CNN: President Bush defends eavesdropping program in U.S., says he'll keep

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com

> BREAKING NEWS President Bush defends eavesdropping program in U.S., says he'll keep using it as long as terrorists threaten nation.

*: top of page in red

more @ BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4542880.stm

Bush defends phone-tapping policy

US President George Bush has defended his decision to allow eavesdropping on Americans in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Bush said that he would continue to authorise the secret monitoring.

He also urged Congress to renew the Patriot Act, the top US anti-terror law, saying it provided officials with the tools to protect Americans.

"We cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment," he said.

update @ CNN:

http://www.cnn.com

> BREAKING NEWS President Bush calls leaks to media about domestic eavesdropping program "a shameful act" that "helped the enemy."

[tecelote]

1. Thank you President Bush...

...for bringing this issue back to the forefront today.

[Birthmark]

2. This is it.

He's not worried about law. He's going to do whatever he pleases, eh? So, does the Congrss stand up to him and preserve our Republic; or do we descend into monarchy? Interesting day ahead.

[Selteri]

11. 'I briefed he coungress.. what a dozen.. 1-2.. like the war.

How is he safeguarding civil liberties by trampling upon them?

[jseankil]

3. Bush doesn't understand that he has no credibility

Why should we believe anything he says?

[DBoon]

4. translation:

"I need to dig deeper into my political opponents' private lives to more effectively control them via blackmail"

[demnan]

7. Ding-ding-ding

We have a correct answer!

[rawstory]

5. Here's more immediate quotes (Raw Story)

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Bush_says_discussing_secret_wiretaps_shameful_1219.html

[sabra]

6. cool, thanks

[skooooo]

8. How, do you think, this will play with the American people??

[Beetwasher]

9. Welcome To THE LINE

We're there. He's declaring himself dictator today.

[Selteri]

10. * Warning

Terrorists may appear more imminent than they really are.

[Quakerfriend]

12. Did anyone notice this CNN caption

during his speech:

Wiretapping Program


Jeeeeeeeez! They are trying to make this look like some sort of special program they had set up!

[Selteri]

13. Now he's trying to defend the patriot act.

Talking right out his butt by trying to cherry pick his examples and ignoring it on other areas.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

14. Time to start using the ol' Echelon keyword list in your emails

http://www.jamechelon.org/keywords.htm

Make 'em earn their money for a change! (Not that I would actually condone doing this, of course, because I wouldn't...)

I also would not suggest using PGP to encrypt your private communications.

http://www.pgp.com/

[Earth_First]

21. I'm game...

USCODE, CISE, SIRC, CIM, ISN, DJC, LLNL, bemd, SGC, UNCPCJ, CFC, SABENA, DREO, CDA, SADRS, DRA, SHAPE, bird dog, SACLANT, BECCA, DCJFTF, HALO, SC, TA SAS, Lander, GSM, T Branch, AST, SAMCOMM, HAHO, FKS, 868, GCHQ, DITSA, SORT, AMEMB, NS G, HIC, EDI, benelux, SAS, SBS, SAW, UDT, EODC, GOE, DOE, SAMF, GEO, JRB, 3P-HV, Masuda, Forte, AT, GIGN, Exon Shell, radint, MB, CQB, TECS, CONUS, CTU, RCMP, GRU, SASR, GSG-9, 22nd SAS, GEOS, EADA, SART, BBE, STEP, Echelon, Dictionary, MD2, MD4, MDA, diwn, 747, ASIC, 777, RDI, 767, MI5, 737, MI6, 757, Kh-11, EODN, SHS, ^X,

[W2Hague]

15. Criminal asshole

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Mr. Bush place his hand on a Bible and swear to uphold the CONSTITUTION of the United States????

Bush is a disgrace. If this were Japan he'd be shamed into committing Ritual Seppuku.

For any of y'all interested, there's more seditious commentary on this topic as well as the return of Badfinger Chimp (with a special message for Mr. Bush) today at ________ http://www.bruindesign.com



Peace
D.L. Bruin

[wtmusic]

16. When threatened...attack

Right out of the playbook.

[yorkiemommie1]

17. he is really declaring that he will do

whatever he gdamn pleases. what's next? martial law?

[DemonFighterLives]

18. Now it is the leak about the eavesdropping that is bad

He can't find who leaked Plame, but he will find and devour who leaked this.
The freepers must be eating this up. Spying and torture make for a strong president in their world.
If dubby would have just followed the normal channels he could have unraveled the 911 plot beforehand - if he wanted to of course.

[libodem]

19. Whatever he said

my local radio commentators and feel alot safer knowing that he's only tapping calls from known terrorists in and out of the country. They don't believe he's listening domestically. They will buy anything in the name of security. Part of their rational is that we haven't had another 9/11. I had to come hop on the net for sanity.

