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NSA legal arguments

from
Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald:

That's where we are in this country -- with an Administration expressly claiming it has the power to engage in actions which the American people, through their Congress, expressly made it a criminal offense to engage in.

Federal court finds warrantless eavesdropping unconstitutional, enjoins the program

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: Federal court finds warrantless eavesdropping unconstitutional, enjoins the program

Seventh, the court made its scorn quite clear for the administration's Yoo theory of executive power because, as the court put it, "there are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution." Citing Youngstown again, the court made clear that even in time of war, and even with regard to the President's Commander-in-Chief powers, the President is subject to constitutional restrictions -- a proposition long unquestioned in our system of government until the Bush administration began inventing radical theories of executive power.

Finally, and really quite extraordinarily, the court (a) declared the NSA program to be in violation of FISA, the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment and (b) issued a permanent injunction enjoining the Bush administration from continuing to eavesdrop in violation of FISA.

and Glenn Greenwald also tells us of the heroic Judge Diggs Taylor,
brave author of this important opinion:

In 1979, Anna Diggs Taylor became the first black woman judge to be appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Nineteen years later, she became the first black woman Chief Judge for that circuit as well.

Taylor had great difficulty obtaining her first job as an attorney for the Office of Solicitor for the U.S. Department of Labor, despite graduating form the prestigious Yale Law School in 1957. Very few opportunities existed for a black woman in law at this time. In 1961, Taylor relocated from the Washington D.C. area to Detroit, Michigan. Here she was involved in both public and private practice until her appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, on which she continues to serve. Taylor’s position has enabled her to open doors for other women and minorities to pursue and achieve their dreams. She strives for gender and racial equality in the law and currently serves on the Joint Steering Committee of the Gender and Racial Ethnic Fairness Task Forces for the Sixth Circuit.

...

Legal surveillance, not illegal eavesdropping, stopped the U.K. terrorist attacks

Mr. Grennwald has nailed this, in his latest edition of his never-ending crusade to nail all the lying bu$hite bastards for all of their bush shit, erm, bull shit:

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/08/legal-surveillance-not-illegal.html

From the very beginning of the NSA scandal, this has been the point -- the principal, overarching, never-answered point. There is no reason for the Bush administration to eavesdrop in secret, with no judicial oversight, and in violation of the law precisely because the legal framework that has been in place for the last 28 years empowers the government to eavesdrop aggressively on all of the terrorists they want, with ease.

This fact, yet again, demonstrates the sheer dishonesty motivating those right-wing pundits claiming that "Democrats" oppose the type of eavesdropping used to stop this plot. Legal eavesdropping, within the FISA framework, is exactly the eavesdropping which Bush critics advocate, and it was precisely that legal eavesdropping which was used to engage in surveillance of suspected terrorists here.

Additionally, The Wall St. Journal is simply incoherent when it says that "Other Democrats are still saying they will censure, or even impeach, Mr. Bush over the FISA program if they win control of Congress." This claim just makes no sense. Nobody opposes "the FISA program." Bush critics want aggressive eavesdropping within the "FISA program." The censure of the President has been proposed because of the President's eavesdropping outside of the FISA program -- i.e., outside of the law. Does The Wall St. Journal Editorial Board really not understand that most basic point? Why are they falsely telling their readers that Democrats oppose "the FISA program" -- as though Democrats oppose eavesdropping itself?

Read everything Mr. Greenwald posts.
Read his book How Would a Patriot Act?
With guys like him on our side we can be heroes.
Read.
Please.

....

Krugman: WORD!

http://fivezerofive.com/main/index.php?itemid=446

Imagine yourself as a politician or pundit who was gung-ho about invading Iraq, and who ridiculed those who warned that the case for war was weak and that the invasion’s aftermath could easily turn ugly. Worse yet, imagine yourself as someone who remained in denial long after it all went wrong, disparaging critics as defeatists. Now denial is no longer an option; the neocon fantasy has turned into a nightmare of fire and blood. What do you do?

You could admit your error and move on — and some have. But all too many Iraq hawks have chosen, instead, to cover their tracks by trashing the war’s critics.

They say: Pay no attention to the fact that I was wrong and the critics have been completely vindicated by events — I’m “sensible,” while those people are crazy extremists. And besides, criticizing any aspect of the war encourages the terrorists.

That’s what Joe Lieberman said, and it’s what his defenders are saying now.

Indeed.
Thank you Mr. Krugman.
...
and every aspect of the war in Iraq has encouraged every terrorist.

Four Weeks that Shook Oaxaca

i heard this over at Lying Media Bastards: http://www.lyingmediabastards.com/2006/08/destroyed

Oaxaca’s State TV Station Under Popular Control- I have not at all been following the upheaval going on in Oaxaca right now. Long story short, every year, there is a sort of political dance where Oaxacan teachers march on the capital, go on strike, sometimes form a tent city that lasts for weeks, and then negotiate a new deal with the government. This year, the governor decided to replace the negotiations with a police riot that tear-gassed and bashed up the tent city. This has led to a much wider opposition and revolt against the governor. The latest of which was a march of 350 women who took over a local state-owned TV station, and are using it to broadcast their message and demands.