The FISA clock is running out Update: The President’s message
Update 10:35am Feb. 16.
This is the president’s radio address this morning. Maybe Nancy Pelosi will read it on her Blackberry during her social appointments this weekend.
RADIO ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NATION
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. At the stroke of midnight tonight, a vital intelligence law that is helping protect our nation will expire. Congress had the power to prevent this from happening, but chose not to.
The Senate passed a good bill that would have given our intelligence professionals the tools they need to keep us safe. But leaders in the House of Representatives blocked a House vote on the Senate bill, and then left on a 10-day recess.
Some congressional leaders claim that this will not affect our security. They are wrong. Because Congress failed to act, it will be harder for our government to keep you safe from terrorist attack. At midnight, the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence will be stripped of their power to authorize new surveillance against terrorist threats abroad. This means that as terrorists change their tactics to avoid our surveillance, we may not have the tools we need to continue tracking them — and we may lose a vital lead that could prevent an attack on America.
In addition, Congress has put intelligence activities at risk even when the terrorists don’t change tactics. By failing to act, Congress has created a question about whether private sector companies who assist in our efforts to defend you from the terrorists could be sued for doing the right thing. Now, these companies will be increasingly reluctant to provide this vital cooperation, because of their uncertainty about the law and fear of being sued by class-action trial lawyers.
For six months, I urged Congress to take action to ensure this dangerous situation did not come to pass. I even signed a two-week extension of the existing law, because members of Congress said they would use that time to work out their differences. The Senate used this time productively — and passed a good bill with a strong, bipartisan super-majority of 68 votes. Republicans and Democrats came together on legislation to ensure that we could effectively monitor those seeking to harm our people. And they voted to provide fair and just liability protection for companies that assisted in efforts to protect America after the attacks of 9/11.
The Senate sent this bill to the House for its approval. It was clear that if given a vote, the bill would have passed the House with a bipartisan majority. I made every effort to work with the House to secure passage of this law. I even offered to delay my trip to Africa if we could come together and enact a good bill. But House leaders refused to let the bill come to a vote. Instead, the House held partisan votes that do nothing to keep our country safer. House leaders chose politics over protecting the country — and our country is at greater risk as a result.
House leaders have no excuse for this failure. They knew all along that this deadline was approaching, because they set it themselves. My administration will take every step within our power to minimize the damage caused by the House’s irresponsible behavior. Yet it is still urgent that Congress act. The Senate has shown the way by approving a good, bipartisan bill. The House must pass that bill as soon as they return to Washington from their latest recess.
At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning a new attack on America. And Congress has no higher responsibility than ensuring we have the tools to stop them.
Thank you for listening.
***
The FISA clock is ticking. At midnight, the stopgap Protect America Act (PAA) surveillance reform measure expires. The Democrats are shrugging their shoulders. Paging San Fran Nan…never mind.
Andy McCarthy calls bull and lays out the impact of hampered intelligence-gathering:
Can you see what’s happening here? The whole reason Congress enacted the PAA in the first place is because FISA was never meant to apply to foreigners outside the U.S. communicating with other foreigners outside the U.S. We are not supposed to need court authorization for that. We are not supposed to have to write affidavits, approved by the attorney general and others, demonstrating probable cause that such people are agents of foreign powers — as well as demonstrating that other alternative investigative techniques would not yield the same intelligence.
Those are protections afforded by the FISA statute. Foreigners outside the U.S. are supposed to be outside the protection of the FISA statute, just as they are outside the protection of the Constitution. Saying the government can go to the FISA court is no answer: Government is not supposed to have to go to the FISA court. These people are not supposed to have FISA rights. They are not supposed to have Fourth Amendment rights.
We are talking about thousands upon thousands of communications, totally outside the U.S. (in the sense that no person inside our country is a participant) which the intelligence community used to be able to intercept and sift through without any burdensome judicial procedures whatsoever. That is how FISA was written, and that is how FISA was understood for almost 30 years. Then last year, a secret FISA-court ruling attempted to bring all those communications under FISA-court control — apparently on the theory that, because some digital bits of these conversations may zoom through U.S. hubs in global telecommunications networks, somehow a conversation between a guy in Pakistan and a guy in Afghanistan should now be considered a U.S. wire communication.
But FISA was not intended to protect Pakistanis and Afghans. It was intended to protect people inside the U.S. from being subjected to national-security surveillance absent probable cause that they were acting as foreign agents.
Requiring FISA compliance for foreign-to-foreign communications does not protect anyone inside the U.S. It protects non-Americans, some of whom will be terrorists and none of whom is entitled to any protection under American law. It makes it impossible for the intelligence community to monitor all the foreign-to-foreign communications that we used to monitor because we will never be able to show, for every target, probable cause that he is an agent of a foreign power — as FISA requires. The PAA did not call for that; it simply required a certification that we were monitoring people believed to be outside the United States.
The claim that the expiration of the PAA will not open a huge gap in surveillance coverage is laughable. Right now, we are permitted to collect foreign-to-foreign communications absent probable cause that the target is an agent of a foreign power. As of 12:00 A.M., we will no longer be permitted to do that. It is absurd to suggest that this huge drop-off in collection will have no impact on our security.
