Bush to face tough questions over Patriot Act, spy orders & the "I" word.

[kpete]

Bush to face tough questions over Patriot Act, spy orders
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Saturday, December 24, 2005


Washington -- Congress' five-week extension of controversial Patriot Act provisions coupled with likely congressional hearings into President Bush's order for warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens looks to produce pointed debate early next year.

As the federal government is on alert against terrorism, the debate over civil liberties intensified this week when a federal judge resigned from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court in Washington, apparently in protest over the Bush-ordered eavesdropping by the National Security Agency that skirted his court. The court's chief judge has called for briefings next month to see if the snooping went around the law.

And it could worsen.

There are murmurs among some Democrats about calling for impeachment proceedings against Bush, if they conclude he has committed an impeachable offense. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., for instance, has written four law professors and presidential scholars asking for their opinion on whether Bush broke laws by approving such eavesdropping outside of normal channels.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/24/MNGBOGD4FF1.DTL

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. If I see a fellow with a smoking gun in his hand

standing above a dead body, I'd want him arrested immediately. I guess what Boxer is doing is the equivalent of dialing 911.

[lonestarnot]

2. Throw him out on the lawn!

[babylonsister]

3. No, Leavenworth would be appropriate. nt

[lonestarnot]

4. It is really going to happen this time! Really! I promise!

[B3Nut]

5. Or wherever the Hague decides to send him and his cronies

when they prosecute them for war crimes against humanity. We can only hope. The whole * cabal in jail. Visualize it.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Marleyb]

17. I'm there

but first

[madokie]

19. And you have to love her for it.

[Higans]

23. we want the world and we want it NOW!

[madokie]

24. Its ours and we'll have to fight for it but we will and we will win.

The seven most beautiful letters in our alphabet arranged correctly.

[MetaTrope]

6. "Bush to face tough questions"

is MSM code for "Congress to sign Patriot Act into place permanently without debate".

[gratuitous]

15. Yeah, who is Bush going to face tough questions from?

His Republican lackeys and enablers? Get real. The media? Pssssh! As if. Nobody else gets close enough to him to ask a question. So who's going to be putting Bush on the spot with these alleged posers?

[ClintonTyree]

7. "The rally round the flag factor" isn't eroding.........

"the rally round bush factor" is eroding. People remain loyal to their country, but are not willing to remain loyal to a president who treats our Constitution like it is so much toilet paper. Bush has clearly overstepped his authority, not only with the lies and distortions used for the invasion of a sovereign country, but now his obsession with domestic spying. Lie after lie after lie......all so he can pursue his own twisted agenda and "keep tabs" on his domestic detractors. Americans haven't lost faith in their country, they've lost faith in the criminals running it.
Once again, a Republican cancer is growing within our country. A Republican cancer that is eroding our civil liberties and skewing the "American Dream" toward their rich counterparts. The American Dream is still within sight but not with this current gang of criminals leading it. We must remove the cancer, and the sooner Congress gets busy on this the sooner the American Dream will once again be within everyone's reach.

[emanymton]

8. THE Moment! For USA No Greater Threat Exists...

shrub gets stopped here and now. No greater threat to the Constitution exist

Should the situation be allowed to stand, 'We The People' can kiss the Constitution and all freedoms goodbye. If the law clearly states one cannot behave in a certain manner, and one knowingly behaves in such a manner AND brags about it - it is a showdown. We are a country of laws or we are not.

Shut down the government until the showdown is over.

[me b zola]

9. Yes, "...it could worsen." for bush*inc

I pray that this country is righted. Damned the torpedos!

[bulldogmanifesto]

10. Please check out the Impeachment Checklist

Please check out the impeachment checklist.

[ktowntennesseedem]

11. Thanks for the link, and welcome to DU, bulldog!!!

:hi:

[bulldogmanifesto]

14. Thank you!

Thanks! I'm glad to finally start posting here. I've lurked, but never posted.

[ktowntennesseedem]

16. I lurked for quite a while myself.

Then about a month before the '04 elections finally started adding my two-cents-worth. It was a great help getting me thru the gut-wrenching disappointment and anger after the elections, and has been a great outlet ever since. Good to have you on board!

[Straight Shooter]

12. Impeachment. If not for this, for what then? If not now, when?

Where will Congress draw the line? That's what I want to know. What law can bush violate that will prod their sluggish sense of duty into action?

I won't go over the laundry list here. The lies of WMD should have done it. The Iraq debacle is one of those things that of course he lied but lCongress pretends he didn't because they're so scared of him and so in love with their own sense of power (which is clearly an illusion).

But this is blatantly illegal. Again I ask, what law can bush break such that Congress will actually recognize it as breaking the law? I really want to know, because it should set the standard for American citizens recognizing where the bar is set in this country.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

13. Same questions I've been asking

6 years ago the impeachment bar was set so low that merely misleading the public about a personal affair was an impeachable offense. Given the lies right and left from this administration, I don't understand why the cognitive dissonance isn't causing heads to explode!

[Supersedeas]

18. Maybe, the Corporate Media just need a few more photo ops to quiet it down

[Cugel the Clever]

20. Thanks for sitting on the story, NYTimes

If this story had broken before the election, if , if, then President Kerry could have appointed the special prosecutor to get to the bottom of the NSA affair. No impeachment necessary, just jail terms for convicted criminals. The nation could begin to heal itself by purging the toxic elements, by spewing out the poison. The ideals that America was founded upon- Liberty,Tolerance, and Opportunity- could begin to flower again in the prosperity of our great nation.

Our national potential is awesome and largely untapped- no crime is greater than seeing it wasted and abused by the Bush Regime. From top to bottom, their ideology is a perversion and a mockery- everybody is too stupid for the truth, just give us a snappy sound-bite lie instead, we'll never know the difference. Unchecked Executive Power is just "Fightin' the Terr-ist". I pray the new year brings peaceful and significant change.

[American liberal]

22. Why DID NYT sit on the story for a year?

I haven't seen or read any clear answers.

[proud patriot]

21. Go Boxer Go

:woohoo: