AG Gonzales is to have a Press Conference this AM 8:30 EST.

[napi21]

A reporter is on cspan explaining that Alberto is going to explaine to the press why it was legal for Shrub to order syping.

It didn't say if it was going to be telivised or not.

[flordehinojos]

1. i hope they fry his ass! Little Banana Republic AG Alberto Gonzalez!

[napi21]

3. Well, the reporter said she was told that there's something in the

Patriot Act that allows the President, in a time of war, to intercept communications without getting any authorization, when the original source is associated with a foreign power.

I hope somebody covers this PC live.

[flordehinojos]

9. i think they (the sunday talk show people) were talking about that

yesterday...and i think they found that that particular claim is not true.

i'll try to find a link to the george stephanophalos show (someone else posted yesterday to correct my wrong headed idea when i thought coky roberts was taking up for the bushit boy again) she wasn't and i think that that panel talked briefly about that. if they did not. others did.

http://www.canofun.com/blog/videos/thisweekbushspyingpatactdec1805.wmv

if not that link, maybe this one


Windows Media Audio 9.1
16 kbps, 16 kHz, mono 1-pass CBR

[bigbrother05]

22. did they just add it?

[flordehinojos]

23. do you mean,

did they fall off the cart?

[justabob]

2. He was on CNN a few minutes ago

said congress authorized Bush to spy on citizens when they authorized use of force after 911. He wasn't very clear, so I assume he means when congress oked going to Afghanistan. He talked about FISA being too slow and not agile enough for the challenges facing us. This is what I woke up to, and I haven't yet had coffee, so maybe I heard all this wrong, but I was floored by this strategy of putting it on Congress. I wonder how congress will respond... I hope they scream bloody murder.

edit: typos

[DRoseDARs]

4. Erm, no. Unless the '78 law requiring court approval was rescinded...

...which it wasn't.

[justabob]

5. I know, the defense is nuts

sadly, many folks will buy this line unless Congress people and others make it clear that he is full of shit.

[napi21]

7. Not only was it NOT recinded, but Biden explained the '78 law

yesterday. The President has the authority to initiate an intercept and operate it for 72 hours. FISA must respond within that 72 hours with or without authorization. In MOST cases they OK it, but if they do not, the information gathered in that first 72 hours must be destroyed.

Now 3 days sounds like quite a while to me! I'm afraid the people he was spying on didn't have anything to do with terrorism, and he was convinced he would NEVER get the authorization. I think he was spying on his political enemies, the same as Nixon did!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. I think this is disinformation

Admittedly I am no expert, but after listening to numerous people and reading quite a bit yesterday, it is my understanding that the FISA law was made extremely agile and responsive for situations that might come up in the post 9/11 world. You do NOT have to get the warrant first, if time is of the essence and you do not have to have probable cause. Which means , they are ALWAYS able to do this legally, but they CHOSE to do it illegally. Do not buy this bullshit from Gonzales!!!!

[Freedom_from_Chains]

6. So he is going to bring forth the official government position

that the Bush regime is legit. Oh, ok, that makes everything much better.

[TheGunslinger]

10. The same way they determined Geneva Conventions were "quaint"?

[deminks]

11. Al "Torture" Gonzales is going to say that spying, or eavesdropping,

is legal. Great. He has no credibility with me. There was a law, there was a court. There is no excuse.

[The2ndWheel]

14. Yet he has the power

of the state saying that he does have credibility.

He'll just rewrite a law stating that you will understand that 2+2=5.

[HereSince1628]

12. Going for it Karl runs out one of the mendacious little men who cooked

up the illegal surveillance scheme. I hope they hold his ass to the fire.

Do you suppose the reporters will consider that neither the White House counsels' arguments nor US Attorney General's opinions have the power to over ride the law?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. So, according to them, the opinions of Harriet Miers and Alberto Gonzales

are all that is needed to establish a dictatorship,turn off the provisions of the 4th Amendment and pervert the checks and balances of our American system? Well, who knew?

[HereSince1628]

19. Dictators, including Bush, will hold any slender reed to gain power

and then they can turn them into iron rods.

Only the inner circle wackos would consider it a good idea to place an executive outside the grasp of the law.

[The2ndWheel]

20. Triumph of the Will

American style.

[blm]

13. Just watch - they will suddenly PRODUCE some terror act they prevented

because of their spying.

That's how these characters operate.

[mwb970]

17. It's working - we haven't been attacked again, see?

Except that al Qaeda let 8 years go by between the first and second WTC attacks. These guys are patient. No attack since 9/11 means nothing.

[Bonhomme Richard]

16. Gonzales and John Woo have a very warped............

sense of what this nation is about.
From discarding the Geneva Convention, Torture, and now warrantless eavesdropping, these two are behind it all when it comes to justification.

[HereSince1628]

21. Evil intellects in the service of the He Who Shall Not Be Named.

I suppose there is something quite intoxicating about being recognized in hisotyr as the one who pushed an interpretation of executive power that attempted to end a republic and establish a dictatorship.

[lonestarnot]

18. ewwwww yeah. They know someone has seen them with their pants down!

Could this be the blow job we have been waiting for?