--- In [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > In a message dated 8/20/06 7:40:31 P.M. Central Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[email protected]) > , "Patrick Gillam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > --- MDixon wrote: > > > > > > Presidents always have to follow the law. However the question > is, is there > > > any wiggle room in that law under extraordinary circumstances > such as war. The > > > presidential legal teams think there is. Remember Lincoln > suspended Habius > > > corpus, shut down the Maryland legislature and restricted free > speech to some > > > degree. FDR had people's mail censored and detained Japanese in > internment > > > camps. LBJ had mail censored coming from troops in Vietnam. And > I'm certain > > > there are many more examples of powers that presidents have been > able to enact > > > in times of war for national security. > > > > MD, you recount these extreme measures by past presidents > > as if they were all justified. I'm not ready to assume they > > were. For example, I've encountered many citations of > > Lincoln suspending writs of habeas corpus, but not one > > citation has ever said, "And history proves he was > > correct to do so." Same with FDR's internment of > > Japanese Americans. > > > > If history teaches me anything from the above > > examples, it's that presidents take reprehensible > > actions under stress. > > Nixon did a whole lot of warrantless wiretapping, > so it should be OK for Bush to do it too, right? > > Er, no. That's why the FISA Act was passed in 1978, > to KEEP presidents from doing warrantless > wiretapping, to ensure they had no reason to say, > Well, gee, it was terribly urgent and a matter of > national security, and we just couldn't wait to > get a warrant... > > And just who was Nixon wire tapping? Democrats on domestic lines. > Good reason to pass FISA. Bush is intercepting foreign calls > coming into the US from known or suspected terrorist in a war on > terror.
That's what he *says* he's doing. But because there's no OVERSIGHT--because he does not have to get warrants-- there's no way to tell. He could be tapping domestic calls from Democrats, and we'd never know it. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
