Your right you have a real reason to be concerned!
Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts
Google News Update: Senator Arlen Specter NSA Spying
Countdown: FISA and Fear Mongering
Treason Under the Constitution
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/treason_5.htm
Video: CELL PHONE (FBI can listen even when phone is turned off)
BCST 8/27/06
C-SPAN BOOK TV - 9/11 COMMISSION INTERVIEW
9/11 ACCOUNTABILTY Vs. "The Case For Impeachment"
AUDIO (ABOUT 55 MINUTES)
http://www.apfn.net/pogo/L002I060827-911-impeachment2.MP3
9/11 ACCOUNTABILITY....WE WHERE VERY UNJUDGEMENTAL
THE 9/11 COMMISSION....THESE GUYS ARE SHOCKING!!!!
AUDIO:
http://www.apfn.net/pogo/L001I060827-911-impeachment1.MP3
Philosophy Of Liberty (Flash)
http://www.apfn.org/flash/PhilosophyOfLiberty-english.swf
Jonathan Turley
J.B. and Maurice Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law; Director of the Environmental Law Advocacy Center; Executive Director, Project for Older Prisoners
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Faculty/profile.aspx?id=1738
Email: jturley@law.gwu.edu
Telephone: (202) 994-7001
Fax: (202) 994-9811
CNN 2/05/06 Prof. Jonathan Turley and Bush's Spying a Federal Crime
Audio: http://www.apfn.net/audio/M60205144451-CNN-spy-fed-crime.MP3
"There ought to be limits to freedom"
-George W. Bush
http://www.apfn.org/pdf/newflyer.pdf
Bush's Secret 'Kangaroo' Court
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/Bush_court.htm
Impeach George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for violating the Constitution of the United States
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/impeach_bush.htm
==================================
Subject:
" Why Bush's NSA Wire tapping is defeated by VoIP Networks on Google Video
Date:
Sat, 21 Oct 2006 11:33:17 -0700
From:
Marc Perkel <marc@perkel.com>
To:
APFN@apfn.org
CC:
news@ctyme.com
Here is a link to a Google video that I made of myself explaining a lot of the technical details of Bush's wire tapping program and why it will never work. It explains that terrorists would use private voice over IP networks (Internet phones) that can not be tapped. It is explained in a manner that the average viewer can get a good idea of how it works. Feel free to use this and pass it around. It puts a new light on the whole "we need NSA wiretapping to fight the terrorists" excuse. Show this to as many people as possible.
Marc Perkel
Uber Geek
Your friend, marc@perkel.com , has sent you the following video from Google Video and included this message:
check this out
Why Bush's NSA Wire tapping is defeated by VoIP Networks
13 min 29 sec - Oct 20, 2006
Description: Bush claims he needs NSA wire tapping to break up terrorist networks but terrorists are not using the phone network Bush is tapping. They are using private voice over IP internet phones (VoIP) that can't be tapped. This video explains how it works.
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From Capitol Hill Blue
The Rant
Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'
By DOUG THOMPSON
Dec 9, 2005, 07:53
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish...7779.shtml
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Executive_Director@ACLU.org
ACLU: American Civil Liberties Union
ACLU V. NSA LAWSUIT SEEKS END TO BUSH'S ILLEGAL SPYING
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=plCGo8XQ92p5mViLuFhYIg
**********************************************
Dear Friend,
For over eighty-five years the ACLU and its members have been there to stand up for freedom when our leaders disregard and defy the Constitution.
We follow in that tradition today with the filing of ACLU v. NSA, a lawsuit seeking an end to the secret program of illegal electronic surveillance, authorized by President Bush.
Our lawsuit claims that this spying program violates Americans' rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution and that the president has exceeded the limits of executive authority under separation of powers principles.
The suit was filed in federal district court in Michigan, on behalf of several prominent journalists, scholars, attorneys, and national nonprofit organizations (including the ACLU) who frequently communicate by phone and email with people in the Middle East.
