Posted on 01/17/2007 11:21:09 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Bush won't reauthorize eavesdropping program Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:10 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush has decided not to reauthorize the controversial domestic warrantless surveillance program for terrorism suspects and to put it under the authority of a secret special court, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Wednesday.
"The president has determined not to reauthorize the Terrorist Surveillance Program
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
We are doing pretty well so far as the new minority. They had their first major tiff today over the ethics bill. We have them on the mat over cloture.
They have Harry spitting up hair balls...LOL
Secondly, the program is still up and running, but no longer is it a Executive program. It is now under the control of the courts oversight and is no longer warrentless..
Except where illegal aliens are concerned - there he'll "stay the course".
the program is up and running, only to the degree that someone is willing to pursue warrants through FISA. and when they don't want to, the program isn't up and running, at least not with respect to the domestic criminal justice system.
and do you think the Dems are going to stop here? No, they will move now to make FISA even more restrictive, with congressional oversight perhaps. so what happens then, does the administration come back later and say "we should never have let this executive privilege go, we are re-asserting it".
Mark Levin is not without faults, nor is he infallible, nor (and this is especially important) does he have all of the facts. Since he doesn't get security and strategy briefings from the White House, don't you think that he might be a trifle lacking in some of the pertinent facts?
the constitutional argument here is not going to change - either the executive has these powers as part of his role as commander in chief, or he does not. the idea that an act of Congress (FISA) can just "pluck" a power from the executive, is wrong. The administration asserted this, bravely fought it tooth and nail for years - and now this.
this should have gone to the SCOTUS. at least if we lost it there, I could accept that.
There are many things we can depend on the President for and one of the most important is protecting our country.
I don't think overreacting is good here.
Oh, wait ,,, that's what we do on Free Republic, isn't it?
President Bush stands nearly alone in Washington. He hasn't the backing of the Congress, the press, at least half of the dim bulb public, many members of his own party, a good chunk of talk radio (including Levin and Linbaugh who are more interested in proving how much smarter they are than Bush).
The President has done the best he could with the situation he was handed in November. I really don't care if you would have felt better if we took it to the Supreme Court and lost; that would have cost us more than a lost court case, and I am sure you will agree when you think about it.
No......But this issue was a Republican problem. They have been working on this approval fast track process for some many months, and apparently feel comfortable with it.
But you are correct that entire patriot act is at risk now, but not because of this decision. Lets take one problem at a time. This decision will not affect the Dem's desire to bury bush and forget we are at risk from terror.
The dem's think the french will love us if we act like a bunch of pandering puss's. They are not going to get any worse, or any better. They are what they are until they get a Dem in the White house, and that won't be but two more years.
even if we had lost the court case, the wiretaps would have reverted to where it is now (after this decision) - with FISA. the outcome would have been the same.
Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems that this is a ploy to deny the democrats a way to get at the information, and to keep the information from being sent to terrorists, via people like Leahy.
Why you would take the opinion of a radio talk show host, even one who is a lawyer, over the actions of a President who has demonstrated time and time again that he has nothing but the safety of this nation at heart is simply beyond me.
Well, I'm not sure about how I feel about this.
Perhaps it will allow a few terrorists to get their job done, and after millions of people are dead or dying, and some of our major cities are gone, the USA will again become important to it's own citizens.
get at what information? the details of the taps? how was congress going to get those had the entire program been vested in the executive branch? any leakers in the executive branch, are still there. all that has happened here, is adding the FISA layer back.
the existence of the program was already leaked, so that secret is out.
Excellent point!!
A president can't use these powers in a democracy for ever, and it was just a matter of time before he would have had to relinquish this one. The court did likewise during WWII.
i think we have very little to worry about in this instance, and the program is still quite functional. It would have been better if it were secret, but that was blown long ago.
"Well, I guess if you all hate him now "
What is this "hate" stuff? Do you hate everyone who disappoints you, and is that why you assume that my use of the word "disappoint" indicates hatred?
"Read my tagline"
It is incoherent, as is the rest of your note.
I can neither agree nor argue, because there is no way to discern just what it is that you are advocating.
Why do we assume that there is nothing there to take the place of this program? I doubt it very seriously that the President won't have something in place to keep this country secure. Just the fact that we haven't been attacked again shows that he's serious about the subject.
I'm just gonna sit back for a while and enjoy this (wink, wink)
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