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May 16, 2006
Dialing and the Democrats ~ Democrats Trying to Protect the Terrorists
No sooner had the man who ran the National Security Agency for years been nominated to head the CIA than USA Today rushed out details of our efforts to use technical means to find terrorists using the phones. And no sooner had USA Today disclosed details of an apparent attempt by the National Security Agency to defend Americans from terrorists than the Democratic Party and its leading politicians and interest groups went on the attack. Not against the terrorists but against President Bush.
"This is another example of the Bush Administration misleading the American people," said a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, Stacie Paxton.
Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts called the program "abusive" and said :
"Today's shocking disclosures make it more important than ever for the Republican Congress to end its complicity in the White House cover up of its massive domestic surveillance program. When three major telephone companies are supplying the administration with records of all Americans regardless of any hint of wrongdoing, Congress can't look the other way."
Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat of Tennessee, went on Fox News Channel to call the news "disturbing." Senator Clinton pronounced herself "deeply disturbed."
Mrs. Clinton might want to have a talk with her husband. It was President Clinton who signed into law the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994, after it was passed in both the House and Senate by a voice vote.
That law is an act "to make clear a telecommunications carrier's duty to cooperate in the interception of communications for law enforcement purposes, and for other purposes.
" The act made clear that a court order isn't the only lawful way of obtaining call information, saying, "A telecommunications carrier shall ensure that any interception of communications or access to call-identifying information effected within its switching premises can be activated only in accordance with a court order or other lawful authorization."
The law that President Clinton signed into law and that was approved by voice votes in 1994 by a Democrat-majority House and a Democrat-majority Senate not only made clear the phone companies' "duty" to cooperate, it authorized $500 million in taxpayer funds to reimburse the phone companies for equipment "enabling the government, pursuant to a court order or other lawful authorization, to access call-identifying information that is reasonably available to the carrier."
Again, the law, by referring to "other lawful authorization," states clearly that a court order isn't the only form of lawful authorization possible.
President Bush struck exactly the right notes yesterday.
"So far we've been very successful in preventing another attack on our soil," Mr. Bush said. "As a general matter, every time sensitive intelligence is leaked, it hurts our ability to defeat this enemy. Our most important job is to protect the American people from another attack, and we will do so within the laws of our country."
If he seemed calm about the latest disclosures, we can't help wondering whether it's because he recognizes that when Americans go to sleep at night, they're less worried about the "danger" that the government is looking for terrorists than they are about the danger that terrorists are looking for them.
This is the issue that the Democrats of the Howard-Dean-John-Kerry era just don't seem to prepared to credit. The Democrats who controlled the White House and both houses of Congress in 1994 showed signs of understanding the national security issues at stake here when they passed the law. Their understanding seems to have eroded since then. It can't be that they feel America faces less of a threat - if anything, the attacks of September 11, 2001, make the case for such programs even stronger. What's changed isn't the enemy threat but the party that now controls the White House. Which explains why Mrs. Clinton is "deeply disturbed" about activities legal under a law her husband signed.
And then there is also this.....based on a Newsmax article the dimwittocRATS actually are going to try to stop the NSA terrorism surveillance programs. They're joining a lawsuit to do just that.
Dems Join Suit to Ban Terrorist Surveillance
71 House Democrats signed up to sponsor a move that would make it illegal for the NSA to continue to monitor terrorist phone calls. The liberal web site Raw Story reported Thursday:"The 71 Democrats and one independent filed an amicus brief in two federal courts reviewing challenges to the warrantless wiretapping program in Detroit and New York, joining the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights."
"Both suits demand the program be stopped."
Michigan Democrat John Conyers led the charge:
"As our brief makes clear, this Congress dealt with this issue authoritatively almost 30 years ago - warrantless spying on American soil is flatly prohibited," he railed.
Wild Thing's comment.....
It seems if you can find a method to catch terrorists, the Democrats and their ACLU handmaidens can find a way to try to stop it. But then we already KNOW the Democrats are on the side of the terrorists!
During WW II, President Roosevelt ordered the Post Office to open and read all mail to and from American citizens where the mail came from or went to any jurisdiction currently controlled by the Axis powers. This was far more intrusive, and done without Congressional approval, compared to the present program of noting patterns of numbers called, without looking into the contents of the phone calls, and being done under a law duly passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.
Both the Democrats and their supporters in the press are counting on the gross ignorance of the American public about American history, including what we did during and after WW II. So far, and sadly, the ignorance they are counting on seems to be endemic among the American people.
Posted by Wild Thing at May 16, 2006 12:55 AM
Comments
J Edgar Hoover was appointed acting director of the FBI by President Coolidge in 1924, he founded and was it's director until 1972. For 48 years he held unprecedented power that he often used vindictively against his opponents. Most of that power was gained under FDR with Hoover having dossiers on nearly everyone and he didn't mind using the dirt to protect his kingdom. He abused the civil rights constitutionally granted on a routine basis, with wiretaps, surveillance and intimidation. This is the type of animal the Democrats want back in power, as long as it's a Democrat, while they complain and fight to inhibit the current administration from doing it's job. It was OK for the Democrats to abuse the system for over 50 years, but it's a shame they'll sell out our freedom just to stop this administration from protecting the citizens.You can make book that if they get the chance there will be a vindictive secret police reinstated to abuse the citizen just like Hoover did for Rooseveldt and Johnson. The recent CIA leaks were a routine affair for Hoover's FBI, it kept the little fish in the pool.
Posted by: Jack at May 16, 2006 02:41 AM
Jack thank you so much for your comments on this. Very interesting and I agree, the Dems are only making a fuss because it is a Republican in power and not one of them. The way the Dems want tons of government control of peoples lives if they had the chance like you said they would have secret police reinstated. Thanks again.
Posted by: Wild Thing at May 16, 2006 03:00 AM
