CNN/AP: Gonzales attacks court ruling against domestic spying: Critics "grave threat" to security

[DeepModem Mom]

Gonzales attacks ruling against domestic spying
November 18, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales contended Saturday that some critics of the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program were defining freedom in a way that presents a "grave threat" to U.S. security.

Gonzales was the second administration official in two days to attack a federal judge's ruling last August that the program was unconstitutional. Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday called the decision "an indefensible act of judicial overreaching."

Gonzales, in remarks prepared for delivery at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said that some see the program as on the verge of stifling freedom rather that protecting the country.

"But this view is shortsighted," he said. "Its definition of freedom -- one utterly divorced from civic responsibility -- is superficial and is itself a grave threat to the liberty and security of the American people."

Gonzales and Cheney's attacks on the court order came as the administration was urging the lame-duck Congress to approve legislation authorizing the warrantless surveillance. The bill's chances are in doubt, however, because of Democratic opposition in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to end debate and vote....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/18/gonzales.ap/index.html

[Kagemusha]

1. So he wants to save America from excess amounts of freedom

Sounds about *!^@ing right to me!

[IndianaGreen]

16. Gonzales would have found himself at home as a judge in the Third Reich

This man is a threat to our freedoms and to the Republic.

[Webster Green]

2. "grave threat"........(takes one to know one)..

Mutherfucker!

He and the rest of the BushCo thugs are the real threat to our security.

The Torture Czar needs a war crimes trial.

[Boston Critic]

3. Positively Orwellian

They've apparently learned nothing from the election.

[saigon68]

10. THUG and CRIMINAL Alberto Gonzales follows NEOCON orders to the letter

And he doesn't even need 20 pieces of silver

[bemildred]

4. See you in The Hague, Al! nt

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Fuck Gonzalas

His ass will be in prison soon enough.

[Straight Shooter]

6. Can they please stop using the phrase "divorced from"?

I was never married to the idea that civl liberties should be sacrificed simply because the people in charge have no clue as to how to responsibly provide security.

Gonzales is sounding shrill. How long until he becomes utterly hysterical? ;)

[rocktivity]

7. We're not against domestic spying--we're against ILLEGAL domestic spying!

GET A FREAKING WARRANT! YOU'VE GOT 72 HOURS IN WHICH TO DO THE FREAKING PAPERWORK! GET A FREAKING WARRANT!!!

:headbang:
rocknation

[okoboji]

30. but they won't

these bastards know that most of their requests for warrants would be turned down, because they would be getting them for "normal" people having nothing to do with terrorist, like grannies for the end to the war.

[niceypoo]

8. Freedom is a grave threat to US security?

Um, as of November 7th that crap doesn't wash anymore.

[davekriss]

9. This should prove to all that grave threat to democracy...

...persists in the form of the Bush regime, still entrenched in the executive branch. They gotta' go!

Gonzales is going to go down in history as one of the most disgusting scourges against democracy. He has been providing the Bush Regime cover for awhile, gives them "plausible deniability" in the form of faux legal/constitutional opinion. Gonzo must know the errors inherent in his opinions and thus is an opportunistic leach attaching himself to the coat-tails of rising fascism -- or he got his legal degree from the back of a matchbook cover, which with his case is certainly plausible!

First of all, Gonzo (you idiot), this is not about a "superficial" definition of freedom, it is about our self-given (as in "We the People") constitutional right to privacy. And it is also about maintaining checks-and-balances on any current or future rogue executive who would like to trample all over these rights and principles to further personal aims.

This man, Alberto Gonzales, truly disgusts me; every patriotic American should be very concerned that someone so diminished in his capacity to know what the United States is supposed to be about serves as Attorney General. This, too, must change.

[lovuian]

11. Gonzales threatens the Supreme Court & World court

Who is this guy??? Attorney General is not an elected official and HE SERVES the Constitution and America ....Not King Bush

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

12. Does anyone else find it more than interesting...

That he gave this bon mot at the ultimate prep school for the Fundadelic Shock Troopen, The Air Farce Academy?

If the facist crackdown comes, these guys are gonna be at the forefront. Dobson all but pwns the place.

[stepnw1f]

13. He's a Fucking Liar and a Criminal!

Place the man in an orange jumpsuit already... he makes me sick.

[Peace Patriot]

14. I think we have to presume that they're spying on Nancy Pelosi and other

members of Congress, on anyone who could get in their way--judges, governors, secretaries of state, presidential candidates, political organizers, and potential whistleblowers regarding their many, many crimes--and are trying to gather blackmail and other information with which to threaten and intimidate people. That's the only reason they could be defending warrantless wiretapping, when the warrant can be obtained 72 hours AFTER the spying. This provision of the law eliminates any bar to spying activity in an emergency situation. If the spying is justified, it will be approved in retrospect by one of these special insider judges. Clearly, they don't want to have--and cannot bear--ANY scrutiny of their spying activities. As with torture--a crime they have also insisted on committing, against all reason, common sense, ethics and the advice of military and intelligence professionals--I think we can be sure that what they are doing has nothing to do with our safety, and everything to do with covering up crimes and silencing opposition.

[PassingFair]

15. They don't need wiretaps, they've got James Carville!

I kid, I kid!

*uck Gonzales and Cheney and AT&T, too!

These wiretaps are a CLEAR violation of our 4th amendment rights.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

[Ms. Clio]

17. Me: Alberto Gonzales "grave threat" to the Constitution and civil liberties

Just ask Ben Franklin, you soulless dick:

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."

[lumpy]

20. Jeepers! For a second there I though you posted

a picture of our dog! Looks just like our wonderful mutt. I love that great quote from Ben Franklin.

