the Judiciary Committee that the process is initiated. understand this charge better than most. After all, he was at the center of the effort in 1998 and 1999 to impeach former President Bill Clinton. debate that if the misdeeds of the former president required both examination and action by the Judiciary Committee -- as Sensenbrenner so obvioualy believed-- then the misdeeds of the current president must surely merit a similar response. _____________________________________________________________________ 'Does the President Really Know Best?'
raise your hand. Anyone? Anyone? are aware, only recently has the world received notice that President Bush's "I can do anything I want" approach to governance has a name: the Unitary Executive Theory of the Presidency. Not having heard of this concept, and thinking perhaps that I had missed something in Constitutional Law, I decided to survey a random sampling of attorneys about it. The group included civil practitioners, prosecutors, a federal judge, a former federal prosecutor who has a PhD as well as a J.D., defense attorneys, and a U.S. magistrate. The precise question was, "When did you first hear about the Unitary Executive Theory of the Presidency?" Most said, "The past few weeks," but my favorite was, "A few seconds ago, when you asked about it." All agreed that the term does not appear in the U.S. Constitution and that, the last time they checked, we still had three branches of government. _____________________________________________________________________ Democrats' Unofficial Wiretap Hearings to be Carriedon CSPAN01/18/2006 @ 3:04 pmFiled by RAW STORY House Democrats, led by liberal Michigan Congressmen John Conyers, will hold unofficial hearings on the legality of President Bush's warantless wiretap programs Friday, and CSPAN and Pacifica radio will carry the hearings live, RAW STORY can report. Conyers office said in a release that CNN and ABC radio are also expected to be present at the event. Radio Pacifica affiliates will broadcast the forum beginning at 11:00am EST, and it will be streamed live on the internet at www.kpfa.org. __________________________________________________________________________ Justice Department to Declare Warrantless Wiretaps Legal John Byrne In a detailed 42-page legal memorandum set for release this evening the Bush Justice Department will defend the President's warrantless wiretap program as legal. A copy of the document was leaked to RAW STORY. ________________________________________________________________________ Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11 Friday 13 January 2006 The National Security Agency advised President Bush in early 2001 that it had been eavesdropping on Americans during the course of its work monitoring suspected terrorists and foreigners believed to have ties to terrorist groups, according to a declassified document. The NSA's vast data-mining activities began shortly after Bush was sworn in as president and the document contradicts his assertion that the 9/11 attacks prompted him to take the unprecedented step of signing a secret executive order authorizing the NSA to monitor a select number of American citizens thought to have ties to terrorist groups. ____________________________________________________________________- Report Rebuts Bush on Spying By Carol D. Leonnig A report by Congress's research arm concluded yesterday that the administration's justification for the warrantless eavesdropping authorized by President Bush conflicts with existing law and hinges on weak legal arguments. The Congressional Research Service's report rebuts the central assertions made recently by Bush and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales about the president's authority to order secret intercepts of telephone and e-mail exchanges between people inside the United States and their contacts abroad. ____________________________________________________________________ 'Land of the Surveilled, Home of the Complacent' Ken Sanders, Dissident Voice campaign to transform the United States from a nominal democracy to a despotic monarchy. To the dismay of some, but to the surprise of no one, The New York Times revealed that in the wake of 9/11, President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to engage in the warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens. the Bush administration has been secretly spying on the telephone conversations and e-mails of U.S. citizens suspected by Bush of having terrorist connections. The White House does not deny that this is true. To the contrary, the Bush administration is proud of its clandestine subversion of what remains of American democracy. Indeed, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice have repeatedly defended the White House's unfettered right to spy on whomever, whenever. Constitution and the Fourth Amendment was wrong. Living up to its reputation as "the paper of record," as well as the leader of the rumored "liberal media," The New York Times complied with the White House's request (threat?) and sat on its story for more than a year. Once the Times got around to publishing its story, the White House immediately directed the Justice Department to find out who leaked Bush's dirty little secret and destroy them. __________________________________________________________________ Five Minute Video on Bush’s Explanation on his Illegal Use of Warrant-less Wire Taps. _________________________________________________________
Bush Vows Domestic Surveillance to Continue
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The Hidden State Steps Forwardby JONATHAN SCHELL [from the January 9, 2006 issue] When the New York Times revealed that George W. Bush had ordered the National Security Agency to wiretap the foreign calls of American citizens without seeking court permission, as is indisputably required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), passed by Congress in 1978, he faced a decision. Would he deny the practice, or would he admit it? He admitted it. But instead of expressing regret, he took full ownership of the deed, stating that his order had been entirely justified, that he had in fact renewed it thirty times, that he would continue to renew it and--going even more boldly on the offensive--that those who had made his law-breaking known had committed a "shameful act." As justification, he offered two arguments, one derisory, the other deeply alarming. The derisory one was that Congress, by authorizing him to use force after September 11, had authorized him