Obstructionism has consequences–deadly consequences.
A US Army Infantry Platoon leader has a message for Congress:
Today, because Congress failed to act, our intelligence officials no longer have the legal authority to collect foreign intelligence. Exactly the type of intelligence that disrupted several planned terrorists attacks on the United States. Because we face a very real threat to the national security of this country, we must take very real measures to protect our citizens and give our soldiers and our allies around the world the tools they need to keep us safe.
When will our Congress begin to display even a small amount of the courage that our men women fighting for us display day in and day out? Their refusal to reauthorize this legislation is more than an act of submission to trial lawyers, Moveon.org, and the far-left wing of a party that fails to recognize that we face deadly threats from radical Islamic terrorists. Its an act of political cowardice. It’s a sign of an unwillingness to respect the sacrifices made by the members of the military who need that intelligence to successfully accomplish their mission.
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Categories: FISA
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But at least Nancy gets to party this weekend, so, all is good.
What can I say—-
Ann Coulter wrote a book called
TREASON
which outlines the work of traitors in the adminitstrations of FDR and Truman.
I am sure no thing has changed.
It’s terrible really. The same people who bemoan “BushCo” for potentially spying on American citizens will be the first to scream “WHAT DID BUSH KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?!” the moment the next terrorist attack strikes home, when it could have been prevented if our intelligence agencies were beaucratically hamstringed from doing their jobs.
We know the evil-doers follow the news out of Washington closely, would it be fair say that the democraps in congress are playing chicken with the lives of our soldiers and citizens in the balance?
Not only is Pelosi irresponsible and unpatriotic, her refusal to act borders on aiding and abetting if anything serious happens.
So are the cell phone detonators.
I would hope that there are people who will continue listening anyway. What ever happened to the good old days when we didn’t have to know what the CIA was up to. It got us through the cold war just fine.
My disgust with Reid and Pelosi cannot be expressed with civility (there may not be words, civil or not, in the dictionary to describe it either).
But I’m worried even more that our country of 300M elects (and re-, re-, re-elects) people of their ilk.
Scary stuff — the end may be near for us and we helped bring it upon ourselves.
This is another handcuff restricting the the abilities of the American military to do the job they are entrusted with–Protecting This Country!!!
I’m just waiting for the dimocraps to start making “good” & “bad” target lists to give to the military. That might just happen if they get the White House. God help us all.
I wrote my congressman, Ed Pastor 4th District Democrat in Arizona:
The response on his web site:
I wonder if his staff will recognize that I wrote a personal message and not a form letter?
SLP #9
I got the same run around the other day when I emailed the White House, both of my Senators and my Congressman after letting them know my opinion on the Merida Initiative. If they don’t have the decency to reply, then they lose my vote.
All because the Democrats want to sue American companies, Telecoms and please their special interest trial lawyer money.
Democrats care more about their donations than the nations security.
It’s almost like they want another domestic terror attack, probably so they can “blame” Bush. This is nuts.
How do Americans spell “Coward”?
Pelosi.
It looks like we are going to be in deep Kimchi in less than an hour when it comes to our intelligence community and militaries ability to gather intelligence on those that would do us harm. I thought I had enough problems sleeping at night when thinking about our choices for POTUS. Thanks Queen Pelosi for your lack of concern for the lives of Americans at risk due to your arrogant abuses of power while misleading the most ethical Congress ever.
Paging Jack Bower …paging Jack Bower.
Sad day.
The raging paranoids are all afraid the “gubmint” might hear where the meetup groups are or where they gather to watch the sky’s for UFOs.
Off with their treasonous heads! It’s time to take back Congress. All of it! That means vote ‘em all out of office. They spent one million of our tax dollars, and 4 1/2 hours of our time, on a hearing over a bunch of loser ball players. They’re a bunch of morons.
You can almost hear the light switch clicking off in the Capitol and Nancy’s limo racing for Union Station.
I’m not paranoid nor do I have BDS, but I am weary of giving up rights to the government. We know now (or do we?) that only terrorists are being wiretapped, but are there any guarantees it won’t be expanded beyond known terrorists and only be done if the country truly is in danger?
Personally, I’d rather not see the government fight for telecom immunity. One side of the coin says, “we are under imminent danger, the program must go on”. The other side of the coin says, “we are in imminent danger, so to heck with telecom immunity.”
It’s true I’m playing devil’s advocate, I’m not trying to be a troll, but I don’t like giving up rights in favor of industry or in favor of the government.
If someone can give me a thoughtful argument for giving the telecoms immunity, I’d easily flip.
(5 minutes later)
Okay, I just RTFA and I guess this issue is just a red herring. No Americans will be wire-tapped, and the judge who ruled that the wire-taps were illegal was off his rocker. That makes sense.
The party’s over. Our enemies now have free and open communication among one another, may God watch over our men and women in uniform, and may God help us all.
In 1963 Congress addressed the very points of communism that were being used in our system against us. Nowadays those very same issues are addressed in the ACLU’s goals and actively pushed on us by irresponsible members of our government. Sedition is allowed and even rewarded in our cities.