[Ms. Clio]

21. Is your dog a shepherd mix?

Thanks for your nice comment -- she's an Australian Shepherd, so perhaps yours is part Aussie?

[lumpy]

22. Yes, mostly Aussie , as far as I know. He has the same

spots over the eyes and coloration. He has that shepherding instinct, intelligent, so sensitive and social. He is my favorite dog of all time; getting on in age, darn it, just like me. We have a chow/shepherd mix with the similar markings and colors. She is a sweet dog, very motherly.

[Ms. Clio]

24. Yes, that's such a great description of Aussies: intelligent, sensitive, and social

I've had several of them, and I just love the breed. But it is so sad when they start getting old; almost all of mine have lived to a ripe old age, however, so I hope you will have him for a good long while yet.

[davidinalameda]

18. so it's either protect the country or having freedom

interesting though

NOT

[Golden Raisin]

19. It is a dark, dark day for America

that this man is the Chief Law Officer of the Nation. The Founding Fathers are hanging their heads in shame and disgust.

[dubykc]

23. The only threat to freedom and security is the...

freedom and security of not being illegally spied on by our government. I'm just waiting for all of these souless bastards to be fitted for orange jump-suits.

[Zhade]

25. They're scared. Good.

Let's KEEP 'em scared.

[FernBell]

26. The neocons know the tide has turned against them.

This amounts to a cry of defeat.

[struggle4progress]

27. Don't Tread on Me, Al

[Gman]

28. So we should sacrifice liberty for security, huh Albert?

It doesn't matter. Don Alberto will eventually be put on trial for war crimes somewhere in the EU.

[minnesota_liberal]

29. Gonzales has no legal basis for objecting to the ruling, so he's

... criticizing it with rhetoric - something you really want to see in an Attorney General.

Cast those in the right as shortsighted and unpatriotic. Do a little fearmongering. Label any judge who sides with the Constitution as a radical who's guilty of either overreaching or legislating from the bench. And wave the flag, conveniently ignoring that it symbolizes the very freedoms you are trying to quash.

Gonzales is just another cog in the Bush2 neo-Fascist machine.

[jazzjunkysue]

31. "Here come the judge." n/t.

[maddezmom]

32. AG Gonzales: warrantless surveillance needed

By Associated Press
November 19, 2006
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. _ Attorney General Alberto Gonzales contended Saturday that some critics of the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program were defining freedom in a way that presents a ''grave threat'' to U.S. security.

Gonzales was the second administration official in two days to attack a federal judge's ruling last August that the program was unconstitutional. Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday called the decision ''an indefensible act of judicial overreaching.''

Gonzales, told about 400 cadets from the academy's political science and law classes, that some see the program as on the verge of stifling freedom rather that protecting the country.

''But this view is shortsighted,'' he said. ''Its definition of freedom _ one utterly divorced from civic responsibility _ is superficial and is itself a grave threat to the liberty and security of the American people.''
~snip~

more:http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5156132,00.html

[Demeter]

33. The Only People Who Desperately Need Surveillance Are

Members of the Bush Administration. Keep an eye on each and every one of them!

[acmejack]

34. New Attorney General needed

Preferably one with an understanding of the Bill of Rights.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

35. Alberto F&cking Gonzales, the Torture Guy, presents a "severe threat."

What an absolute travesty... Another totally unqualified Bush stooge, a real estate lawyer from Texas who's never paid any attention to the Constitution except to use it to wipe his ass with...

[LeighAnn]

47. That's well put

Hear hear
:patriot:

[notadmblnd]

36. it's an indefenseible act all right, Cheney just misspoke

what it is..... is an indefensible act of Executive overreaching. Wasn't he named along with Rumsfeld and Yoo in that war crimes briefing the German prosecutor was to file? Yeah, Bertie.. keep talking...

[TechBear_Seattle]

37. What part of "Bill of Rights" is Gonzales too stupid to comprehend? n/t

[shance]

38. Can you believe the gaul of this Administration? However, they'll keep

violating until Nancy Pelosi, Harry "Bipartisan" Reid and other leaders, along with an angry America population tell them to go straight to hell.

When will people realize the only way to stop bullies is to STOP THEM.

There is no diplomacy or logic with bullies.

Only tough brute force given in full right back. That seems to be the only language they understand.

[Disturbed]

39. Exactly why does the Busholini Regime need Warrentless

Spying? Tapping can occur without a Warrent for three days. Then a Warrent must be sought from a FISA Judge. That is the Law. If the spying is legit there shouldn't be a problem to obtain further permission. I suspect that more is going on than spying upon "Terrorists, "Enemy Combatents" &/or anyone assisting "Enemies of the State.

[meow2u3]

41. They have to snoop on the Democrats

in order to intimidate the 110th Congress from doing their jobs as representatives for the American people. Does this answer your question?

[fujiyama]

40. What bullshit

Why the hell did the country set up FISA courts in the first place? It's not as though they didn't allow for any flexibility. There was plenty - and allowed for some three days of wiretapping before acquiring the warrant.

And FISA wiretap warrants have rarely, if ever been denied and are secretly given.

[Vinca]

42. Somebody wake Gonzo up and tell him the bogeyman left the

building. We're no longer allowing them to scare the bejesus out of us on a daily basis. With the 72 hour rule, there's no reason not to get a warrant.

[Az_lefty]

43. How come Gonzo don't like our freedom?

by W's definition doesn't that make him a terrorist?

[Art_from_Ark]

45. Good point

I would love to hear Duhbyuh's circular logic in trying to explain that.

[Miss Chybil]

44. Warrants needed

for surveillance. It's really not that hard.

[ihelpu2see]

46. How do we dis-bar this moron?? I figure if we take his law license away

he can no longer be AG... Right?