Though our president claims he can authorize warrantless spying on Americans, this surveillance program is illegal. The ACLU has launched an intensive effort to put an end to the program and restore lawfulness to government and law enforcement activities.
In addition to the ACLU v. NSA lawsuit, we've launched a multi-channel ad campaign, a widespread call for congressional hearings, and are urging the appointment of a special counsel who can independently investigate the actions of this administration and prosecute any and all crimes committed.
In the coming days, watch for news about our suit and other continuing efforts. Partisans in Washington have already been scrambling to undermine inquiries into the NSA scandal, but this lawsuit is grounded in our most basic American principles, and not driven by the tides of politics or spin.
Please continue to stand with us. Look for our advertisements in print and on the Web. Join our call for a special counsel and urge your friends to do the same. Your support has been, and will continue to be, fundamental to our success.
I'm never more proud to lead the ACLU than on days like today when we take the bold steps needed to preserve fundamental Constitutional principles. Through our actions, we will see that justice prevails.
Sincerely,
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
****************************************
The ACLU is suing the NSA for violating the Constitution by illegally spying on innocent Americans. This spying without probable cause sends a chilling message to all of us that our conversations are not our own.
Read more about the case and our clients:
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=NN5JZWqCDTBibdGhhurv7g
The fourth ACLU advertisement in a series calls for a stop to illegal spying. Forty years ago, when the government spied on Dr. King, wiretapping innocent American citizens was an abuse of government power. It still is.
View the ad here:
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=DSgCPqR_OKoUOY6xUE0rag
DEMAND ACTION: Our system of checks and balances must be maintained if American democracy is to be preserved. Contact Congress today and call for the appointment of a special counsel. Take action here:
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=nvwHSsWytQY7I0dSElwlIQ
****************************************
The ACLU is suing the National Security Agency for violating the U.S. Constitution. The illegal NSA spying program authorized by President Bush just after September 11, 2001, allows the NSA to intercept vast quantities of the international telephone and Internet communications of innocent Americans without court approval.
Without a system of checks and balances, the government can monitor any phone call or e-mail they want, and they can collect and disseminate any data they find however they like. Just knowing that the government is spying without cause on innocent Americans sends a chilling message to all of us that our conversations are not our own.
The NSA's warrantless surveillance must end and checks and balances be restored.
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying /
ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004
This is the Web site of the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation.
Learn more about the distinction between these two components of the ACLU.
http://www.aclu.org/acluf.html
If you heard Al Gore’s speech Monday, and feel the gravity of what he is describing, CLICK HERE.
Join the latest signers of our Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime: Major Owens, 11th Congressional District, D-NY; Niles Eldredge, curator of the Darwin Show at the Museum of Natural History, NYC; Lewis Lapham, former editor, Harper's Magazine; Martin Garbus, NYC
http://www.worldcantwait.net/
White House Accuses Gore of Hypocrisy
Former Vice President Al Gore gestures while addressing the American Constitution Society on the threat to the Constitution from President Bush's domestic ...
Gore's Challenge to Congress and the Media
MORE:>.
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CONTACT:
World Can't Wait
305 Madison Avenue #1166
New York NY 10165
info@worldcantwait.org
866-973-4463
This is contact information for the National Office of World Can't Wait. If you are looking to see if there is a chapter or office near you please see "Local Chapters" on the menu below "Contact"
World Can't Wait is organizing people living in the United States to take responsibility to stop the whole disastrous course led by the Bush administration. We seek to create a political situation where the Bush administration's program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has been taking U.S. society is reversed.
We seek to mobilize millions to express their outrage, to speak the truth, to act with urgency and form an organized political resistance. We welcome any individuals and groups who agree that the Bush Regime should be driven out, whatever their political party affiliation or lack thereof. We reach out to people who have been fooled by Bush, and to those who have been most seriously affected by the outrages inflicted by the Bush Regime.
http://www.worldcantwait.net /
============================================
Ex-official warned against testifying on NSA Spying programs
Fri Jan 13, 2006 00:51
NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying
Former Employee Admits to Being a Source for The New York Times
Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the NSA, alleges secret operations were conducted in ways that he believes violated the law. (ABC News)
* Related: NSA Letter to Tice
Jan 10, 2006 — Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the National Security Agency, is now a whistleblower the agency would like to keep quiet.
