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December 21, 2007
Sen. Harry Reid's Stink Bomb
Sen. Reid's stink bomb
Before leaving town, Senate Democrats, led by Majority Leader Harry Reid, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sens. Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold, left a lump of coal (and a stink bomb) in the stockings of the American people when it comes to prevention against terrorist attack.
After they failed on Monday failed to block Republican efforts to retroactively bar lawsuits against telephone companies that helped the government monitor suspected jihadist communications after September 11, Mr. Reid pulled from the floor legislation to modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the primary law governing the monitoring of electronic communications.
Unless Congress acts, on Feb. 1 U.S. intelligence agencies will lose the ability to monitor at least some overseas terrorist telecommunications without first obtaining court approval.
Some special-interest groups would be very happy to see FISA expire. With the support of groups like People For the American Way, the ACLU and the blog DailyKos, Messrs.
Feingold and Dodd have been working feverishly to deny the telephone companies protection from lawsuits over their participation in terrorist surveillance efforts.
Mr. Dodd threatened to filibuster any effort to bar the lawsuits from going from going forward.
Mr. Reid had tried to broker a compromise between the decent FISA bill, negotiated by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia Democrat, and Sen. Kit Bond, Missouri Republican, which contains telecom immunity; and a Senate Judiciary Committee bill, pushed by Mr. Leahy (with an assist from Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and a who's who of the political left) that would deny retroactive immunity.
Last month, the House passed a measure that fails to provide such immunity.
No case on the public record better illustrates the heightened dangers Americans will face than the case of three soldiers from the Army's 10th Mountain Division who were ambushed May 12 south of Baghdad, apparently by al Qaeda.
One soldier was found dead on May 23, while the other two remain missing. As coalition forces searched for the missing soldiers on May 13 and May 14, intelligence officials learned about insurgent communications they believed to be related to the ambush. On May 14, a special court overseeing FISA issued an order permitting some suspected terrorist communications to be monitored.
The following day, lawyers and intelligence officials spent more than nine hours discussing the need for a FISA order to monitor these communications before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales authorized monitoring.
Critics attribute the delays in the search to bureaucratic "bungling" — an intellectually dishonest argument, because it overlooks the fact that the FISA court had issued several rulings earlier this year that called into question the government's authority to act without prior court approval.
Mr. Reid this week was faced with a choice between fixing the problems and pandering to special-interest groups who want to make it impossible for the military to do its job. Once again, he made the wrong choice.
Wild Thing's comment........
Bush is supposed to be the Commander-in-Chief, currently running a war on terror. Surveillance of possible jihadists is a crucial facet of that war. Therefore, Bush should be able to conduct surveillance related to the war effort without needing any okay from Congress. I wish Bush would tell Reid to go play in the street, but I’m not holding my breath.
The Founders would be astonished at the modern Democrat Party.
Generally speaking, ex post facto laws are seen as a violation of the rule of law as it applies in a free and democratic society...
"The sentiment that ex post facto laws are against natural right is so strong in the United States, that few, if any, of the State constitutions have failed to proscribe them. The federal constitution indeed interdicts them in criminal cases only; but they are equally unjust in civil as in criminal cases, and the omission of a caution which would have been right, does not justify the doing what is wrong. Nor ought it to be presumed that the legislature meant to use a phrase in an unjustifiable sense, if by rules of construction it can be ever strained to what is just." (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac McPherson, August 13th, 1813)
Posted by Wild Thing at December 21, 2007 12:47 AM
Comments
Totally unbelievable, in a sane world. Why do these people want our military to lose. I understand Bush hating. But that is in no way a legitimate reason to undermine the war effort. These democrats, and a few Repubs, seem more and more like true America haters. They seem to want to bring down America. Why??? I just don't know.
I know these bastards crave power for themselves, but over a weakened America? I think they smoked too much pot and did too much LSD in the 60's and their little minds are stuck in the socialist/hippie mode. "Peace, Love and one big commune for all". I wonder if they ever stop to think about who will still be functioning to pay the bills, and I wonder if they ever consider that socialism always fails.
Posted by: TomR at December 21, 2007 04:05 AM
Good God it's the Body Snatchers!! or night of
the living dead..
