>>>”Hmmm…FBI files kept on ordinary Americans for political reasons versus monitoring communications between Islamofascists in light of the fact that we were attacked by Muslim terrorist infiltrators 4 short years ago, partly because we didn’t rigorously keep tabs on suspected cells.”

But that’s the precise problem here, LaShawn. We don’t KNOW who the NSA was monitoring and why they were monitoring them because there was no warrant…no paper trial…no record.
If you’re saying that a President should be able to act without oversight, especially in light of Clayton and PTM’s revelations, then I don’t know what to tell you.

–Cobra

Seeing as how the FISA courts have rejected something like .02 percent of warrants, that’s not much of a hurdle. Which makes you wonder why they aren’t just getting the warrants – is it the principle that there should be no checks on a President’s power, or are they doing stuff that they don’t want even secret judges to know about, or would what they’re doing fall under the unpermitted .02 percent, or what?

I hate to say this, but are you waiting for another disaster to strike, just so that you can stop repeating how “nothing has happened in the last four years”? I suggest you thank God first and our President second for that, and not your pet Islamofas…

:-\

Cobra, I allow your comments on this blog for their comedic value and your hopelessly unbalanced and undiscerning way of expressing yourself. You “left wingers” crack me up.

I guess Civil Liberties matter depending on which party has control of White House.

–Cobra

To me, that sounds like ‘the end justifies the means.’ But if it were lawful, you wouldn’t need a justification, right?

Is this it: what he did was unlawful, but he’s justified?

Or: what he did was legal under Executive powers, and all of this is just more Bush bashing?

The law forbids the NSA from eavesdropping on U.S. citizens and U.S. concerns with the U.S. It also prohibits eavesdropping on U.S citizens and U.S. concerns overseas, without their consent.

Next, because there is a law against what the NSA can do against U.S. citizens, any president directing otherwise via executive order, bypassed a law. In other words, broke the law.

Whether or not other people were briefed is not material.

Next, unfortunately, the Justice Department is a political department.

La Shawn, as you know, they hate a lot more people than George Bush. He’s merely the lightning rod of the day on which to focus their hate. When they think about God — if they think about God — they hate “bible thumpers” like you just as much as they do “W.” This is just another skirmish in the cultural war at home, but one that drags in “libertarians” as temporary allies, due to their hatred of a strong federal government as a matter of “principle.”