For 20 years, Tice worked in the shadows as he helped the United States spy on other people's conversations around the world.
"I specialized in what's called special access programs," Tice said of his job. "We called them 'black world' programs and operations."
But now, Tice tells ABC News that some of those secret "black world" operations run by the NSA were operated in ways that he believes violated the law. He is prepared to tell Congress all he knows about the alleged wrongdoing in these programs run by the Defense Department and the NSA in the post-9/11 efforts to go after terrorists.
"The mentality was we need to get these guys, and we're going to do whatever it takes to get them," he said.
Tracking Calls
Tice says the technology exists to track and sort through every domestic and international phone call as they are switched through centers, such as one in New York, and to search for key words or phrases that a terrorist might use.
"If you picked the word 'jihad' out of a conversation," Tice said, "the technology exists that you focus in on that conversation, and you pull it out of the system for processing."
According to Tice, intelligence analysts use the information to develop graphs that resemble spiderwebs linking one suspect's phone number to hundreds or even thousands more.
Tice Admits Being a Source for The New York Times
President Bush has admitted that he gave orders that allowed the NSA to eavesdrop on a small number of Americans without the usual requisite warrants.
But Tice disagrees. He says the number of Americans subject to eavesdropping by the NSA could be in the millions if the full range of secret NSA programs is used.
"That would mean for most Americans that if they conducted, or you know, placed an overseas communication, more than likely they were sucked into that vacuum," Tice said.
The same day The New York Times broke the story of the NSA eavesdropping without warrants, Tice surfaced as a whistleblower in the agency. He told ABC News that he was a source for the Times' reporters. But Tice maintains that his conscience is clear.
"As far as I'm concerned, as long as I don't say anything that's classified, I'm not worried," he said. "We need to clean up the intelligence community. We've had abuses, and they need to be addressed."
The NSA revoked Tice's security clearance in May of last year based on what it called psychological concerns and later dismissed him. Tice calls that bunk and says that's the way the NSA deals with troublemakers and whistleblowers. Today the NSA said it had "no information to provide."
ABC News' Vic Walter and Avni Patel contributed to this report.
===================================================
Ex-official warned against testifying on NSA programs
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 12, 2006
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060111-...-2876r.htm
The National Security Agency has warned a former intelligence officer that he should not testify to Congress about accusations of illegal activity at NSA because of the secrecy of the programs involved.
Renee Seymour, director of NSA special access programs stated in a Jan. 9 letter to Russ Tice that he should not testify about secret electronic intelligence programs because members and staff of the House and Senate intelligence committees do not have the proper security clearances for the secret intelligence.
Miss Seymour stated that Mr. Tice has "every right" to speak to Congress and that NSA has "no intent to infringe your rights."
However, she stated that the programs Mr. Tice took part in were so secret that "neither the staff nor the members of the [House intelligence committee] or [Senate intelligence committee] are cleared to receive the information covered by the special access programs, or SAPs."
"The SAPs to which you refer are controlled by the Department of Defense (DoD) and ... neither the staffs nor the members ... are cleared to receive the intelligence covered by the SAPs," Miss Seymour stated.
Special access programs are the most sensitive U.S. intelligence and weapons programs and are exempt from many oversight mechanisms used to check other intelligence agencies.
Miss Seymour also said that Mr. Tice, who was dismissed in May, failed to notify either the Pentagon or NSA of the improper behavior that he is charging.
As a result, she stated that Mr. Tice must first give statements to the Defense Department and NSA inspectors general before he provides any classified information to Congress from the SAPs.
