The American Spectator

/p> p> NOOSE LIPS br> Re: Jed Babbin’s Getting With the NSA Program : /p>

Personally I take the actions taken by the Senators you observed to be clearly High Crimes and Misdemeanors if proven. But I do find in sadly amusing that, we in a state of war, must ponder the consideration of legality if our phone numbers are listed on Bin Laden’s global phone. But one might consider that as a disinformation process, putting 10-20 random numbers out of any U.S. phonebook would be beneficial to Al Qaeda.

But I wish to play devil’s advocate. Under Article VI, Sec 3. — “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution;…” Then couple that with Amend. IV which defines search and seizure procedures and it becomes very clear that all the members of the Executive fall under the Constitution’s restrictions, FISA or no. Does the Presidency have the right to spy in defense of the realm? Sure. Does that relieve the Presidency or Congress in fulfilling their duties under the Constitution? No.

p>So whether you consider FISA clumsy, the President is not relieved of his duty to follow some process as defined by Congress that fulfills the provisions set forth in Amend. IV. But you know we pay all of them fair sums of money to divine such solutions. If the Executive, Congressional and Judiciary cannot reach such an accord then pox on them all. Nothing in the Constitution states that all three branches have to be adversarial all the time. I believe this is one of those times. br> — John McGinnis br> Arlington, Texas /p>

Jed Babbin, in his excellent article on NSA and the need for it, cites that in December 2004 Jay Rockefeller, Dick Durbin and Ron Wyden were under criminal investigation for leaking…. Well, what was the outcome? My guess is nothing. There is never a “rest of the story” in Washington. Jim McDermott was never prosecuted for his part in public disclosure of the Martin’s illegal picking up on their CB radio and taping a cell phone conversation between New Gingrich and John Boehner. Jay Rockefeller writes memos that go nowhere, designed solely as CYA documents. “Journalists” are quite sanguine when it comes for bird dogging a story on a Democrat. It doesn’t happen.