Bush has finally crossed the Rubicon...

There's no turning back. He says he was following the law and protecting the rights of our citizens. But was he? It appears there is no law other than the FISA legislation that gave him any right whatsoever. He may say that he is the CiC and has the right as President to use whatever means he wishes to protect us. That is a far stretch of credulity.

But there's no turning back. This question must be resolved. Why, when it was not necessary, did he choose to violate the FISA rules for spying on our citizens? Is it because they would have had to show some legitimate reason if they went before the Court, but if they did not have a legitimate reason, they would spy without notifying anyone? Is that why they did it? They had no legitimate reason to spy on some of the people they spied upon?

I have a knack for stating the obvious.

they have the backbone to take him up on it.

and if we don't pass it he will be able to declare a neocon victory the likes of which we can't believe.

They've been building their power and arrogance up to this point and we've swallowed it because we've had the comfort of self deception...now they want to see if they can take even that away from us.

We must not just fight back..we must win this one...period.

you would probably want to know if you had properly covered your tracks. You might want to spy upon people who might have evidence against you. The identity of those you spied upon might in itself be damning evidence against you. Of couse you wouldn't ask for warrants.

...he knew FISA would say "no".

He's really ticked. This wasn't supposed to come out, and it certainly wasn't supposed to scuttle the Pat Act vote.

Wonder how much Miller had to do with keeping this story buried? How much her absence accelerated the story coming out?

Looks like someone told * to 'come clean' to get this over with quickly and get the Pat Act back online.

Question is, with Nov. '06 ahead, will he find the support?

I'm betting -not- :evilgrin:

If Judy Miller was in anyway involved in the decision? Normally one would think not. It would be left up to the editor or publisher..

Cheney and company assume we are all stupid. The neo-con repugs,comfortable having the exclusive D.C Trifecta, relish in a misguided belief they are invulnerable....all to be exposed as the Crime of the Century! Stay tuned.

times that it has been pushed back to the coast of Taiwan. Saying he finally crossed the rubicon is like saying "Bush Is Toast". Nothing ever happens to the guy no matter what he does. As long as he doesn't pork an intern that it.

it links to an article by Findlaw in Sept 2002 which states that the FISA court said they were concerned over the legality of the actions. They turned him down in what was described as a "harsh blow" to the bush admin....

SOunds like FISA said your actions are illegal, cease and desist and bush said screw that, i'm in charge and i can do what i want.

...a small victory against the vampire.

So now we know what * did as a result:
"SOunds like FISA said your actions are illegal, cease and desist and bush said screw that, i'm in charge and i can do what i want."

Sounds about right ;-)

says University of Chicago legal scholar Geoffrey Stone:

''The general rule of surveillance - wiretapping - is that it must be done with a warrant and probable cause,'' he said. ''The Fourth Amendment requires that and the Supreme Court has rejected the claim that the government can ignore that just because it's involved in a national security situation.''

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3320978

I did not know that.

Didn't Caesar, after crossing the Rubicon, go on to conquer Rome and instate himself as emperor?

But yeah, I take your meaning, in the sense of "no turning back now." I'm just not holding my breath for anything to bring Dubya down. Been disappointed too many times already.

Actually several times, but this one is much more black/white. :)

He was assassinated by the Senators...if you follow it all the way through... :)