Miss Seymour also said Mr. Tice must first "obtain and follow direction" from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, through the inspectors general on the proper procedures for contacting the congressional oversight committees.
Mr. Tice said he was not part of the classified NSA program disclosed by the New York Times last month that intercepted telephone, e-mail and other communications involving U.S. citizens without a warrant from a special court.
However, he told ABC News on Tuesday that he was a source for the New York Times.
"As far as I'm concerned, as long as I don't say anything that's classified, I'm not worried," he said. "We need to clean up the intelligence community. We've had abuses, and they need to be addressed."
Mr. Tice last month asked to testify to the House and Senate intelligence oversight panels regarding what he called "probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts" that occurred while he was a technical intelligence specialist with NSA and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
He provided no details of the programs.
However, Mr. Tice worked on special access programs related to electronic intelligence gathering while working for the NSA and DIA, where he took part in space systems communications, non-communications signals, electronic warfare, satellite control, telemetry, sensors, and special capability systems.
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GOOGLE:
Results 1 - 10 of about 113 for Russ Tice
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NSA Wiretapping Whistleblower
Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 12, @08:03AM
from the speak-directly-into-the-plant dept.
Kagu writes "ABC News is running a short piece about an interview with former NSA Employee Russell Tice and his allegations that the NSA wiretaps are more pervasive than believed and used in ways he believes violated the law. "
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/12/003221
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December 17, 2005 latimes.com
THE NATION
'78 Law Sought to Close Spy Loophole
Congress acted to prohibit the kind of domestic surveillance that is now at issue.
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asec...-a_section
WASHINGTON — In 1978, Congress thought it had closed a loophole in the law when it passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The loophole concerned secret spying authorized by the president on grounds of national security.
On Friday, many in Washington were surprised to learn that despite the 1978 law, President Bush and his advisors had claimed the power to authorize secret spying within the United States.
The New York Times reported that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to listen in on the phone calls of thousands of people in this country without getting permission from a court. Bush's lawyers maintained that the president had the inherent authority as commander in chief to protect national security through secret spying. The account was confirmed by the Los Angeles Times.
"This sounds like an extraordinarily broad exemption to FISA," said Washington lawyer Kenneth C. Bass III, who worked on the 1978 law as an aide to President Carter. "This is well beyond the pale of what was anticipated back then."
Other lawyers who helped write the law thought it prohibited what Bush apparently authorized.
"FISA was the sole authority for wiretapping" on national security grounds, said Jerry Berman, who worked on the 1978 law as a counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union. "The statute would be a futile exercise if the president retained the authority to conduct these wiretaps on his own."
As a general matter, the Constitution forbids the government from spying on Americans — including by listening in on their phone calls — without a court's permission. The 4th Amendment says police or federal agents must show a magistrate some evidence of wrongdoing before they can obtain a warrant that authorizes them to listen in on phone calls.
However, through most of the 20th century, presidents maintained they had the power to protect the nation's security by, for example, spying on foreign agents who were operating in the United States. No one questioned that U.S. intelligence agencies could tap the phones of Soviet agents.
In the mid-1970s, Congress learned the White House had abused this power: Presidents, both Democratic and Republican, had authorized the FBI to tap the phones of hundreds of political activists and celebrities, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Vietnam War protesters.
Those revelations led to the 1978 law. One provision says it is a crime for anyone to "intentionally engage in electronic surveillance" except as authorized by law or a court order. However, "the president, through the attorney general, may authorize electronic surveillance … to acquire foreign intelligence information" if officials obtain a warrant from a special court that operates inside the Justice Department.
The judges of what is known as the FISA court may issue warrants for wiretaps when the government has evidence that a person is working for a "foreign power" or is involved in terrorism. This is not a high standard, legal experts say. The judges issue warrants virtually whenever the government applies for one, the Justice Department has said in the past.
However, the law requires evidence that the wiretap target has links to a foreign government or a terrorist group. It would not permit, for example, the wiretaps of hundreds of Muslim men in the United States simply because they telephoned the Middle East.