I am really glad my Grandfather is not around to see what this Nation has become but I feel I will probably fill his spot in the line before my time on this earth is through.
The future this portrays is really frightening and far from just fringe conspiracy theories now.
Our government is made up of cowardly wimps who jeopardize our safety in order to kiss the feet of our enemies.
And how our enemies must be laughing at us.
What does Nancy Pelosi care? This idiot has absolutely nothing to lose by failing to take action. Any intelligence failure that costs American lives (before a new Fisa-like bill is produced,) will be placed squarely on the head of President Bush.
The yellow Democrats, lead by their “grandmother” figure Pelosi, will lie, blame the Republicans, and claim that they “couldn’t know” how real the threat was because they couldn’t believe anything Bush said, based on all his previous lies about terrorists, and terrorism in general. It’s predictable.
Unfortunately, the Democrats’ support base, will believe this nonsense once again, and America will pay the price. Then watch them talk tough! It’ll be deja vu all over again.
TOO TRUE.
I do suspect, however, in the case of the FISA Law expiration, that this is just Nancy’s way of ginning up votes for McCain - I highly suspect she’d like to see Hillary bumped off of the list of candidates for President, maybe even Obama, too - so she could start plotting her own run in 2012.
PLUS the satisfaction of seeing McCain accomplish more goals close to her own heart than any DIM could accomplish with GOP opposition like the McCain Shamnesty bill saw last Spring.
You are so correct - our Founding Fathers reacted to the FIRST BREACH of their RIGHTS OF CITIZENSHIP, with The Stamp Act, and took immediate and decisive action, even though it was slow, steady, purposeful, and as easy as the British would let it be done.
Today, we don’t respond to a THOUSANDS CUTS, all seemingly sound asleep in a merrily boiling pot of frogs.
I post that list all the time, and all the Dims have to say about it is, “I AM NOT A COMMUNIST! HOW DARE YOU CALL ME THAT!”
It was exactly like listening to Jack Kemp yesterday declaring that the Conservative pundits had SLURRED McCain’s reputation by calling him a “Liberal”, which Jack declared was “OVER THE TOP!”
Well, I can call them all something worse when they work so tirelessly and homogenously to accomplish the STALINIST LIST of goals selected to cause America to collapse from the inside.
We now have a liberal Congress, and I know, it’s going to take a lot of time to get used to the new agendas and priorities. There will be a lot of head scratching and confusion from us, but maybe someday, we’ll understand (heavy on the word “maybe”). One thing I’m beginning to understand. Things like national security and war on terror have low priorities now. What is on the “front burner” and need immediate attention now, are critical issues like Roger Clemens, Meirs, and Bolten. Of course, let’s not forget Pelosi’s daughter. Coming up soon, will be a very critical problem that will need all of Congress in session…probably investigations into the Patriots spygate. Yes, liberals are working very hard to resolve all these issues. If there is time left, votes to be made, and money to be had, maybe a look into the war, might be placed into an obscure committee if only to come up with a resolution blaming it all on Bush.
That’s the 10 million dollar question isn’t it? I would guess never until something happens and they and their troll friends can all blame Bush and probably those “mass murderers” in the military.
Hope they’re proud of themselves, I suspect they are.
You’re guess is correct, but the exact date is the 3rd of Nevuary.
If Senor’ Jorge Bush cared enough about this very important security legislation he would recall congress from vacation. Let’s not just blame the dumbocrats, we all know how incompetent they are. Why isn’t Bush using his authority to bring congress back from their vacation and fix this security breach?
President Bush should come right out and state the truth: Nancy Pelosi cares more for the “civil rights” of terrorists than she does for the security of America. If another terrorist attack occurs because of this, blood is on her hands and all liberals.
This is another reason why those who are going to not vote for McCain in the upcoming election should reconsider.
On February 16th, 2008 at 8:13 am, rooster said: #29
If Senor’ Jorge Bush cared enough about this very important security legislation he would recall congress from vacation. Let’s not just blame the dumbocrats, we all know how incompetent they are. Why isn’t Bush using his authority to bring congress back from their vacation and fix this security breach?
That is a great idea, the president does have the power to call either house of congress to “extra” or “special sessions” .
President Bush radio speech link
He won’t because he understands that the children in the House leadership would then pass a version of the law that is worse than nothing.
Public pressure is the best antibiotic to cure this democrat transmitted disease.
I have some personal experience within the FISA. It will hurt us bad not to have this in place. People say how terrible the whole thing is because they do not know the inner workings. They can’t know. (what is done within it IS SECRET.) So they make up what they don’t know. This is one very important tool the intelligence community uses to help protect the American people. It does no harm. That’s the whole idea.
A 10-day “recess?”
We should lock the doors of Congress and not allow any of the traitorous scum back in to do further damage.
Jorge Boosh will do nothing beyond whimpering about this. He’s still trying to get the traitors to open the borders for his real constituency.
Those on the demoncraptic side of the isle should be charged with national endangerment.
They need to GO NOW.
Go Deep!….like the trick a big brother would play on ya….
Obstruction of justice is another….
and just plain stupid should be against the law also.
The current Congress could turn a pacifist into Rambo.
