Hero
House approves changes to surveillance program – International Herald Tribune — Of course the Dems never reckon that they’re the ones being spied upon. Ha.
Only a few dissented for obvious reasons, to wit:
Silvestre Reyes, Democrat of Texas and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday that the administration-supported bill would allow wiretapping without warrants as long as it was “concerning a person abroad.” As a result, he said, the law could be construed as allowing any search inside the United States as long as the government said it “concerned” Al Qaeda.
Difficult to come up with rationales – other than “spineless & gutless”.
Everything now is about the 08 general election. The Democrats can’t be seen as too soft on terrorism. They know if there is another attack it would be used against them. Besides once you start surrendering liberties, it’s hard to stop.
Which is worse, the Bush Administration which does whatever they want to (all in the name of fighting evil terrorists of course), or the 110th Congress which allows the Bush Administration to do whatever they want to?
I am starting to think the 110th Congress is worse, because they are the ones who represent US and are supposed to be putting up a fight against this tyrant, er, President.
Come on guys and gals of the 110th Congress, show some backbone! Just say, “No.”
I say that surveillance and wire-tapping is okay as long as they focus on what they say they are looking for, namely terrorism. That means that if they tap a line and find out that the person they suspected was trafficing arms was instead trafficking drugs they would have to drop their tap and seek NO arrests for those OTHER illegal activities.
#3. Actually, a vast majority of Democrats said ‘no.’ Enough broke ranks, however, to give them a ‘yes.’
I realize that some sort of wiretapping authority is needed – although I find it hard to believe that the FISA rubber-stamp is actually holding them back – but I have to believe that Dubya, Gonzo, etc will abuse any power given to them.
Look for a signing statement in which Dubya says ‘I could have done all this on my own say-so anyway, so I recognize no limits.’
The Democrats didn’t need terrorism to expand wiretapping authority. The Clinton Administration signed on to roving wiretap authority, and Gore was pushing the ‘clipper chip.’ A little surprising that they did this while they had control of Congress, but it’s in line with their priorities.
It makes sense that the Bush administration would really need this change in wiretapping authority, since they are known for their “we do things by the letter of the law” policies, and they would not be able to do what they need to do without proper congressional oversight and approval.
Bush and his cronies are turning America into the Soviet state that we fought against the whole cold war… and now those we elected to stop him are turning into part of the system.
Please God, free us from this group of men.
Honestly, shouldn’t this say Republican’s approve (with a few Dems)…..
Nothing passes the House or Senate without the approval of the leadership, especially as a stand-alone bill. The House leadership could have just left this bottled up in committee.
One more hit against the left’s base. Good luck getting them to show up in Nov. ’08.
Of course they approved it. Once a government official gets a taste of the power that a police force unhindered by judicial restraint provides, there is no going back.
Giving your government such power over you is will work against you and will not make you any safer, no matter which propaganda you subscribe to.
Dick Cheney is one of my personal heroes. Did any of you know that he gives away almost 80% of his income to charity each year?
I really find all of the silly conspiracy theories amusing – but not at all surprising.