On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 10:47 AM, Robert Munn <[email protected]> wrote: > So which is worse? Wiretapping or the IRS?
That's the wrong question. No one here is supporting the illegal use of the IRS. There are some people here, yourself included, who support the illegal use of wiretapping. The IRS performs a very important function. It also has the capacity for abuse and can be very frightening indeed. Wiretapping can serve an important function as well. Far fewer instances where it is an important function, but important none the less. The big difference is that there are established checks and balances in place for the IRS and most of them operate in a public sphere. Yes, sometimes those are ignored and the system is abused. That should be thoroughly investigated and swiftly and decisively punished. Wiretaps, on the other hand, operate largely in secret and had minimal checks and balances in the first place. The FISA court was secret and prior to the Bush Administration had only been known to have turned down one request. Ever. And the warrants could even be acquired retroactively. Yet the program we are talking about refused to be bound even by these most minimal of constraints. The Bush Administration wanted no constraints whatsoever, no oversight, no public knowledge, no incursion of even the most cursory Constitutional checks and balances. Raw unchecked secret power. If any administration does or seeks the same power with the IRS then I'm right there with the pitchforks and torches. But you seem to be trying to give them a clean pass with raw unchecked secret power in the area of spying. And that I cannot accept from you, Obama, or anyone else. Your comparison to the IRS is a red herring of the worst sort and does not befit an intellect of your caliber. Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:290491 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
