--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,
[EMAIL PROTECTED].. wrote:
>
>
> In a message dated 8/20/06
7:40:31 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>
>
>
> --- In
_FairfieldLife@FairfieldLifFai_
(mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com)
> , "Patrick Gillam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED].>
> wrote:
>
>
> > --- MDixon wrote:
> > >
> > >
Presidents always have to follow the law. However the question
> is, is
there
> > > any wiggle room in that law under extraordinary
circumstances
> such as war. The
> > > presidential legal
teams think there is. Remember Lincoln
> suspended Habius
> >
> corpus, shut down the Maryland legislature and restricted free
>
speech to some
> > > degree. FDR had people's mail censored and
detained Japanese
in
> internment
> > > camps. LBJ had
mail censored coming from troops in Vietnam.
And
> I'm certain
> > > there are many more examples of powers that presidents have
been
> able to enact
> > > in times of war for
national security.
> >
> > MD, you recount these extreme
measures by past presidents
> > as if they were all justified. I'm
not ready to assume they
> > were. For example, I've encountered
many citations of
> > Lincoln suspending writs of habeas corpus, but
not one
> > citation has ever said, "And history proves he was
> > correct to do so." Same with FDR's internment of
> >
Japanese Americans.
> >
> > If history teaches me anything
from the above
> > examples, it's that presidents take reprehensible
> > actions under stress.
>
> Nixon did a whole lot of
warrantless wiretapping,
> so it should be OK for Bush to do it too,
right?
>
> Er, no. That's why the FISA Act was passed in
1978,
> to KEEP presidents from doing warrantless
> wiretapping,
to ensure they had no reason to say,
> Well, gee, it was terribly urgent
and a matter of
> national security, and we just couldn't wait to
> get a warrant...
>
> And just who was Nixon wire
tapping? Democrats on domestic lines.
> Good reason to pass FISA. Bush
is intercepting foreign calls
> coming into the US from known or
suspected terrorist in a war on
> terror.
That's what he *says*
he's doing. But because there's
no OVERSIGHT--because he does not have to
get warrants--
there's no way to tell. He could be tapping
domestic
calls from Democrats, and we'd never know
it.