This sounds like so much conflation and people talking past one another. I wish there was a discussion of the domestic nature of surveillance (what is required/not required and is/is not the law) and a separate discussion of the foreign nature of surveillance (what is required/not required and is/is not the law). And, if there is overlap, then be specific in that discussion, too.
The problem I have is when someone says, “known terrorists” are communicating using this method, or that method.
If these terrorists are known, why isn’t a cruise missile on it’s way to that location before the terrorist hangs up the phone, or hits the send button?
I really, REALLY, wish that GWB would pull an Abraham Lincoln and charge and imprison some of these crapweasel congressmen/women much like Lincoln did to Clement Vallandigham in the Civil War. He could pull it off, especially since he’s the CIC of the military. Even if he lost the case against it after the fact, it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, and maybe it would shock a few members of congress into reality.
I think he’d not only win back ALOT of his approval rating, but he’d be making America safer (at least for a short period of time before the courts ruled that what he did was unconstitutional, of course in the months that such a ruling would take, he could keep those traitors and seditionists in the clink.)
So where does the extension play into this?
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR05349:@@@L&summ2=m&
I’m a little slow today.
Pelosi: “Thank you, Mr. President, for your speech; however, there are more important things besides national security to think about. Kennedy is out of Scotch, Reid needs refills on his meds, and I have a wedding to attend. Now what can be more important than that? Besides, I’m Speaker now.”
Good to see the most ethical congress at work…it scares the hell out of me to think what a unethical congress would be like.
This is such a critical issue for the US, one really begins to wonder what about the true motivation of the Democrats. Most of them were in DC when the Pentagon was attacked on 9/11 and should thus not have to be reminded of the potential of our enemies.
My personal belief based on the constant pattern of obstructing measures to protect the American people leans more and more to the view that the Dems are doing this out of fear. They fear that their participation in the war against out enemies will make them targets of the jihadists. If they are viewed as opposing the war on terror and are viewed as taking a position against the administration, the terrorists will likely give them a pass.
Let’s not forget that among the captured documents and intelligence were detailed plans on the kidnapping and assassination of members of Congress. And that members of Congress are privy to detail on the threat against the US to which we are not. And, of course, the threats by OBL to target states supporting the President and war on terror in the last election with his promise to give “Blue” states a pass when it came to future attacks.
The last thing the terrorists would want to do is take out their “allies” in positions of power within the government.
While this may have been a ludicrous thought a few years ago, based on the actions and inactions of certain members of Congress, it does not seem to be so far fetched today. After all, fear is a powerful motivator, and it is all to clear that courage, moral or otherwise, is a trait distinguished in our elected officials by its glaring absence.
I just left another message at Rep. Jason Altmire’s office, (democrap PA) expressing my disappointment and outrage that our congress can find time to meddle in baseball BS or kick the dead horse of Attorney General firings but not find the time to fulfill their oath of office to defend this country in the face of a clear and present danger.
It’s almost as if they want another attack on this country so they can continue to call Bush a failure. Their action is truly outrageous.
If The Shoe Fits Dept.
To: Those Who Advocate Sitting Out Elections When The GOP Fails To Nominate The Perfect Candidate
Anyone having second thoughts about the wisdom of that strategy right about now?
Dress rehearsal for Obama/Hill presidency.”The hope of people around the world that they will not have worry about a government eavesdropping on their plots to attack America”.”They can have hope that they will be treated fairly in the U.S. courts no matter their faith or their country or their intention…blah..blah.. blah……ad nauseum.
I have reached a point at which nothing, and I do mean nothing, the worthless Dem congress does surprises me … All I have to do to know what they will do is figure out what is the worst thing that they could do to further their surrender agenda and Voila … there it is …
None of these crapweasels will ever care about anything like the GWOT or illegal immigration until it finally hits them squarely in the face on a personal level …
Sorry … but until there is another attack that results in a personal family impact through a loss and/or injury for a bunch of these _____________ (insert your favorite descriptive term for Dem members of Congress) nothing is going to change …
They are truly living in a combination of 9/10/2001 mentality combined with a fatal case of BDS that is irreversible.
I’m NOT sitting it out, and I am NOT voting DIM, NOR AM I GOING TO VOTE FOR THE MAN THAT HANOI JOHN MOST WANTED FOR VEEP!
I WILL VOTE FOR A TRUE CONSERVATIVE, even if he does not win the election.
I’ve gone through a mile long list of McCain activities that put us EVERY SINGLE BIT in as much REAL DANGER as any Democrat - IF NOT MORE SO.
I will never endorse McCain and millions of us have let the GOP know that for MORE THAN A DECADE, and they insist on not only ALLOWING his candidacy but on PROMOTING IT, SHUTTING DOWN LEGITIMATE DISCOURSE OF HIS CONDUCT EARLIER IN THE CAMPAIGN - THEY ARE NOW CALLING THE LABELING OF HIM AS A LIBERAL TO BE “SMEARING HIM” AND STUMPING FOR HIM EVERYWHERE TO ASSURE THE GOP VOTERS HE HAS WONDERFUL CONSERVATIVE CREDENTIALS!
