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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (11184)	2/8/2006 8:41:15 AM
From: Dale Baker	Respond to of 541355

Excellent column - that really sums up the issue. You have to wonder, if an effective legislative solution is available, why would the executive still seek a precedent for unfettered authority? It has much less to do with immediate security needs than simply permitting more unfettered authority. Which is not the American way.

To: Lane3 who wrote (11184)	2/8/2006 9:07:37 AM
From: MrLucky	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541355

Vice President Dick Cheney Dismisses Congressional Criticism of NSA Surveillance Program Vice President Dick Cheney addresses a fund raiser for Congressman Robert Aderholt Monday Feb. 6 2006 in Priceville, Ala. (AP Photo/Rob Carr) 02-08-2006 4:47 AM WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney shrugged off congressional criticism of the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program Tuesday, suggesting some in the know who previously raised no objections were changing their tune. He also expressed little interest in working with Congress to settle legal disputes. "We believe that we have all the legal authority we need," Cheney said in an interview on PBS' "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer." Asked about calls from the day before from both Democratic and some Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to work with Congress to sort out differences, Cheney said, "Well, I don't think it would necessarily be in the interests of the country especially if we get into a situation where the legislative process leads to the disclosure of sensitive operational matters with respect to this program." Cheney said that the electronic surveillance program without warrants _ which the administration claims is a crucial element of its efforts to track down al-Qaida members and disrupt their plans _ has been going on for four years. During that period, the administration has held secret briefings on the program with a select group of eight congressional leaders. "I presided over most of those briefings," he said. "There was no great concern expressed that somehow we needed to come get additional legislative authority." "Well, I think a lot of people decided after it became public that they wanted to take a different position than they had in private," Cheney said. "We've had some members head for the hill, so to speak, and forget perhaps that they were in the briefings and fully informed of the program." He defended the select briefings. "You can't take 535 members of Congress and tell them everything and protect the nation's secrets." On other subjects, Cheney: _ Said "no options are off the table," including military ones, in dealing with Iran's defiance of international efforts to get it to abandon its nuclear program. "The new president has made some pretty outrageous statements," he said, referring to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. _ Denounced spreading violence among militant Muslims against European targets over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, saying "violence is not justified in terms of what's happened there." _ Declined to characterize as an intelligence failure that the landslide victory of the Militant Islamic Hamas party in Palestinian elections came as such a surprise to the administration. "Did you guys ever miscall an election here in the United States?" he asked. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,

To: Lane3 who wrote (11184)	2/8/2006 10:04:02 AM
From: KonKilo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541355

When the Southern states seceded in 1861, President Lincoln took radical -- and almost certainly unconstitutional -- steps to preserve the Union. He raised an army without legislative authority, blockaded Southern ports, arrested a Baltimore militia commander without charges in an effort to intimidate Maryland against seceding and, when the Supreme Court tried to block him, suspended habeas corpus. But soon after taking these emergency steps, Lincoln went to Congress to seek explicit legislative authority for what he had done. "These measures, whether strictly legal or not, were ventured upon under what appeared to be a popular demand and a public necessity," Lincoln wrote in his July 4, 1861, message to Congress seeking retroactive legal authority. Lincoln told Congress he had done what he thought was his duty in using his war powers. "You will now, according to your own judgment, perform yours." Lincoln did precisely what Bush has so far refused to do. I seem to recall Thomas Jefferson also advocated that presidents go to Congress immediately after they take constitutionally questionable steps, so that Congress can decide upon a further course of action. GWB's failure to do so raises additional questions as to his motivations for the FISA end-run.