bush was absolutely correct about warrantless wiretapping!!

[welshTerrier2]

uh oh - somebody doesn't agree that warrantless wiretaps are Constitutional - and who is this Constitutional sage? who is this great scholar of American liberties? why it's good old george w. bush himself ... here is a series of statements bush has made on the subject:

source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040419-4.html

April 19, 2004
For years, law enforcement used so-called roving wire taps to investigate organized crime. You see, what that meant is if you got a wire tap by court order -- and, by the way, everything you hear about requires court order, requires there to be permission from a FISA court, for example.

source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040420-2.html

April 20, 2004
Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.

source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050609-2.html

June 09, 2005
These wiretaps must be approved by a judge, and they have been used for years to catch drug dealers and other criminals.

source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050720-4.html

July 20, 2005
Law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone, or to track his calls, or to search his property. Officers must meet strict standards to use any of the tools we're talking about. And they are fully consistent with the Constitution of the United States.

[mom cat]

1. Alito would try to overturn this law or "interpret it" as congressional

overreach. Keep up the pressure on Alito till we win.


CALL ALL YOUR SENATORS LOCAL DISTRICT OFFICES NOW TO OPPOSE ALITO

We have gotten many emails from our participants, asking "what more can we do?" Some have reported senators arbitrarily turning off their answering machines at night, or long waits on hold. Are they trying to hide from the thousands and thousands of their constituents who are raising their voices to demand that they filibuster the evasive Alito? Even if you have already sent your personal message by email or made some phone calls, we have added a FABULOUS extra function to the main action page where you can instantly lookup all your senators local district offices phone and fax numbers with just one click.

http://www.nocrony.com

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT FILIBUSTER FRIDAY

If the other side can have a so-called "Justice Sunday", we can have our own "Filibuster Friday", and that day is tomorrow. In just the last 24 hours we have seen a major shift in momentum. Today, Senator Leahy came out with a very strong statement that he recognizes the immense threat to our freedom and democracy in allowing a dangerous and unpopular president to install a fifth and controlling vote to hold that our Constitution actually intended to create an executive dictatorship. Tomorrow we need to show our support for those senators who are starting to stand up now by hitting every phone they've got right down to the district level with our phone calls and faxes. Get all your numbers with one easy click at

http://www.nocrony.com

Those you who like to call in to progressive radio programs, we have all their call in numbers too at the site above in the right column. Call them and ask them to talk up Filibuster Friday all day and night long! Let's start early and snowball the thing all day long. Ask them to give out the easy to say and remember URL above as much as possible. Senators have said they are "undecided" on a filibuster. But we the American people HAVE decided and all our senators have to do it get it.

Some senators who are too still too cowardly to demand a filibuster are saying they will make Alito an issue in the 2006 election. It'll be an issue alright, in their OWN primaries! Any officeholder who will not stand up for this one must never hold public office in any capacity ever again. And the difference is whether you will stand up YOURSELF right now and make those calls to their local district offices. Make calls to the toll-free numbers 888-355-3588, 888-818-6641 and 800-426-8073 if you can get through there too.

It is not enough to vote "No." They must vote "Hell, NO!" It's called a filibuster. Filibuster Friday.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

Or if you want to cease receiving our messages, just use the function at http://www.usalone.com/out.htm

[welshTerrier2]

2. Alito is both real and symbolic

you are absolutely correct that Alito will surrender the Supreme Court's check and balance role to the Executive Branch ... if bush, or any other member of this or a future Executive Branch, is allowed to claim absolute power, i.e. power with no check or balance from either the Judicial or Legislative branches, our Constitution essentially ceases to exist ...

if a President, any President, can suspend any restriction whatsoever on his power, what better definition of tyranny can one conceive of?

a filibuster against Alito rather than just a vote against Alito is necessary now more than ever ... during the hearings, Alito insisted that "the President is not above the law" ... but bush is claiming "inherent authority" to do whatever is necessary to protect the country and that this authority is "within the law" ... Alito's association (and his speeches) at the Federalist Society clearly show he supports this abusive view of unlimited Executive authority ...

and the issue for Democrats goes far beyond Alito ... Alito's views have sent a message to Americans; Democrats must understand that failure to stop Alito dead in his tracks will provide some disturbing symbolism to the American people ... Reid, Pelosi and others have been very energized by their "culture of corruption" campaign and they are right to be so ... HOWEVER, Reid's failure to make bush's Constitutional violations and abuses of the separation of powers clause central to the Party's focus is a huge mistake ... bush has not just wiretapped Americans (ala Nixon), he has suspended habeas corpus and has claimed authority to use torture against the will of the Congress ... we are facing a major Constitutional crisis because of bush's tyranny and the Democratic Party still has not consistently taken to the airways to make the case ...

Democrats need to filibuster Alito because of his failure to protect the system of checks and balances embodied in the Constitution; and they need to do much, much more than that as well ...

[mom cat]

3. I am listening to the Conyers hearings. This is frightening and must be

stopped.

[autorank]

4. Excellent. The authority is clear. "Physician, heal thyself." n/t Rec.

[samhsarah]

5. ut oh

looks like the preznit is a flip flopper.

[Bandit]

6. I would venture to say he is a hell of lot more than that

LIAR, COWARD, THIEF, Major Asshole "Big Time", well you get the picture. Those are just the tip of the iceburg.

[Virginian]

7. Oh sure, he said the words, but he didn't know what they meant.

He was just repeating what he had heard. It's a law and he's a Republican. Some laws don't apply to Republicans so this one doesn't apply to him.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. And I see you culled the quotes from leftist propaganda spin sites.

:sarcasm:

Good catch!

[welshTerrier2]

9. actually, i did ...

the originals for the quotes were initially posted on Atrios ...

but linking to the WH website seems to give it that extra special authenticity ... it makes for much more effective ammunition, don't you think ??

[Pacifist Patriot]

10. I adore that touch.