Top intelligence officials have in the past assured Congress that they follow the law and do not engage in secret spying. "There is a rigorous regime of checks and balances which we — the CIA, the NSA and the FBI — scrupulously adhere to whenever conversations of U.S. persons are involved. We do not collect [information] against U.S. persons unless they are agents of a foreign power," then-CIA Director George J. Tenet told a House committee five years ago.
After Sept. 11, Bush said he would use all the powers of the presidency to prevent another terrorist attack in the United States. His advisors feared then that secret Al Qaeda cells existed within the country and that further attacks were planned.
Administration officials refused Friday to discuss the National Security Agency spying program or even to confirm its existence.
Some former officials say it is important to put the program into the context of the time.
"I wasn't aware of this when I was at the White House, but there was a tremendous sense of urgency to take whatever steps were necessary to detect and disrupt any cells that were out there," said Bradford A. Berenson, a White House lawyer during Bush's first term. "The president was not going to let it be said that he had not used all the powers at his disposal to protect the American people."
This would not be the first time Bush has claimed that his power as commander in chief can override the law.
The Constitution forbids the government from arresting and holding people in the United States without "due process of law." Nonetheless, Bush has claimed the power as commander in chief to designate people as "enemy combatants" and imprison them indefinitely without filing charges.
In 2002, U.S. citizen Jose Padilla was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and held in military brigs for nearly three years. Civil libertarians said that was unconstitutional. His case had been heading toward the Supreme Court; the administration recently brought criminal charges against him, thereby thwarting a clear ruling on the issue.
In the past, Congress has ratified treaties pledging that the United States and its agents will not use torture or inhumane treatment against captives. Once ratified, treaties become part of American law, according to the Constitution.
But before this week, the White House maintained that the laws and treaties did not bind the president in handling terrorist leaders. White House lawyers wrote memos that appeared to justify the use of extreme measures — which critics called torture — in interrogating suspected terrorists.
Civil libertarians say the latest revelations add to their frustration with the Bush administration. "If we are a nation of laws, then the president must be bound by the rule of law," said Lisa Graves, senior counsel at the ACLU in Washington. "This is clearly in violation of FISA and a violation of the Constitution. The president, no matter who he is, does not have the power to decide which laws he will follow."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asec...-a_section
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Bush goes too far when he bypasses wiretap court
By Helen Thomas
© 2005 Hearst Newspapers - 12/22/05
WASHINGTON - It may come as a surprise to President Bush that under our constitutional system no one, not even a president, is above the law.
Bush has used the 9-11 attacks as his carte blanche to initiate domestic spying on Americans without a court warrant in pursuit of terrorists, although the law is very clear that he needs court approval.
Even some of his Republican supporters think he has overstepped his authority. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has announced plans to investigate.
Congress and the public in recent weeks have been stunned to learn that Bush has issued a secret order to the National Security Agency empowering it to listen in on the private conversations of Americans with suspected links to al-Qaida.
This completely bypasses the procedure that Congress established to prevent the abuse of government surveillance powers. That procedure was spelled out in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which set up a secret federal court that the executive branch is supposed to ask for permission before eavesdropping on Americans.
Bush admitted at a news conference Monday that he has authorized electronic spying by the NSA on Americans without seeking that permission. He claimed that he has the legal power because of his constitutional responsibility as commander in chief and because of the Sept. 14, 2001, congressional resolution authorizing the president to use "all necessary and appropriate force" in the battle against terrorists.
Bush insisted that he was absolutely within his rights to wiretap on the home front without a warrant.
There is no reason why the administration cannot seek permission from the FISA court, which is empowered to issue warrants retroactively within 72 hours of the surveillance. This negates the administration argument that it bypassed the court to avoid any delays in pursuing a suspect.
The Washington Post reported that U.S. District Court James Robertson, a member of the FISA court, has resigned in protest against Bush's end run.
