SOTU: Bush Did Not Inform Appropriate Members of Congress
By on Jan 31st, 2006 at 9:30 pm
SOTU: Bush Did Not Inform Appropriate Members of Congress
Bush said: “Appropriate Members of Congress have been kept informed.”
FACT – BUSH BROKE THE LAW BY NOT INFORMING APPROPRIATE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: The non-partisan Congressional research service concluded that the Bush administration broke the law by not informing the full Intelligence Committees. The New York Times reports:
A legal analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concludes that the Bush administration’s limited briefings for Congress on the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping without warrants are ”inconsistent with the law.”
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I lost count. How many lies are we up to now?
January 31st, 2006 at 9:33 pmSSSHHHH, they might be listening
January 31st, 2006 at 9:34 pmGreat coverage of the whole soap opera. First time here. Thanks.
A
January 31st, 2006 at 9:39 pmHello, NSA!! *fingers waving*
January 31st, 2006 at 9:39 pmafterthought, not only that, I’ve lost count of how many Congressmen have complained that they were not informed.
January 31st, 2006 at 9:43 pmBush lies about his illegal spying…
President Bush tonight:It is said that prior to the attacks of September 11th, our government failed to connect the dots of the conspiracy. We now know that two of the hijackers in the United States placed telephone calls to al-Qaida…
January 31st, 2006 at 9:48 pmDid you here the Dems say who after he said he kept members of congress informed…What a hoot!
January 31st, 2006 at 11:29 pmI would suggest to those who are interested in what the CRS report actually says, review it for themselves. It is not a blanket condemnation of the Bush Administration’s activities, as suggested in the NYT article. I would be interested to see responses to Powerline’s rebuttal to the CRS report, from those who have the courage to read it.
January 31st, 2006 at 11:54 pmBush mantra is always he did nothing wrong or that Clinton did it too > lol.
February 1st, 2006 at 1:00 amI am 33 years old and relatively new to keeping a tab on the affairs of the administration. Maybe, I think, this is because I have ripened to a new degree of awareness. Or perhaps it’s because I never recall having felt so alarmed by the state of affairs of the government. I suspect the latter.
At any rate, I would like to raise this idea / question: Is the Bush administration truely on an assult of violating civil liberties, and on the mission it appears to be on to drive us into “a police state”? – OR – Has the obviously incompetent administration backed itself, and this country, into an isolated corner – and has absolutely no other cards to play other than that of wire tapping conversations, and other violations of civil liberties of the like?
Keep in mind this is a stand alone question on this one issue and none of the other obvious ones such as “no right to privacy in the constitution” or “a woman’s right to choose.”
This is how I see it – The Bush regime has revived this image in my mind from history class of a flag that was once waved that illustrated a snake chopped into pieces representing the original colonies and the caption read “join or die.” His new wave intentions of spreading worldwide democracy have backfired and has stirred up alot of animosity from both friends and foes alike. This regime is now grasping at straws – ANYTHING they can to keep us from being annihilated. And in that quest of not being burried live, he has violated the civil lberties of you and I.
INCOMPETENT BASTARDS! Damn them for that.
As you can see, I am teetering on the middle ground of this issue. And I invite intelligent input in particular. But hey, it’s the web so anything goes. So let me know what you think.
February 1st, 2006 at 1:13 amPost 10 Tim > It is both at the same time! The Bush Junior administration is very incompetent, so they react to things out of ignorance and malice! Bush has backed himself into a corner, because he broke the FISA laws when he wiretapped whomever he wanted without warrants! Now he is lashing out to save himself from impeachment, so in the process he is becoming a dictator! Maybe this is what happened to Hitler too?
February 1st, 2006 at 1:52 amjackl – get stuffed.
February 1st, 2006 at 4:52 amTo Giddo –
February 1st, 2006 at 10:50 amI summoned the courage to read the CRS report. You mistake its collegial tone. Here’s what I gleaned from the CRS report:
– Bush holds all the cards: “Whether an NSA activity is permissible under the Fourth Amendment and the statutory scheme outlined above is impossible to determine without an understanding of the specific facts involved and the nature of the President’s authorization, which are for the most part classified.”
– Bush is taking a very creative reading of the Constitution: “Even assuming that the President’s role as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces is implicated in the field of electronic surveillance for the collection of foreign intelligence information within the United States, it should not be accepted as a foregone conclusion that Congress has no role to play.”
– Administration justifications are illogical and offer no substantive defense: “To conclude that Congress’s enactments are unconstitutional and therefore could not reflect Congress’s intent seems to beg the question.”
– CRS predicts that Bush would fail at court: “From the foregoing analysis, it appears unlikely that a court would hold that Congress has expressly or impliedly authorized the NSA electronic surveillance operations here under discussion, and it would likewise appear that, to the extent that those surveillances fall within the definition of “electronic surveillance†within the meaning of FISA or any activity regulated under Title III, Congress intended to cover the entire field with these statutes.”
[...] That and other quibbles related to Bush’s economic claims are explained by Peter Wallsten and Maura Reynolds in today’s Los Angeles Times. Wallsten and Reynolds also debunk Bush’s defense of his NSA spy program, a defense that employed the same old, familiar lies. Lies like “Previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have†and “Appropriate Members of Congress have been kept informed.†[...]
February 1st, 2006 at 10:58 am[...] Second, the President advocated the advance of democracy and freedom around the world. He is right. However, the promotion of democracy around the world cannot come at the expense of the rule of law and transparent government here at home. We must practice what we preach. When confronting difficult and unprecedented questions regarding the imperatives of security and privacy, the American people ultimately get to decide after an open and vigorous debate that demonstrates to the world – and to terrorists – what freedom and democracy really mean. These decisions cannot be made by one man, acting in secret and operating above the law. [...]
February 1st, 2006 at 12:54 pmRight, that’s why he told the appropriate members of Congress. Geesh, it’s not that difficult.
February 2nd, 2006 at 8:23 am[...] The first question involved the existence of other domestic intelligence collection programs that have not been disclosed to the full intelligence committee (a CRS report from this month found this practice illegal): SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D-WI): Mr. Ambassador, without getting into what the specific programs might be, can you assure us today that there are not other intelligence collection — and I emphasize collection — programs that you are aware of and that you are keeping from the full intelligence committee? [...]
February 3rd, 2006 at 11:58 am[...] Hoekstra debunked the administration claim that Congress is always kept informed of intelligence programs. Hoekstra revealed that administration whistleblowers have brought to his attention secret programs that Congress should have told about previously, including “at least one significant activity that we had not been briefed on that we have now been briefed on.†[...]
July 9th, 2006 at 1:05 pm