Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (68228)	12/3/2004 1:18:55 PM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Bush is a FASCIST! It's a FACT! What's this? A Homeland Security immune from whistleblowers? Shielded from investigation? Exempt from the Freedom of Information Act? Where did we see this before? But Hitler's Germany of course. Face it, folks...George Bush is a fascist! truthout.com Leahy Says Bush Seeks Department 'Above the Law' By Thomas Ferraro Reuters News Service Wednesday, 26 June, 2002 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy charged on Wednesday that the Bush administration was effectively asking Congress to put its proposed department to combat terrorism "above the law." Leahy told Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge that to win swift congressional approval of the department -- designed to guard against another Sept. 11-like attack -- the Bush administration must revise or drop provisions that would exempt the operation from a number of legal requirements. The Vermont Democrat said, "One sure way to slow things down is to cobble together a collection of unrelated political items in the bill, under the heading 'management flexibility,"' which would provide wiggle room in dealing with the law -- particularly on public accountability. "That's very troubling," Leahy said in opening a hearing by his committee on George W. Bush's proposed Department of Homeland Security. Ridge, making his third appearance on Capitol Hill in seven days, replied, "I'm here to convey personally the president's desire to work with Congress." Ridge has steadfastly promoted Bush's plan to fold into a new department all or parts of 22 existing federal agencies -- including the Secret Service, Coast Guard and Border Patrol. He has also shown a willingness to resolve differences with Congress and did so again on Wednesday. While there has been bipartisan support for creating a department to protect the nation against terrorist attacks, there have been concerns about portions of the Bush plan -- ranging from what the operation would cost to whether intelligence failures by the FBI and CIA would be fixed. STRONG CRITICISM Leahy voiced some of the toughest criticism yet, telling Ridge on Wednesday, "I am concerned that the Bush administration's proposal would exempt the new department from many legal requirements that apply to other agencies." "The Freedom of Information Act would not apply. The conflicts of interest and accountability rules for agency advisers would not apply," Leahy said. He added, "The new department would have the right to suspend the Whistle-blower Protection Act," which shields from retribution federal workers who shed public light on government problems. "In these respects, the Bush administration is asking us to put this new department above the law and outside checks and balances these laws are put there to ensure," Leahy said. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, voiced some of the same concerns, particularly about "whistle-blowers," whom he called "an asset to government." "We will work with you," Ridge replied. He vowed to revise the provision on whistle-blowers in Bush's bill to create the Department of Homeland Security so it mirrored language on such protection at other federal agencies. "I think that's a pretty good answer," Grassley said. At a second hearing later in the day on the proposed department, House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, told Ridge to expect plenty of congressional scrutiny. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the panel's top Democrat, added, "I'm concerned that the department's lack of accountability threatens our nation's history as an open government." With Bush demanding fast action on his proposed department, and lawmakers asking lots of questions, more than a dozen congressional hearings on the subject are scheduled this week. FBI Director Robert Mueller and CIA Director George Tenet are to appear on Thursday before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which is examining how the two intelligence agencies would work with the new department. Bush wants the department to be a clearinghouse for information from those and other agencies to stop the kinds of communication failures that may have been able to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks. Mueller and Tenet were called to closed-door meeting on Wednesday of the House Intelligence Committee, which has been looking into the failure of U.S. intelligence to thwart the Sept. 11 attack. The full House on Wednesday, on a 422-2 vote, passed and sent to the Senate for concurrence legislation that would direct Bush to design procedures for sharing homeland security information among federal, state and local authorities. (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)