The surveillance program is highly classified - and Bush said he intends to keep it that way, despite the uproar in Congress over the federal intrusion into private lives.
"We're at war and we must protect America's secrets,"
Bush said. He also indicated that the Justice Department is hunting for the leakers who revealed the secret program to The New York Times. He called the leaks a "shameful act."
In comments to reporters en route to Pakistan, Vice President Dick Cheney bemoaned the restraints put on presidents in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, both of which involved flagrant illegalities and massive deceits by chief executives.
Cheney said he believed in "a strong robust executive authority and I believe the world we live in demands it." He added it was "no accident" that the U.S. has not been hit by a terrorist in four years.
He also warned that there may be a political backlash against those who oppose the administration's anti-terror strategy.
"The president and I believe there is a hell of a threat," he said.
He claimed that the White House helped protect presidential power by keeping secret the names of people he consulted on his task force on energy policy. The Supreme Court upheld the White House right to have "unfiltered advice," he noted. In this case, that advice appears to have come from Cheney's cronies in the oil industry.
Past presidents have asserted that their presidential power gives them the authority to ignore Congress. In 1952, the Supreme Court put President Harry S Truman in his place when he ordered a federal takeover of the steel industry to prevent a disruption of the flow of U.S. weapons during the Korean War. Truman argued that his role as commander in chief gave him that authority.
Justice Robert Jackson wrote that a president's power was "at its lowest ebb when he takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress."
Jackson also said "with all its defects, delays and inconveniences, men have discovered no technique for long preserving free government except that the executive be under the law and that law be made by parliamentary deliberations"
Bush is learning that there are limits to presidential power, especially when he oversteps his constitutional bounds.
Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address hthomas@hearstdc.com .
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3333762
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UPDATE: Dec. 17, 2005 - Bush Will Continue to Spy on Americans:
Bush Acknowledges Approving Eavesdropping
Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press President Bush delivered his weekly radio address live from the White House.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 17, 2005
Filed at 11:07 a.m. ET
Transcript: President Bush's Address (December 17, 2005)
Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts (Dec. 16, 2005) WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Saturday he has no intention of stopping his personal authorizations of a post-Sept. 11 secret eavesdropping program in the U.S., lashing out at those involved in revealing it while defending it as crucial to preventing future attacks.
''This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security,'' he said in a radio address delivered live from the White House's Roosevelt Room.
''This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power, under our laws and Constitution, to protect them and their civil liberties and that is exactly what I will continue to do as long as I am president of the United States,'' Bush said.
Angry members of Congress have demanded an explanation of the program, first revealed in Friday's New York Times and whether the monitoring by the National Security Agency without obtaining warrants from a court violates civil liberties. One Democrat said in response to Bush's remarks on the radio that Bush was acting more like a king than the elected president of a democracy.
Bush said the program was narrowly designed and used ''consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution.'' He said it is used only to intercept the international communications of people inside the United States who have been determined to have ''a clear link'' to al-Qaida or related terrorist organizations.
The program is reviewed every 45 days, using fresh threat assessments, legal reviews by the Justice Department, White House counsel and others, and information from previous activities under the program, the president said.
Without identifying specific lawmakers, Bush said congressional leaders have been briefed more than a dozen times on the program's activities.
The president also said the intelligence officials involved in the monitoring receive extensive training to make sure civil liberties are not violated.
Appearing angry at points during his eight-minute address, Bush said he had reauthorized the program more than 30 times since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and plans to continue doing so.
''I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al-Qaida and related groups,'' he said.
The president contended the program has helped ''detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the U.S. and abroad,'' but did not provide specific examples.
He said it is designed in part to fix problems raised by the Sept. 11 commission, which found that two of the suicide hijackers were communicating from San Diego with al-Qaida operatives overseas.
''The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9-11 hijackers will be identified and located in time,'' he said.