HE WOULD NOT NOW BE THE GOP CANDIDATE IF NOT FOR CROSSOVER DIM VOTERS - even CNN DOCUMENTED that 20% of the VOTERS IN THE FLORIDA CLOSED PRIMARY WERE NON-REPUBLICANS.
BUT THEY CLOSE RANKS AND CASTIGATE THOSE WHO DO NOT SUPPORT HIM - THEY CLOSE RANKS IN HIS SUPPORT AND LABEL THOSE WHO CITE HIS RECORD AS HATE MONGERS!!!
Well, here is your chance to TAKE WHAT YOU DISH!
The man is one of the most dangerous politicians in AMERICA - I will NOT vote for that hot-tempered, America hating, military-hand-tying, vengeful little CRETAN - and I will NOT support a GOP that gets behind him from BEFORE he was the PRESUMPTIVE nominee and shuts out access to LEGITIMATE HONEST CANDIDATES - particularly by shutting out HONEST DISCLOSURES.
THE MAN CALLS WATERBOARDING OF TERRORISTS “TORTURE” AND CALLS HIMSELF A “CONSERVATIVE” AND THINKS THAT HIS SIGNATURE LEGISLATION, McCAIN FEINGOLD, IS BRILLIANT LEGISLATION AND IS “BI-PARTISAN”. AND WILL BE A HALLMARK OF THE LITMUS TEST FOR NEW JUDGE APPOINTMENTS.
You know what our Founding Fathers would have done if anyone then had PROPOSED McCAIN FEINGOLD, seeing as what they did with The Stamp Act.
Let McCain ROTATE ON HIS LAURELS.
The GOP can ROAST before I vote for any candidate from them of the caliber of McCain.
The managers of the GOP lived personally through the Gerald Ford nomination also given to us by Democrats, as well as the Robert Dole nomination.
THEY WANT THIS TANGLE WITH THEIR OWN B ASE, hoping to survive it and shove Conservatives OUT OF THE PARTY alltogether.
Otherwise they would be sitting down and talking turkey with their leadership about what to do about the prosepect of putting forward a DEAD CANDIDACY, YET AGAIN!
We’ve sent the message - With a MULTI-BILLIONAIRE DUAL CITIZEN MEXICAN AZTLAN-PUSHING FINANCE DIRECTOR AT HIS WARM SIDE, McCAIN cannot raise funds SO HE IS DEMANDING THAT OBAMA MEET “RULES” THAT LIMIT OBAMA TO NO MORE MONEY THAN McCAIN HAS!
THE MAN IS A SLEAZE BAG!
You want to put YOUR NAME AND REPUTATION on the line for ENDORSING AND BACKING THE PLAY AND STANDING BEHIND all the crud this man is capable of - waited DECADES to do AND WILL DO - WITH YOUR “CO-SIGNATURE” BACKING HIS PLAY - you go for it.
As for me and my family, including my nephew with Silver Spurs from Iraq (considering all of McCain’s “anti-torture politics, including COURSES TO TEACH US NOT TO RESORT TO TORTURE!!!) - Hell just isn’t beginning to get NEAR hot enough for SOME anti-Americans EVEN IF THEY HAVE AN (R) by their name!
You cannot show such a list of Anti-American accomplishments from his favorite cohorts, Hanoi John and Toady Chappaquiddick Kennedy.
THE GOP KNEW HOW MOST OF US FELT ABOUT HIM BEFORE 2007 AND STILL KEPT PROMOTING HIM AND LYING ABOUT HIS RECORD AND SUPPRESSING IT IN THE NEWS - NOT TELLING VOTERS ABOUT HIS TRUE RECORD before their primaries.
And if I don’t stop now, I run the risk of letting you know how I REALLY feel about this sleazeball from Be-elzebub!
Democrats: dog vomit. In every disgusting sense of the relationship. Any Dem who is aware of this kind of behavior (Ignorance is not a valid excuse, Pookie.) and continues to vote Dem deserves to be living at the next ground zero. I just can’t think of any other appropriate consequence for these idiots.
War? What war? We must all come together and reason. Wait. What’s that? An explosive device?! Oh…
MR. President-we are at WAR !!!!!
You are Commander in Chief -GET at it - use your power in that capacity and protect us and our troops.
FISA itself is still in effect it is the Protect America Act that has expired, which does not require FISA to approve wire tapping for national security reasons, it basicly slows our response time down to a 72 hour period until it is submitted and approved by FISA, in turn issueing the warrent to do so.
It does put our security in slowmo, when we may have to act on something immediatly. Nanny Pelosi knowingly adjourned the House knowing that she was putting the PAA and National Security in jeapordy, which she and others are against in the first place, as for Telecom immunity, the telecom companies have been cooperating with the government for just that reason, if they dont have immunity they will be less willing to cooperate in turn jeopordizing national security, which they have now done and don’t care.
Excuse me - WE NEED TO VOTE FOR McCAIN BECAUSE HE AND NANCY AGREE ABOUT PUTTING OUR DEADLIEST ENEMIES FIRST, ABOVE THE SECURITY OF AMERICAN CITIZENS???
Thanks, I’ll PASS on that one!
