News > Politics > Bush Goes Back On His Word, Says Hell Spy On You If He Feels Like It

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SATURDAY MAY 5 2007 1:00 PM

Bush Goes Back On His Word, Says Hell Spy On You If He Feels Like It

Submitted by Subrosa

Edited by erin_broadley

Tags: Bush, domestic spying, Constitution

Its like every story about the White House right now should be accompanied by a mental picture of Bush twirling his moustache like Snidely Whiplash with the Imperial March playing in the background. He is truly, truly evil. So when Bush announced this week that he wouldn't honor his agreement to refrain from wiretapping American citizens without a warrant, we cant be surprised. Can we? Its getting so hard to continue being outraged at this bullshit.

As a result of the January agreement, the administration said that the National Security Agencys domestic spying program has been brought under the legal structure laid out in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires court-approved warrants for the wiretapping of American citizens and others inside the United States.

But on Tuesday, the senior officials, including Michael McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, said they believed that the president still had the authority under Article II of the Constitution to once again order the N.S.A. to conduct surveillance inside the country without warrants.

During a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. McConnell was asked by Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, whether he could promise that the administration would no longer sidestep the court when seeking warrants.

Sir, the presidents authority under Article II is in the Constitution, Mr. McConnell said. So if the president chose to exercise Article II authority, that would be the presidents call.

Well its nice that the president is interested in following the Constitution when its convenient for him to do so. But make no mistake: hell follow it only when its convenient for him. This bullshit about Article II being Article II is an absurd and offensively dangerous legal argument. Nowhere does Article II does it give the president the power to circumvent the protections of the rest of the document if he deems it expedient. Its this type of power that the U.S. Constitution is specifically designed to prevent.

The administrations promise to go back on their word came during hearings in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who are meeting to discuss legislation that will bring the Administrations current surveillance programs back to the realm of the sane and legal. While some of the proposed changes to FISA make sense, such as allowing surveillance of purely international communications that are routed through US servers or satellites, others are less well-intentioned.

While administration officials, citing national security concerns, have declined to discuss publicly what communications gaps they wish to plug, their proposed legislation seems designed to single out so-called transit traffic, purely international telephone calls and e-mail that go from one foreign country to another, but happen to be digitally routed through the United States telecommunications system.

The administrations proposal would also provide legal immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with the National Security Agencys surveillance program without warrants before it was brought under the surveillance act in January. It would also provide legal protections for government workers who took part in the N.S.A. program.

In other words, theyre saying that what they were doing was perfectly legal (after all, Article II is Article II), but they just want to make sure that no one is held legally liable for their perfectly legal actions. Classy! Also, totally predictable coming from these clowns.

You know that saying its easier to get forgiveness than permission? I expect to hear that from the IT guy at my office. I dont expect to hear that from the fucking President of the United States. Shameful.

But what else is new?

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Comments

audiophiliac

Portland, OR

September 2006

MAY 05, 2007 01:09 PM

Sane and legal? It's sad when they need to bring our surveillance programs back to this. Admitting the problem is the first step.

zarth

Seattle, WA

December 2004

MAY 05, 2007 01:13 PM

Article II is plain as day! Look, in Paragraph 3:

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. Furthermore the President shall have the Authoritie, without the Consultation of the Congress, to conduct warrantless Wiring-Taps upon any and all Persons whom the President or his Principal Officers shall in due course determine, Providing that said Person be of the Brown Complexion. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representatives from each State having one Vote; a quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

wildswan

I'm lost

June 2006

MAY 05, 2007 01:17 PM

^^^ Oh, man, that's funny.

Sweet Deal: Enlisting corporations as an extension of the government.

IDGAS

Portland, ME

March 2004

MAY 05, 2007 01:19 PM

U.S. Constitution: Article II Section 3 "...he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed..."