In an effort by the administration that appeared coordinated to stem criticism, Bush's remarks echoed -- in many cases word-for-word -- those issued Friday night by a senior intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The president's highly unusual discussion of classified activities showed the sensitive nature of the program, whose existence was revealed as Congress was trying to renew the terrorism-fighting Patriot Act and complicated that effort, a top priority of Bush's.
Senate Democrats joined with a handful of Republicans on Friday to stall the bill. Those opposing the renewal of key provisions of the act that are expiring say they threaten constitutional liberties.
Reacting to Bush's defense of the NSA program, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., said the president's remarks were ''breathtaking in how extreme they were.''
Feingold said it was ''absurd'' that Bush said he relied on his inherent power as president to authorize the wiretaps.
''If that's true, he doesn't need the Patriot Act because he can just make it up as he goes along. I tell you, he's President George Bush, not King George Bush. This is not the system of government we have and that we fought for,'' Feingold told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The president had harsh words for those who talked about the program to the media, saying their actions were illegal and improper.
''As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have,'' he said. ''The unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/politics/AP-Bush.html
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More Info on Codename FIRSTFRUITS
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Note to Mr. Bush: The U.S. is not a monarchy
Posted on Wed, Dec. 21, 2005
Note to Mr. Bush: The U.S. is not a monarchyBy Joseph L. GallowayKnight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Our forefathers created a system of government built on checks and balances that they envisioned would protect a free people from abuses of their privacy, their property and their liberty at the hands of anyone, especially anyone in public office.
They never intended for an imperial presidency to rise above the legislative and judicial branches of government, for they had their fill of kings and emperors who ruled with absolute power in the old world. They knew that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
They wanted none of this, and wrote a Constitution and Bill of Rights to enshrine the protections they knew were needed to keep Americans free and democracy healthy.
They crafted a system of government rooted in the principle that citizens have rights and presidents violate those rights at their own peril.
Let us review the bidding as the dark year 2005 fades:
President Bush admits that he secretly ordered the government to eavesdrop on American citizens, without recourse to the established legal methods of doing that. He declares that he had and has the right to do so. Says who? Well, he says so, and Vice President Cheney says so, and his attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales, says so too.
Some legal scholars beg to differ, arguing that the president has violated federal law and has opened himself to impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors. They contend that he trampled the Constitution in a bid to expand the powers of the executive branch and conduct the war on terrorism.
This is the same president, the same administration, that under cover of the same wartime power grab declared their right to detain prisoners outside the court system in secret foreign prisons and the right to use inhumane and degrading measures in interrogating those prisoners in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
In ordering the National Security Agency to intercept phone and e-mail traffic of American citizens, members of the administration chose not to avail themselves of a secret federal court established nearly 30 years ago to provide the government the means to secretly investigate anyone believed to have ties to foreign governments or movements that threaten the United States.
They say it is too cumbersome and slow to seek warrants from that court - even though the court has granted such warrants in more than 17,400 cases and only rejected them four times. They say they must move more swiftly - even though the law permits them to eavesdrop for 72 hours before seeking a warrant that is routinely and quickly granted.
Some suggest that the Bush administration's real reason for cutting the secret court out of the loop is that some of the information they are basing the secret wiretaps on was gotten through torture. The court warned early on that it would not permit information gotten through extra-legal or illegal methods to pervert the American court system.
Congress passed the law creating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court precisely because another president, Richard Nixon, bent the intelligence agencies and the entire government to his will in pursuing those he considered his enemies. If you made the Nixon enemies list, then your phones were tapped, your comings and goings watched, your tax returns audited.
How big a leap is it from ignoring the rule of law in pursuing foreign enemies to pursuing and punishing domestic enemies, those Americans who for political reasons or reasons of principle oppose your aims?
The president and his vice president and his attorney general are saying, essentially, trust us. We won't use our extra-legal powers against ordinary Americans. We just want to protect you from further terrorist attacks. Trust us. We are honorable men who have nothing but your well being at heart.
