Requirements
Georgie is on the march, defendizing his warrentless wire taps. He really really likes wire taps that he doesn't have top go to court to get, not even to an ultra secret court that never ever says no to him. Why bother? The court should just give him what he wants, just like everybody else in his life has always done.
Thing is, even though Georgie thinks the whole thing is "vital and necessary," it's against the law. Hey, it could be the most safer-making thing ever, producing the most "safer" country ever - it's still against the law.
And that's okay, too. Because presidents need to be able to break the law every now and then and still keep their jobs (right, Ronnie?). But in the course of the law-breaking, they have to admit that the law was, in fact, broken. And they have to face the consequences.
When Nixon (who seems like a better and better guy every day) tried to hold on to his tapes and cover up the misadventures of his staff, he did so with a knowledge that bugging than thugging are against the law even for a president. He tried to make it so people didn't know he'd done those things.
Georgie is far more dangerous because he admits everything right out front. He just says he's above that crummy old constitution that he was sworn to "preserve and protect." Too bad for all those poor suckers who died back in the Civil War - turns out the Constitution isn't that important after all.
Georgie is walking down an extremely dangerous path - and whistling like the moron he is while he does it. Already, his administration bears all the classic signs of fascism. And now we have the Leader over the Law. Il Duce!
For all the voices being amplified by the right-wing noise machine saying: "so what? The secret court was a rubber-stamp anyway," let me say this. The secret court (that approved secret national security warrants) might have accepted far more warrants that it rejected, but by doing so it forced the government to have a reason.
To go to the court for a warrant you're sure to get, you still have to have a reason for showing up. You can't say that you think someone in Spokane is thinking disloyal thoughts. You have to have a name and address, and a reason to believe that the person is part of a certain group or is planning to do something.
The warrentless taps are an admission that they're fishing. If they had evidence to support a tap, they would have used it. By allowing this sort of invasive policy, the Junta is on the slippery slope to a KGB-backed dictatorship.
Georgie tell us we're safer because of it. Well, I don't think any of us want to be that safe. I'll take the risk of preserving my freedom by, you know, keeping it.
Georgie also likes to tell us that 'freedom isn't free.' That's fine with me; the price I'll pay is the increased risk of attack that the preservation of my civil liberties may cause.
Thing is, even though Georgie thinks the whole thing is "vital and necessary," it's against the law. Hey, it could be the most safer-making thing ever, producing the most "safer" country ever - it's still against the law.
And that's okay, too. Because presidents need to be able to break the law every now and then and still keep their jobs (right, Ronnie?). But in the course of the law-breaking, they have to admit that the law was, in fact, broken. And they have to face the consequences.
When Nixon (who seems like a better and better guy every day) tried to hold on to his tapes and cover up the misadventures of his staff, he did so with a knowledge that bugging than thugging are against the law even for a president. He tried to make it so people didn't know he'd done those things.
Georgie is far more dangerous because he admits everything right out front. He just says he's above that crummy old constitution that he was sworn to "preserve and protect." Too bad for all those poor suckers who died back in the Civil War - turns out the Constitution isn't that important after all.
Georgie is walking down an extremely dangerous path - and whistling like the moron he is while he does it. Already, his administration bears all the classic signs of fascism. And now we have the Leader over the Law. Il Duce!
For all the voices being amplified by the right-wing noise machine saying: "so what? The secret court was a rubber-stamp anyway," let me say this. The secret court (that approved secret national security warrants) might have accepted far more warrants that it rejected, but by doing so it forced the government to have a reason.
To go to the court for a warrant you're sure to get, you still have to have a reason for showing up. You can't say that you think someone in Spokane is thinking disloyal thoughts. You have to have a name and address, and a reason to believe that the person is part of a certain group or is planning to do something.
The warrentless taps are an admission that they're fishing. If they had evidence to support a tap, they would have used it. By allowing this sort of invasive policy, the Junta is on the slippery slope to a KGB-backed dictatorship.
Georgie tell us we're safer because of it. Well, I don't think any of us want to be that safe. I'll take the risk of preserving my freedom by, you know, keeping it.
Georgie also likes to tell us that 'freedom isn't free.' That's fine with me; the price I'll pay is the increased risk of attack that the preservation of my civil liberties may cause.
posted by fiduciary at 3:03 PM
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