Alexander Hamilton

Shop for the best school. If you don't, you're insane. And whether you can or can't afford a choice, you have to become a teacher to your own kids.

Stay on target Red Leader. If the law was broken, the Dems didn't break it (this time).

I read in one of those articles that McCain has publicly rebuked the Intelligence Committee members who had reservations but didn't raise them publicly once they were not addressed by the administration. His criticism being that how can the problem be fixed if all you do is write a memo that everyone ignores.

The stories seem to be that several members of Intelligence had questions about this program that were never answered by the administration.

Your argument: "Constitution shmonsititution."

That opinion is taking me a long time to slog through, but I'm sure you digested it all.

FISA gives him 15 days to surveil without warrant after the declaration of war, but also requires that the government not tap US citizens. So he'd still need a FISA warrant eventually.

Well, if you would shut up about the disposable cell phones, I would have left you out of it. As it is, between your disposable cell phones and VA's phone booths, I keep getting distracted. At least give me this: this is one of the better topics discussed here in a few weeks, even with VA trampling on the Constitution.

What's worse was that she had to know those questions were coming. What's worse than that is that she was the fugging National Security Advosor at the time this was all happening!!!!

The point, before I went waltzing through the flowers with VA, is that wiretapping US citizens is illegal, and furthermore, the government can EASILY get warrants for terror-related wiretaps. Bush's justification for the wiretaps is this (which is different than what Rice offered up on Sunday). "As president of the United States and commander in chief I have the constitutional responsibility and the constitutional authority to protect our country." That's bullsh1t. He can get these wiretaps without endrunning the 4th Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which makes it illegal to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States without court approval. No one in the administration has offered the slightest legal defense to the wiretaps. For you and BiB, whose comments amount to an accusation that people like me are all fiddling while Rome burns, I don't buy it. The administration can get these warrants to wiretap with ease. The administration hasn't provided one iota of response for how it can justify violating the Constitution. That's troubling. VA doesn't care what the administration does in trampling the Constitution. He doesn't care if the government wiretaps every public phone booth in the US. Basically, the rule of law, to him, is for pu$$ies.

LOL. I enjoyed setting you up on that. I can only imagine someone threw you a bone and linked you to the Katz decision. It's funny that you dismiss a decision upholding the actual language of the Constitution as "activist." That's precious, even for you. In any event, the Supreme Court AND a later act of Congress both say that a court has to get a warrant to listen in on a public phone booth. But I'm sure you will keep insisting that such listening sans warrant is legal.

Thank you. I'll let the wolves eat you up now.

The Denver Spiritual Community? There was tons of outrage and backlash over the Clipper Chip, and it was such a disastrous proposal--proposal mind you and not a spy program enacted without a warrant--that the Clipper Chip died on the vine. Or this one: Echelon goe back to at least the 70's : If a US citizen was the target of a wiretap, without warrant, it's illegal. You argue that no one has a right to privacy for basically anything that ever touches the public. Do I have an expectation of privacy in a closed phone booth? Can the FBI use a listening device to target my conversation in that booth, without a warrant?

That's idiotic. The Internet is partially public, partially private sector. That doesn't give the government the right to use it to waltz into your email account. Do you have such a high regard for the government, and such a low regard for your rights, that you aren't concerned?

It's a lot more than "Bush bad" soundbyte boy. I'm hung up on the fact that the federal government targeted specific US citizens to wiretap without a warrant. This wasn't signal capture--it was specifically targeted wiretaps on US citizens. My argument isn't "Bush bad": it's "Constitution good."

No, they don't. But this wiretapping was done on US citizens.

Gonzalez said that Bush acted under authority of the Congress when the Congress authorized the war on Iraq and Afghanistan. The National Security Advisor at the time said the President acted with Constitutional authority. Me, I get hung up on the Bill of Rights.

This story has been boiling for a few days. spying story Over the weekend, I saw both Rice and Gonzalez two-stepping around this issue of wiretapping US citizens without a warrant. It's just plain illegal, and that the government would do it is frightening. Condi's explanation on Meet the Press was twofold: (1) I'm not a lawyer, and (2) the President acted within his authority. As to the first dodge, she can bite me. She was the fugging National Security Advisor when this was going on. She can't hide from the question of whether it was legal or not by saying she's not a lawyer. IT was her job to insure things like this are legal. As to her second refrain, that the president acted within his authority, she couldn't be more wrong. Nothing, not war, not anything, gives the federal government the right to wiretap US citizens without a warrant. Nothing. Gonzalez's explanation is that Congress authorized this wiretapping when it authorized the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. That is a complete load of sh1t, and I can't believe he's got the brass balls to say that. This, to me, is an impeachable offense. It's a blatant violation of the law. There is no gray area here to play in. I understand that the war on terror changes many things, but the rights of Americans to be free of search without warrant is clear. Since Bush personally authorized this wiretapping several times, I hope he gets impeached. No matter how pure his motivations in fighting the war on terror and keeping America safe, this is an extreme Constitutional violation.

How about hands of stone, balls bouncing off his chest, indecision running routes, and not looking at his QB on blitzes?

Because of the plague of passive verb use, or because of the pretension?

All the wrong teams won today in terms of the Bills moving up.

WTF is your malfunction? Writing simple sentences isn't some sort of plague to avoid. Vonnegut, who you mentioned in an earlier post, writes in simple sentences, as do most writers. Why? Most writers strive for clarity, and declarative sentences are clear. When you post your stuff on this board, of all places, and invite criticism, don't get all prickly when the criticsm arrives.

9,500 posts, no doubt all as informed as this one.

What?

McNabb is a backstabbing B word. Rather than deal with TO like a man, he cried behind the scenes to Reid. Over and over.