to suspend FISA, although that law is unmentioned in the resolution. Thus has Bush informed the members of a supposedly co-equal branch of government of what, unbeknownst to themselves, they were thinking when they cast their vote. The alarming argument is that as Commander in Chief he possesses "inherent" authority to suspend laws in wartime. But if he can suspend FISA at his whim and in secret, then what law can he not suspend? What need is there, for example, to pass or not pass the Patriot Act if any or all of its provisions can be secretly exceeded by the President? __________________________________________________________________________ Big Brother Is Watching and Listening To Youby Eric Margolis Americans should not be shocked to learn that Big Brother has been eavesdropping on their telecommunications. It’s been an open secret for years that the hush- hush National Security Agency’s big electronic ears on the East and West coasts of the USA have been hoovering up all international phone, fax, and email communications. When you call your aunt in Palermo, or your friend in Egypt, or your girlfriend in Paris, NSA’s super computers pick up and process the transmission. State of the art programs search the messages for key words, locations, repetitions and patterns of interest. This process has been going on long before 9/11. _____________________________________________________________________________ BUSH BEGAN WIRETAPS AFTER FISA COURT REJECTED REQUESTS UPI - U.S. President George Bush decided to skip seeking warrants for international wiretaps because the court was challenging him at an unprecedented rate. ___________________________________________________________________________- Journalists Should Expose Secrets, Not Keep Them Both Claimed That a President May Violate Congress' Laws to Protect National Security On Friday, December 16, the New York Times published a major scoop by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau: They reported that Bush authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on Americans without warrants, ignoring the procedures of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). It reported that sometime in 2002, Bush issued an executive order authorizing NSA to track and intercept international telephone and/or email exchanges coming into, or out of, the U.S. - when one party was believed to have direct or indirect ties with al Qaeda. What Did They Say When They Were Impeaching Clinton?From the Impeach Bush Coalition: Tom Delay (R-TX): Sometimes hard, sometimes unpleasant, this path relies on truth, justice and the rigorous application of the principle that no man is above the law. Now, the other road is the path of least resistance. This is where we start making exceptions to our laws based on poll numbers and spin control. This is when we pitch the law completely overboard when the mood fits us, when we ignore the facts in order to cover up the truth. No man is above the law, and no man is below the law. That’s the principle that we all hold very dear in this country." ___________________________________________________________________________ Katrina vanden HeuvelTue Dec 27,10:12 AM ET The Nation -- In 1998, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, currently under indictment on corruption charges, proclaimed: "This nation sits at a crossroads. One direction points to the higher road of the rule of law...The other road is the path of least resistance" in which "we pitch the law completely overboard when the mood fits us...[and] close our eyes to the potential lawbreaking...and tear an unfixable hole in our legal system." That arbiter of moral politics was incensed about the possibility of Bill Clinton escaping unpunished for his "crimes." Fast forward to December 2005. Not one official in the entire Bush Administration has been fired or indicted, not to mention impeached, for the shedding of American blood in Iraq or for the shredding of our Constitution at home. As Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter put it--hours after the New York Times reported that Bush had authorized NSA wiretapping of US citizens without judicial warrants--this President has committed a real transgression that "goes beyond sex, corruption and political intrigue to big issues like security versus liberty and the reasonable bounds of presidential power." In the last months, several organizations, including AfterDowningStreet, Impeach Central and ImpeachPAC.org, have formed to urge Bush's impeachment. But until very recently, their views were virtually absent in the so-called "liberal" MSM, and could only be found on the Internet and in street protests. _________________________________________________________________________ Spying on Americans Yes, the president committed a federal crime by wiretapping Americans, say constitutional scholars, former intelligence officers and politicians. What's missing is the political will to impeach him. ______________________________________________________________________________ Daschle: Congress Denied Bush War Powers in U.S. By Barton Gellman The Bush administration requested, and Congress rejected, war-making authority "in the United States" in negotiations over the joint resolution passed days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to an opinion article by former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in today's Washington Post. Daschle's disclosure challenges a central legal argument offered by the White House in defense of the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. It suggests that Congress refused explicitly to grant authority that the Bush administration now asserts is implicit in the resolution. _________________________________________________________________________ The Bush Justifications for Law-breakingName:Glenn Greenwald The self-evident strategy of the Bush defenders is to cloud the extremely clear fact of Bush’s illegal conduct with so many legalistic justifications that people will throw up their hands and decided that this is nothing more than an esoteric lawyer game, not a serious threat to the founding principles of the nation and to the rule of law. But the principle that the President does not have the right to engage in conduct which the Congress prohibits under our criminal laws is one that is as clear as it is critical to our system of government, and it is urgent that this clarity be maintained and the rule of law enforced. ___________________________________________________________________________ |