We are travelling again this Christmas, so blogging will likely be very light this last week of the year. I do expect, though, that I will be able to get some posts in, and they might actually be interesting.
We were in Prescott yesterday, spending time with my mom’s family, and the story that I’ll tell about it (once we get the pictures off Jen’s camera) is worth reading.
I made a veteran cry. More later.
Given Bush’s recent confirmation that the US spies on phone calls between terrorists outside the US and their operatives in the US, and that the FBI searches for nuclear traces near mosques, you’d think the Left in this country was in a fix of apoplexy over Bush’s “tyranny”.
Of course, the question of privacy (found in the 4th amendment to the Constitution, not the 14th) is one that needs to be treated seriously, not reflexively. Therefore the answer to Bush’s revelation should not be “IMPEACH HIM!!!!”, nor should it be “we live in dangerous times and need to accept such things”, but it should be inquisitive (behind closed doors) and thorough, not allowing any President in the future to take this authority, inherent in the Presidency, to an unreasonable limit of true tyranny.
There are now two things to be done: first, we need to find and prosecute to the full extent of the law the seditious person(s) who leaked this story to the press. Any actions that harm the United States’ protection of its citizens are worthy of the swiftest prosecution.
Second, Congress needs to set out, with clear and distinquishable boundaries, the limits of the President in this regard. They should keep in mind that the Constitution is not binding between foreigners and the United States; therefore, they are not under the jurisdiction of our courts. The Congress needs to make sure that the President has done exactly what he said he has done – that is, eavesdropped only on phone calls between a terrorist outside the United States and their agents within. Beyond making sure the President has not violated the rights of citizens, they can’t really do very much. To go beyond this would tamper with the separation of powers so vital and necessary to the function of our nation, and should not be tolerated.