I’ll be voting for a CONSERVATIVE.
And THAT, NOT by McCain’s “Mad World Dictionary” definition of “Conservative”.
This is ridiculous. The President as C in C should do by executive order what is necessary to protect national security. We are not gathering evidence for prosecutions, we are trying to prevent attacks.
I can just see how much safer we will all feel when McCain gets GITMO CLOSED DOWN and gets the TERRORISTS on AMERICAN SOIL with AMERICAN RIGHTS OF CITIZENSHIP by ACLU STANDARDS before the AMERICAN CIVILIAN COURTS, for attacking American interests, and be ing “prosecuted” BY JOHNNY SUTTON who is preoccupied with the FACT that the AMERICAN SOLDIERS KIDNAPPED THESE CIVILIANS!
Oh, yeah!
I’ll really feel MUCH BETTER - because after all - McCAIN IS A REPUBLICAN and THAT will remedy the whole THING!
I could be wrong, but doesn’t the President have the authority to order Congress (back)into session?
jus sayin
While Johnny Sutton gathers evidence for the REPUBLICANS to prosecute AMERICAN DEFENDERS for doing THIER JOBS!
yes-he-did.
does.
Mule, re: “Nanny Pelosi knowingly adjourned the House knowing that she was putting the PAA and National Security in jeopardy,…”
Naaaw, she would not have knowingly done that, would she? I mean surly her staff lawyers would have told her that this could be interpreted as, well you know, treason.
20th Amendment
Article II
Section 3
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
The duty to deliver to Congress an annual address, known as the State of the Union message, is the basis of the president’s legislative leadership. Presidents have frequently summoned Congress into “extra” or “special” sessions, but they have never exercised the power to adjourn Congress. The law enforcement function has been a source of the president’s control over the executive branch, however the laws that the president is to execute are the laws that Congress passes, and those laws constrain as well as empower the chief executive.
I know, you don’t have to thank me for stating the obvious.
Oooooh, the power to adjourn Congress… now that could make someones poll numbers rise
So whose name will you write in?
Sorry.
SO WHOSE NAME WILL YOU WRITE IN?
Ooh,Ooh! write me in… I will bomb Iran, ban tacos & bulldoze the bay area!
And that is on the first day! just wait till you see what I do to code pink & the aclu! hint: it will be righteous & hysterical
# 51 Good-was correct—
Mr. President - stop holding hands with Saudi Princes and the liberal Rep. and Dems - use the power that the Constitution gives you-Fight This WAR!
You are on, Brooklyn Red.
I mean, YOU ARE ON, BROOKLYN RED!!!
(Sorry, I forgot the codes for the twos of youse’s smilies. :)) )
BTW, can I be VEEP if you do all that, you really need a Texan to help with the heavy lifting on these brilliant ideas!
TexasTiger,
reeeeeeaaally, i am trying. really really really.
(in honor of TEXAS tiger) I’d rather have a boston tea party at the ALAMO, instead, thank you.
you do know that i am a native TEXAN, too, don’t you
?oops - /Sorry Rose… I was thinking you better at relocating the UN to Nigeria…do it for the children.
Now, you do understand what I will do in “relocating the UN” even to Nigeria, since as you say, IT IS FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN…
:) 
Don’t you???????????????
hehehehehehehe
Now, that won’t really take me very long, then you can reassign me to “relocating” the ACLU and some of their friends, as well, OK?
hehehehe
Sadly the congress critters who have laid us open to attack and devastation are unlikely to feel any of the pain and sorrow, after all even muzzie crazies won’t hurt their colaborators - it will be common folks who will be maimed and killed while Pelosi twiddles.
Somewhere, Al Qaida is rolling (on the floor of their caves) laughing their tails off.
Sorry again Rose… but it is the Lord that will relocate the ACLU. But hey, I am sure you both have the same local in mind… how does Czar of the reclamation of children sound? So many will need help…
“Somewhere, Al Qaida is rolling (on the floor of their caves) laughing their tails off.”
Caves? Hmmmm, more like their suites in Tehran me thinks…
Just got back from a week overseas and see this. Unbelievable. When (not if, but when) the next attack occurs, each member of congress should be held personally responsible. I hate the fact that the political aspirations and infighting of these ‘people’ are going to cost innocent Americans their lives, and you can bet these criminals will be the first pointing fingers elsewhere when it happens, unable to comprehend that they were responsible - I wonder if the only way for them to get a clue is if some mad terrorist attacked congress itself. Politicians rarely give a crap about anyone else or the laws they pass, unless it adversely effects them personally.
The Power Of Nightmares….
Trust me - you would rather have me getting rid of enemies - I truly was one of the current round of FIRSTS to suggest slathering the ordinance in fights with terrorists with salt pork or bacon, and burying their dead for them in pigskin shrouds, etc.
When I found out about General Pershing, you cannot imagine how ecstatic I became.
I still believe that when you cannot find an otherwise appropriate target following some sensely bombing of innocent civilians in a non-traditional warfare setting, that considering what mosques and madrasas do most of their time - we have good intelligence on which ones promote this stuff the most - I was also one of the first to suggest bombing such locations with hot dog weiners and other pork sausages, etc.