[CountAllVotes]

20. yahoo link ... Bush vows more eavesdropping

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush vowed on Monday to authorize more eavesdropping on Americans suspected of ties to terrorists and said he believed a probe was underway into who committed "the shameful act" of revealing the covert program.

Bush, struggling with low approval ratings and wide public discontent with the rising U.S. death toll, also defended his decision to invade Iraq, saying "it wasn't a mistake."

At a year-end White House news conference he faced a barrage of questions about his decision to authorize eavesdropping on international telephone and other communication by Americans suspected of links to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

more ...


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051219/ts_nm/bush_security1_dc


:dem: :kick: :kick:

[rodeodance]

31. hypocritical being upset about revealing the 'covert' program when he

basically ignores the outing of a CIA agent! he makes me sick.

[rodeodance]

32. so, is Jr going after a Times reporter?--the one wrrote up the story?--or

will the reporters protect their sources? should be interesting.

....WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush vowed on Monday to authorize more eavesdropping on Americans suspected of ties to terrorists and said he believed a probe was underway into who committed "the shameful act" of revealing the covert program.

[Az_lefty]

22. That SOB is operating completely outside the law...

and throwing it in our face! Impeach that arrogant little bastard now!
:grr:

[OKNancy]

23. kick

:kick:

[rodeodance]

24. Bush Says NSA Surveillance Necessary, Legal (raising his voice he

challenged Dems. whow--I missed this.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051219/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush;_ylt=AjsnooHMgLYYqyW99MaqDXus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
Bush Says NSA Surveillance Necessary, Legal

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent 1 hour, 29 minutes ago

WASHINGTON -
President Bush, brushing aside bipartisan criticism in Congress, said Monday he approved spying on suspected terrorists without court orders because it was "a necessary part of my job to protect" Americans from attack.

The president said he would continue the program "for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens," and added it included safeguards to protect civil liberties.

Bush bristled at a year-end news conference when asked whether there are any limits on presidential power in wartime..........



Raising his voice, Bush challenged Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — without naming them — to allow a final vote on legislation renewing the anti-terror Patriot Act. "I want senators from New York or Los Angeles or Las Vegas to go home and explain why these cities are safer" without the extension, he said........

[rodeodance]

25. so, now he is talking of Iran

....On another issue, Bush acknowledged that a pre-war failure of American intelligence — claiming that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction — has complicated the United States' ability to confront other potential emerging threats such as Iran.

"Where it is going to be most difficult to make the case is in the public arena," Bush said. "People will say, if we're trying to make the case on Iran, `Well, if the intelligence failed in Iraq, therefore, how can we trust the intelligence on Iran?'"

The news conference ran just shy of an hour. It was the latest in a series of events — appearances outside Washington, meetings with members of Congress and an Oval Office address on Sunday night — in which the president has sought to quell criticism of the war in Iraq and reverse his months-long slide in the polls.

[Wordie]

26. He could solve the problem by agreeing to the 3-month extension. eom

[rodeodance]

27. "Legal authority is derived from the Constitution,"--we will see.

Normally, no wiretapping is permitted in the United States without a court warrant. But Bush said he approved the action without such orders "because it enables us to move faster and quicker. We've got to be fast on our feet.

"It is legal to do so. I swore to uphold the laws. Legal authority is derived from the Constitution," he added.

[ananda]

28. The probem is..

.. that we have no way of knowing if his procedure safeguards civil liberties.

* is such a hubristic bastard. I guess he's got Murdoch behind him and all
those crazee rightwing ideologues and fundamentalists.

I sometimes despair. This guy should be impeached and convicted immediately.

[tledford]

29. It is the Republicans who are letting the Patriot Act expire...

...and the Democrats need to make sure this is communicated. The Senators willing to filibuster have, all along, wanted a three-month extension while the objectionable provisions are reviewed more closely. The White House and Senate majority "leadership" refuse to negotiate or compromise and would rather see it die altogether than make any accomodation whatsoever with those who are concerned about some of the provisions of the Patriot Act.

It is the same old hubris and arrogance. We can only hope that more and more Americans see it for what it is before next November.

[soothsayer]

30. you can replay the video here

if you want a chuckle!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

[librechik]

33. it's official Democrats=Terrorists

and the American People are the enemy and fair game.

Thanks for the clarification, Bush.


:grr:

[JPZenger]

34. Jefferson on Freedom of the Press

Which is more shameful? To speak the truth to power and uncover wrongdoings, or to be proud of violating civil liberties and the law? To answer that question, here are some quotes from Thomas Jefferson:

"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure."

"Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe."

"The most effectual engines for are the public papers... government always a kind of standing army of newswriters who, without any regard to truth or to what should be like truth, and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers. This suffices with the mass of the people who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper."

"Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it."

"I am... for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the Constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents."

"No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions."

[katty]

35. It's a Wonderful Life-NOT,bush&co turning America into

Pottersville...