King George

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

The Progressive

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0131-23.htm

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George Bush’s policy of eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without a warrant proves he has placed himself above the law. Add this to the long list of other impeachable offenses—lying the country into war, torturing prisoners, exporting detainees for torture, paying columnists to propagandize the American public—that George W. Bush has committed, and put it at the top.

The President swears an oath of office that he will uphold the Constitution and faithfully execute the laws of the land.But he has been brazenly flouting the law that prohibits domestic spying without a warrant.

When The New York Times revealed on December 16 (after sitting on the story for a year and then omitting details at the request of Administration officials!) that Bush ordered the National Security Agency to monitor “the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years,” I expected Bush to deny it or to say he was going to review the policy. Instead, he has been vehemently defending that policy, citing both his authority under the Constitution as commander in chief and Congress’s authorization to go after Al Qaeda.

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[samhsarah]

1. If you replace Nixon’s name with Bush’s, the article still stands

"Richard Nixon was impeached, in part, for such power grabs and privacy invasions. One of the three articles of impeachment that came out of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 said: “Using the powers of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in disregard of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens.”

If you replace Nixon’s name with Bush’s, the article still stands."