I think we could soon develop new attitudes of better mutual respect and tolerance. More along the lines of live and let live. And do unto others as you would have them do unto you, because whatever you sow, I will make sure you REAP.
I just don’t buy into this deal of respecting them more than they respect us.
I can apply these same thought processes to UN SOLDIERS and the UN politicians who like to deploy them, who like to rape children as a scientific method of ridding their bodies of AIDS infections according to their own personal religions and witchdoctors, as well - which would help save the need for reclaiming so many children from disasters, in the first place.
These are the areas where you need me the most! I gawr-own-TEE.
Just think. the WASTED OPPORTUNITY we have of offering them a good healthy DETERENT for this kind of thinking, by NOT DISPLAYING a huge clear glass vat of salt pork which would be dropped all over MECCA the next time one of them JUST TRIES ANYTHING LIKE THAT! Slathered all over a few bunker busters, of course.
They are willing to renew protections as long as retroactive immunity for the telcos is excluded from the bill.
Let’s not pretend that failing to offer retroactive immunity to AT&T is putting us in any danger.
If there is any danger created while we wait for this bill to pass, blame Bush for stubbornly insisting on retroactive immunity.
Would helping them to live “High on the Hog” be an act of cruel and unusual punishment? Would our young and hip Obama declare this idea to be “phat” among his equally young and hip (fainting) followers? (I think I have seen this in some churches too but that is a different topic)
Wieners for Winners
Fat for Freedom
(Pink?) Pork for Peace
Pacifist Pigs for Peace
Battles of Bacon
Sausage Saucers?
Ahhhh, the possibilities are endless.
Thanks for the laugh people! I needed it!
Never let the facts get in the way your argument, eh?
And that’s why the current law expired.
You can have your own opinion, but you can’t have your own facts.
The ACLU would jump into the fray today if they could claiming this is some sort of racist tactic devised to keep the
religion of peaceenemies of our great nation oppressed and prevent them from expressing theirreligious freedomstactics of mutilation and murder for the sake offamily honorintimidation.Hell, I live in a third-world nation with a substantive Muslim population, my Mother held security clearance for a long time. Maybe I could even get the
legal teamsseditious bastards at the ACLU to get me a nice fat payday too huh?Ummmmm, for the record, I am glad they listen to my conversations as well as the conversations of others who may not be as fervently patriotic as I am. I am still more concerned with the fat cat bureaucrats telling me what I can and cannot eat in a restaurant or where I can or cannot pass gas or what I can or cannot believe in regards to my (Bible based) CHRISTIAN faith or what I can do in MY HOME or MY BUSINESS or with MY CHILDREN!
Ummmmmm, no thanks!
What “BUGS” me is that my $$$$$$$$$$$$ via taxes are helping to fund the Anit-Christian Legal Union.
Now be fair Christian Soldier. After all, fair is a four-letter word that starts with F so we know the liberal left are concerned with it. (Or is that the regressive progressives?)
Our tax dollars are also funding La Raza, Family Planning and many other
sociallysocialist important causes!Don’t you just love it-our$$$$$ going to Planned PARENTHOOD AND La Raza toooooooo.
The socialists really do know how to spend our $$$$$$$$
It’s time for me to go to THE AD -Our Marines .com - as always - I sleep better after watching it.
GREAT!
As long as you realize, the mood we are in, that also means that those who want to sue the telcom businesses for helping SECURE THIS NATION, can also BE SUED, and charged with TREASON for obstructing our SECURITY measures.
The ACLU have been mighty busy painting themselves into a mighty tight, windowless corner.
And they’ve been mighty busy overestimating how many friends they have.
And the MAJORITY of Americans are getting #$#$#$#$## tired of not seeing any obstructers being charged with TREASON - like CODE PINK AND BERKELY, and PETA, for example.
To the FULLEST EXTENT of the TRADITIONAL law about Treason, that is, David Segal.
Because, after all, that is just plain wrong. And it is dangerous to keep on breeding the fruit of the CONSEQUENCES of INJUSTICE, you know.
Now, we know their original intention is to breed VIGILANTISM and hope it leads to ANARCHY - but they always forget to plan on doing things so they themselves are NOT THE TARGETS of what they are SOWING - they are just being mighty sloppy, these days, and one of the things they are sowing since Bill Clinton is just a plain lack of self-control, or desire to have any self-control, for that matter - so when it BACKLASHES, it’s going to be just plain JUSTICE, after all.
And that is BAD, because in the meantime, it means they turned an awful lot of great people with decent moral values into just plain animals who don’t care anymore.
Like a few times in the last few years, one just a few weeks ago, where rapists were caught by a crowd who took the matter of justice into their own hands.
What will they do when they catch those guilty of blatant TREASON, at a moment when they have “lost self-control”, too.
We Conservatives don’t want to see that happen - but the ones who are most susceptable to turning on the Treasonous instigators of ANARCHY are never the Conservative respectors of Law and the Rule of Law, anyway, are they.
The ones who lose control are always those little mindless banty roosters who the Anarchists have been ragging and ragging, and toying with.
But one day, the Anarchist raggers just forget to show up with plenty of FOOD for the raggees.