Posted by: Tincan Sailor at December 21, 2007 09:42 AM
Dems are already talking about how both parties will have to work together to solve our problems after they win the White House and larger majorities in Congress next November. This is with the expectation of public amnesia on their own eight years of obstructionism and Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS), hatred of all things Republican and Conservative, and anti-American lack of support for our troops during a time of war.
The worst part of this is that the brain dead Dems, enough Independents, and some RINOs with the help of the MSM will believe this crap. If that happens, we can all kiss the Constitution goodbye as the United States morphs into the socialist North American Union.
Posted by: Les at December 21, 2007 12:51 PM
Imagine what they'd be doing without any opposition.
"Sen. Patrick Leahy is preventing the Bush administration from requiring passports next year from people crossing the U.S.-Canada border and the U.S.-Mexico border by land. The Leahy-sponsored measure - rolled into the omnibus spending bill - will prevent the passport requirement from taking effect until Jan. 1, 2009 at the earliest."
This is what the Democrat party has devolved into, it took most of Europe 75 years to break free from Communism only to re-embrace it. FDR's legacy still lives in the Raw Deal, we have devolved as a society to the entitlement mentality old Franklin set out to establish, don't rely on yourself rely on the government, food stamps, section 8 housing, welfare, medicaid, medicare. What happened to old fashioned hard work, patience, thrift and savings? All gone when if you stumble the government is there to pick you up and coddle the non performer, it will crash just like it has in Europe, Canada and Australia. No matter how much it is given to you nothing is free. Those living in subsidized housing bemoan their loss of privacy but gladly accept the welfare check and all the perks, even though the ghetto they live in is overrun with vermin of the two and for legged specie.
Harry Reid reminds me of the character in that clip I sent, think of it as our current congress in Pelosi's court.
Posted by: Jack at December 21, 2007 12:54 PM
These two have a real "Dawn of the Dead" thing going, don't they?
They only thing scarier is Hillery's mump infected face.
Posted by: Steve, Vampire Stalker at December 21, 2007 03:57 PM
I don't understand this, Bush will be gone in 13 months. If the Witch gets in or any other dem. they are going to be strapped with these restrictions. If that happens there will be another attack and they will try to blame Bush as they always try to blame but the next President will be severely limited in what he will be able to do.
Politics as usual.
They are trying to beat Bush, and are hurting the country and everything it stands for.
They are truly evil.
Posted by: Mark at December 21, 2007 08:11 PM
Be afraid, be very afraid. Reid and his ilk are those I wouldn't trust with a potato gun.
They want to run this nation into the dirt and then wonder why and where it all went wrong.
They can't see the forest through the trees and nothing they do is wrong. But God forbid, someone would want us to win--that's a BIG NO-NO in their eyes.
I guess they forgot that it's because of the soldiers that we have the nation we do.
Posted by: Lynn at December 21, 2007 09:07 PM
Tom, I agree, that is what I don't understand. All the power they want but the way they want to destroy America, the power they will end up with will not be much. A weakened military BY THEM, a taxed and poor population because of them, etc. And all the other areas they want to destroy or change for the worse.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 22, 2007 01:22 AM
Tincan Sailor, LOL it does look like that. heh heh and all I did was hollow out their eyes. hahahhaha
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 22, 2007 01:25 AM
Les, your so right.
Amazing isn't it how they won't debate on Fox News but oh sure once in power they say they will work to get along. sheesh what a bunch of liars.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 22, 2007 01:27 AM
Jack your so right, thanks again for the video too. I am posting it for the morning post on Sat.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 22, 2007 01:51 AM
Steve, Vampire Stalker, lol yes your right and about Hillary too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 22, 2007 01:52 AM
Mark, it just amazes me how their hate is over riding their smarts. Like you said it will leave them in trouble as well if they win the election. The kind of hate they have has driven their senses right out of them. All I see if they must really hate America too besides Bush.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 22, 2007 01:55 AM
Lynn,I think so too. How else could a person let their hate be stronger then their love for what our Veterans and our troops today give us...our land of the free.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 22, 2007 02:02 AM
