Above the law?

[BluKitty]

On December 17 President Bush acknowledged that he repeatedly authorized wiretaps, without obtaining a warrant, of American citizens engaged in international calls. On the face of it, these warrantless wiretaps violate FISA, which requires court approval for national security wiretaps and sets up a special procedure for obtaining it. Violation of the law is a felony.

So why is Bush allowed to be above the law?   FISA was created to stop the abuse of power that Nixon was impeached for.  

From Watergate, Congress knew that a President was fully capable of wiretapping under a false claim of national security.

Even if every wiretap had true terrorist connections, they should be investigated.  Somehow, knowing the history of this administration, I think some will turn out to be survallance of protest and pollitical groups that stand aginst this administration.  The same kinds of things Nixon did.

FISA can scarcely be claimed to create any obstacle to justified national security wiretaps. Since 1978, when the law was enacted, more than 10,000 national security warrants have been approved by the FISA court; only four have been turned down. {...} What then was the reason for avoiding the FISA court? President Bush suggested that there was no time to get the warrants. But this cannot be true, because FISA permits wiretaps without warrants in emergencies as long as court approval is obtained within three days. Moreover, there is evidence that the President knew the warrantless wiretapping was illegal. In 2004, when the violations had been going on for some time, President Bush told a Buffalo, New York, audience that "a wiretap requires a court order." He went on to say that "when we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."

Bush's claims seem hollow and he seems to understand the law.  So why does he break it?  

If he truely feels it needs to be changed he can go to congress and ask for them to vote to change the law.  You don't just break the law because you feel like it.   The President isn't allowed to ignore the constitution and congress just because he feels like it, just because he claims it's national secuirty.  Nixon claimed that as well.

                           *****************

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/holtzman

Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman served four terms in Congress, where she played a key role in House impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon.

[Skuzzy]

People in power and celebrities have been above the law for some time.  Not really anything to get all wound up about.  It is the way things are.  Nothing will change it.

Better to put the energy into something constructive, like barbequeing.

[capt. apathy]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
 It is the way things are.  Nothing will change it.

 

especially if we just continue to rollover for it.

if you're not outraged, you aren't paying attention.

[Skuzzy]

I gave up being outraged where it concerns what politicians do.  No point in it.

I have done far more than most people in trying to get things accomplished with politicians and I have gotten nothing accomplished out of it.  Nothing.

[BluKitty]

Well ya, like Ken Kesey said... paraphrased..... you can't change or beat the system by playing within it.  

But the point kind of is.... if we let things get out of hand too much.... blood might flow, and we should try to avoid that.  Civil war, weather you call it riots or whatever, are not good.

[Stringer]

I think this is wrong no doubt.

But, if they did happen to listen in to my international calls I am confident I would be arrested for inciting boredom.

Actually, now that I think about, I hope they are listening so that maybe one of these guys can give me some help or suggestions on how to get those Belgiums to get their cost savings closer to plan!!!

Now when my wife calls her grandmother in Italy all I ever see and hear is alot of yelling and waving of arms, but that's usually just the annual Happy Birthday call.

[storch]

seemingly all politicians consider themselves above the law.  we did work for the mayor of a local municipality through a GC that does lots of municipal work.  the GC picked up the tab for the work at the mayor's house.  I suspect a quid pro quo and he was able to get permitted and varianced for stuff that would be considered impossible for anyone else.  it makes me sick to see it occur.  if this is on a local podunk level imagine how extensive it must be at the national level.

[Blooz]

From what I hear a domestic call, say one from LA to NY, needs a warrant to be tapped.

An international call, say one from LA to Baghdad (or a call from Baghdad to LA) can be tapped without a warrant.

Calls going out to foreign countries and calls coming into the US from foreign countries don't need warrants.

I think it's something about the difference in US law vs. international law.

I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on the internet. It's just my understanding from what I've heard and read.

[Debonair]

Hope they're feeding Sean Alexander's calls to Joe Gibbs

[midnight Target]

Amazing!

No worries mate... throw a shrimp on the barbie!

Unless of course we're talking about a Clinton... then let the lynching begin!

[Shamus]

I think all calls should be listened to, internal and external. It would make terrorist hunting, tax collection, child support collection and child molester detection so much easier.

Just think about it, if you heard the right "key words" you could swoop in on just about anyone, especially if they owned guns or had been heard to say things considered to be seditious by a reasonable person.

shamus

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by BluKitty
So why is Bush allowed to be above the law?   FISA was created to stop the abuse of power that Nixon was impeached for.

Nixon wasn't impeached.... and you have a dangling participle.

[JTs]

expressed my opinon to vp dan qualye about his motorcade tying up traffic in l.a. at 3pm on a friday afternoon.  spent the rest of the day in jail.

[Octavius]

wow!

[lasersailor184]

Blukitty, while I do agree that it's illegal (being a libertarian), you should know that President Bush is ****NOT**** the first president to ever do it.  The only reason that people are freaking out is because the Democratic party is playing politics and the republican party doesn't have the balls to swing back.