And when things snap, the Conservative law abiders never have enough resources on hand to protect the raggees from those they ragged on for so long - usually be cause the raggers always stripped the Conservatives of the means to protect themselves, thinking the only ones that would NEED protection from the raggees would be the Conservatives - but it usually doesn’t work that way, in real life - only rarely.
And then there you are with the raggers getting their just deserts, like that dictator about 20 years ago - Czechoslavakian???? Glory be, it was 1988, wasn’t it! when the Walls came down in Europe, and they dragged him out of his palace and showed him their pent up love and appreciation for all he had ever done for them, one afternoon.
Very sad - not the kind of community or neighborhood where Conservatives like to raise their kids, Then they leave - and the TAX DOLLARS go with them.
So sad. ‘Cause single people without kids just don’t pursue the kinds oactivities that lend to paying high taxes to govt individuals, you know. Or maintaining Life-giving community structural support, either, for that matter.
Where you are living dies, the jobs die, the income opportunities die, the govt t##ts die… then what can the Liberals do! Being incapable of sustaining life, as they are.
Very sad.
AWWWWW, C’MON!
Let’s stop being “phair”, and start being HONEST - we all know it is the anti-Christian lawbreakers union! hehehehe
And since Congress didn’t let us VOTE on them funding the lawbreakers with our tax dollars, it is THEFT, Taxation Without Representation.
Our Founding Fathers would throw them overboard without a second’s hesitation.
I vote for keel-hauling, at this stage of the game. Clean the barnacles off the hulls, mates. The ACLawbreakersU members must be good for SOMETHING.
Still restless even after viewing the Marine AD so - went to new (for me) site :
Heads up all :
BERKELEY and SF officials in news for fraud - that would be ALLEGED FRAUD - don’t want the dreaded Anti-Christian LU on my case:
Chris Kavanaugh -SIX FELONY COUNTS - resigned from BERKELEY RENT STABILIZATION BOARD- (alleged)
SF SUPERVISOR - Ed Jew alleged fraud and extortion
from : GOP.com
Please-say it isn’t so - not our trusted officials…..
What the Congress has done on this issue under the leadership of Reid and Pelosi should be a blazing red flag warning to every concerned American of what will come not quietly, but with fanfare, if Hillary or Obama become President. If we allow them in, by abstention or third-party voting, this is only the tip of the iceberg of what we will have wrought upon ourselves and our children and theirs, because the judical appointments that Clinton or Obama would put into place will be for life.
Amen, Mr_Conservative_Cat.
Novak has the story.
Political donations from the trial lawyers is more important to the Democrats than security from terrorist attacks.
http://townhall.com/columnists/RobertDNovak/2008/02/18/torts_and_terrorism
Bush is such a horse crap artist. If he wasn’t inviting thousands of terrorists in through the Mexican border in the War on Wages we wouldn’t have such a big security hole in the first place, so let’s take care of priorities first.
1. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda attacked us; therefore we should get bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Isn’t that logical? Instead we waste all our resources on a puny country that was never an enemy.
2. Open borders to facilitate Bush’s War on Wages for his business cronies is thousands of times worse for security than some silly eavesdropping law that everybody knows about anyway. Terrorists probably make all kinds of “noise” knowing NSA is listening and bureaucrats will spend billions in panic to protect their butts.
3. Why do we put up with chamberpot immigration? Washington brings in millions of dangerous immigrants and then we’re supposed to give up our freedom in order than everybody’s communications be monitored.
Iraqis developing and implementing bio-weapons, missiles which can (and have) hit Israel … nope, no threat here. Do we have a withdraw plan for Germany now? Korea? If those are too harsh to be used as examples, perhaps we should ask Mr. Slick Willie about Haiti or perhaps Bosnia/Herzegovina?
Granted, I can point out all of the detriments of the war as well like how we gave power and even aid to those like Hussein and Bin Laden, the destabilization of “checks and balances” by not having one prevailing powerhouse in the middle east and on down that line as well.
Immigration is an issue central to the Security and Prosperity Partnership. It has more to do with appeasing the Mexicans than any concern for America or her citizens. Any Economics 101 course (Not relegated by the system of indoctrination but an actual fact-based education) in a third rate city college will show it is not now, nor has it ever been a source of “cheap labor”.
You are right on target when you say we should make this a priority since it is a national concern which adversely affects us all. I think your reasoning is a bit off but that is just my opinion.
We are giving up rights when we allow the government to dictate what indoctrination is shoved down the throats of our children, when we allow the govt to tell us what we can and cannot do in the confines of our own home … even when those actions are perfectly legal, when we allow the govt to illegally redistribute our funds, when we allow the govt to mandate behavior and thoughts, when we allow the govt to take private property from one citizen and give it to another to increase their tax base and the list goes on.
When we let the government listen to and monitor communications of those communicating with people outside of our (nonexistent) borders, we are allowing them to do their damn job of protecting this nation … one of the few powers that they do actually have.
When we grant immunity to the telecoms we are keeping our enemies (The ACLU at the top of the list) from suing them on behalf of our enemies who are afraid of them assisting the government in doing its job.