Sorry. That won't cut it. They have all the legal tools any president needs already on the books for our protection. Congress makes the laws. The judiciary interprets them. The president and all the rest of us live by them.
George W. Bush is not the emperor of America or the king of the 50 states of the union. He, like us, must live by the rule of law. He is bound by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In the end, he works for us.
As Ben Franklin wrote more than two centuries ago: "Those who would give up essential liberty in the pursuit of a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security."
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Joseph L. Galloway is the senior military correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers and co-author of the national best-seller "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young." Readers may write to him at: Knight Ridder Washington Bureau, 700 12th St. N.W., Suite 1000, Washington, D.C. 20005-3994.
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13458546.htm
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IS BUSH ABOVE THE LAW?
TITLE 50 > CHAPTER 36 > SUBCHAPTER I > § 1809
§ 1809. Criminal sanctions
Release date: 2005-03-17
(a) Prohibited activities
A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally—
(1) engages in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized by statute; or
(2) discloses or uses information obtained under color of law by electronic surveillance, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through electronic surveillance not authorized by statute.
(b) Defense
It is a defense to a prosecution under subsection (a) of this section that the defendant was a law enforcement or investigative officer engaged in the course of his official duties and the electronic surveillance was authorized by and conducted pursuant to a search warrant or court order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
(c) Penalties
An offense described in this section is punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.
(d) Federal jurisdiction
There is Federal jurisdiction over an offense under this section if the person committing the offense was an officer or employee of the United States at the time the offense was committed.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode...-000-.html
TITLE 50 > CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 36—FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE
Release date: 2005-03-17
SUBCHAPTER I —ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE
SUBCHAPTER II —PHYSICAL SEARCHES
SUBCHAPTER III —PEN REGISTERS AND TRAP AND TRACE DEVICES FOR FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE PURPOSES
SUBCHAPTER IV —ACCESS TO CERTAIN BUSINESS RECORDS FOR FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE PURPOSES
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode...10_36.html
Washington Monthly
Political Animal
by Kevin Drum
December 16, 2005
http://washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individ...007789.php
I just wanted to echo what Shakespearer's Sister said about the report that Bush signed an order allowing the NSA to spy on US citizens without a warrant.
This is against the law. I have put references to the relevant statute below the fold; the brief version is: the law forbids warrantless surveillance of US citizens, and it provides procedures to be followed in emergencies that do not leave enough time for federal agents to get a warrant. If the NY Times report is correct, the government did not follow these procedures. It therefore acted illegally.
Bush's order is arguably unconstitutional as well: it seems to violate the fourth amendment, and it certainly violates the requirement (Article II, sec. 3) that the President "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
I am normally extremely wary of talking about impeachment. I think that impeachment is a trauma for the country, and that it should only be considered in extreme cases. Moreover, I think that the fact that Clinton was impeached raises the bar as far as impeaching Bush: two traumas in a row is really not good for the country, and even though my reluctance to go through a second impeachment benefits the very Republicans who needlessly inflicted the first on us, I don't care. It's bad for the country, and that matters most.
But I have a high bar, not a nonexistent one. And for a President to order violations of the law meets my criteria for impeachment. This is exactly what got Nixon in trouble: he ordered his subordinates to obstruct justice. To the extent that the two cases differ, the differences make what Bush did worse: after all, it's not as though warrants are hard to get, or the law makes no provision for emergencies. Bush could have followed the law had he wanted to. He chose to set it aside.
And this is something that no American should tolerate. We claim to have a government of laws, not of men. That claim means nothing if we are not prepared to act when a President (or anyone else) places himself above the law. If the New York Times report is true, then Bush should be impeached.
The Law:
Here is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act . Its Section 1809a makes it a criminal offense to "engage in electro
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I'm in it to win it!
NASDAQ DIP and RIP
Here is the best word that describes what i do here.
Intuitive;
means having the ability to understand or know something without any direct evidence or reasoning process.
I was born with it, I'm truly blessed!
Alway's searching for winners'
