Recently the Veep said of Senator Joe Lieberman's defeat by a largely
anti-Iraq "war" novice politician, "It sends the wrong message to
terrorists". So the voice of dissent and intelligent debate, the free and
non-violent election of a citizen to office--the very essence of
democracy--is a bad thing? Hearing that comment, I was filled with the
unfortunately familiar caustic mix of sadness/fear/bemusement/anger that has
clogged my nostrils and stung my very eyes like a noxious gas for the last
six years.
But then, a glimmer of light. Dare I hope that a measure of sanity,
courage, intelligence, consciousness, and yes, even "morality" (if defined
by not imposing one's will and mores and theology on others) is returning
to America? This Twilight Zone existence in which war and bigotry and
self-righteousness and violation of basic rights are celebrated has gone on
too long. Some days I just want to shout at all the drones mindlessly
walking down the street, "Wake up! Don't you know you're in a prison? Don't
you know you've been brainwashed?!" Slowly--so slowly it scares me--a few
journalists, politicians, judges, and citizens are indeed waking up from
their stupor and saying "This isn't right. How did we let this happen?" I'm
only hoping it continues.
Swing, pendulum, swing!!!
Judge nixes warrantless surveillance
By SARAH KARUSH, Associated Press WriterThu Aug 17, 3:41 PM ET
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping
program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to
strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates
the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers
enshrined in the Constitution.
"Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this
matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution," Taylor wrote in her
43-page opinion.
The Justice Department appealed the ruling and issued a statement calling
the program "an essential tool for the intelligence community in the war on
terror."
"In the ongoing conflict with al-Qaida and its allies, the president has the
primary duty under the Constitution to protect the American people," the
department said. "The Constitution gives the president the full authority
necessary to carry out that solemn duty, and we believe the program is
lawful and protects civil liberties."
The ruling won't take immediate effect so Taylor can hear a Justice request
for a stay pending its appeal.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of
journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult
for them to do their jobs. They believe many of their overseas contacts are
likely targets of the program, which involves wiretapping conversations
between people in the U.S. and those in other countries.
The government argued that the program is well within the president's
authority, but said proving that would require revealing state secrets.
The ACLU said the state-secrets argument was irrelevant because the Bush
administration already had publicly revealed enough information about the
program for Taylor to rule.
"At its core, today's ruling addresses the abuse of presidential power and
reaffirms the system of checks and balances that's necessary to our
democracy," ACLU executive director Anthony Romero told reporters after the
ruling.
He called the opinion "another nail in the coffin in the Bush
administration's legal strategy in the war on terror."
While siding with the ACLU on the wiretapping issue, Taylor dismissed a
separate claim by the group over NSA data-mining of phone records. She said
not enough had been publicly revealed about that program to support the
claim and further litigation would jeopardize state secrets.
The lawsuit alleged that the NSA "uses artificial intelligence aids to
search for keywords and analyze patterns in millions of communications at
any given time." Multiple lawsuits have been filed related to data-mining
against phone companies, accusing them of improperly turning over records to
the NSA.
However, the data-mining was only a small part of the Detroit suit, said Ann
Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director and the lead attorney on the
case.
Beeson predicted the government would appeal the wiretapping ruling and
request that the order to halt the program be postponed while the case makes
its way through the system. She said the ACLU had not yet decided whether it
would oppose such a postponement.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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