Helen Thomas: Yet Again, The Democrats Roll Over

[babylonsister]

Ouch!


Yet Again, The Democrats Roll Over
by Helen Thomas

WASHINGTON — President Bush has the Democrats’ number on Capitol Hill. All he has to do is play the fear card and invoke the war on terror and they will cave. What’s more, the president has found out that he can break the law and the rubber stamp Democratic Congress will give him a pass every time.

The fear of being branded “soft on terrorism” was enough to make the Democrats capitulate once again to the Bush administration’s demands. Or was it simply a looming vacation and beckoning campaign travel that led them to desert the nation’s capital after giving the National Security Agency the power to expand its eavesdropping program without a warrant.

The Orwellian measure allows the federal government — without a court order or oversight — to intercept electronic communications between people in the U.S. and people outside the U.S.

The old rule required that a special court give its approval for that kind of surveillance. The new law bypasses the court and empowers the director of national intelligence and the attorney general to authorize the surveillance.

Oversight by the special foreign intelligence surveillance court is now severely limited to examining whether the government’s guidelines for targeting overseas suspects are appropriate.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/10/3098/

[spanone]

1. helen is spot on, again.

recommend

[jojo54]

2. She's a good ole' broad (from one to another).

She's one of the few left in the media that tells the truth without any spin. She's an icon!!

[Wapsie B]

3. They continue on this course I'm voting 3rd party.

No question about it. This smells like a bigger set up than the Dukakis-GHWB election. What difference does it make who's in power among the 2 major parties if the Dems refuse to have the fucking balls to stand up to a lame-duck president with approval ratings in the 20% range? Karl Rove is pissing his pants from laughing so hard over this one.
The extremists on both sides are right. The entire system is corrupt.

[Javaman]

11. Right there with you. nt

[BobRossi]

12. My only hope.

Dems have deserted me.

[truedelphi]

17. And if people fault us for it - we should be RIGHT BACK AT CHA!

Whose worse when viewed by the adult children??

Daddy the Drunk or Mommy the Enabler??

At least the Republicans are SICK. SICK with GREED, SICK WITH THEIR NEED FOR POWER.

But the Dems paint themselves as better than that, only to support and enable EVERY BLASTED THING the Repugs do!

[groovedaddy]

4. There is something seriously wrong with politicians

who give more power to those who have proven their willingness to abuse what power they do have.
Impeachment is the right thing to do not giving them more power.

[rodeodance]

5. It boggles the mind to imagine what secret executive orders the next

But after the 9/11 terrorist attack, he authorized a secret warrantless wiretapping program that allowed the NSA to intercept communications between individuals in the United States and others overseas when there is suspicion of a link to terrorism.

Full details of the program have never been revealed.

In ordering wiretapping without a warrant, Bush seemed to think that the laws did not apply to him. The compliant FISA court has turned down only one request for a warrant in the past two years. So what’s his problem with obeying the law?

He seems to be giving credence to President Nixon’s famous quote: “If a president does it, it’s not illegal.”

It boggles the mind to imagine what secret executive orders the next president will uncover after Bush leaves office and what the American people will eventually learn about the secret infringement of their rights.

[Hydra]

13. There's nothing strange about it

Many people point to the precedent, and that IS important, but what we wants to do is pitifully obvious, and now he can do it.

He wants to be able to spy on anyone, anywhere, anytime, without a record of him doing so. Gonzo and the DNI will do that for him. Combined with datamining, he now controls the message in it's entirety.

Consider that for a moment. Anyone considering publishing something damaging to the admin will probably get sifted out by the datamining, unless they cypher it, and from there the NSA will focus on their communications, and from there, their assets could be frozen, or their offices raided.

Even just the threat of that will put a chill in anything that might fall in that category.. The risk would simply too great in most cases.

Even worse, as I posted last week, by passing the anti-FISA bill, the congress has signaled that they will "make it legal" for Bush whenever he gets caught at stuff like this- no whistleblower will want to come forward now. There is no point.

Consider ourselves officially censored. Congrats to all who made this possible.

:puke:

[cboy4]

6. Ouch is right! I hope I have that much spunk when I'm her

age!

[stirlingsliver]

7. We LOVE You, Helen!

Never stop speaking the TRUTH to POWER!

We Love You, Helen!!

[FormerDittoHead]

8. So true. The Dems should learn they're going to be called 'soft on terror' no matter what.. n/t

[gratuitous]

10. Precisely

And Bush, in abject gratitude for the continuing blank check Congress handed to him before they skedaddled out of town for the August recess, immediately blamed the bridge collapse in Minnesota on them. When does "thank you sir, may I have another" become "up against the wall, mofo"?

Voters had one stinkin' chance last November to do something about this runaway train of an administration, and we nailed it. Unfortunately, the leaders we installed are more frightened of shadows than they are interested in serving the people who put them where they are. Thomas Jefferson told us in the Declaration of Independence what the responsibility of the people is when that happens.

[Double T]

9. Love HELEN. One of the ONLY true journalists.

I've given up on the Democrats in congress. Hopefully the NEW crop of to be elected Democrats will NOT be part of the jellyfish species.

[Bitwit1234]

14. It is true the democrats did vote for the bill...but why

doesn't the media and posters make a clear point that it was the blue dogs who everyone really believes are republicans, who changed their spots to democrats so they could get elected. If you note, any of the bills voted on to give the republicans "victory" had the backing of the blue dogs.

[babylonsister]

15. By the silence and non-action of Pelosi and Hoyer, I hold them

responsible, too. This could have had a very different outcome if they appeared to give a crap.

[Hydra]

16. Thanks for keeping the spotlight on that point

Too many people are giving the dems a pass, saying that they couldn't have done anything to stop it.

Ah...they could have refused to alter the law on the books for the president trying to become a legal tyrant. That might have worked...

[Wapsie B]

18. K & R

:kick:

[Seabiscuit]

19. Many people on DU don't see how serious this is. At least Helen Thomas does.

Bush's illegal surveillance activity since 9-11 was not just a continuous *criminal* violation of FISA law, it was a monstrously huge set of slam-dunk impeachable offenses.

When Nancy Pelosi said she was taking impeachment off the table I never imagined in my most perverse dreams that she would stoop to giving Bush a pass on all that criminal activity with this new law.

[1776Forever]

20. So true - bypassing the court once again - we have no laws for we have no one to enforce them!

If one steps back and looks at the lack of oversight by our courts it is discusting to see how little is being done to protect our laws! Are we not a country of laws? Isn't that what makes us the land we are or were? My head is lowered in shame!:hurts: