Jan 19 2007
Greenwald Wakes Up And Gets A Clue
The notorious Glenn Greenwald, who will jump to a misconclusion like a penguin takes to cold water, is finally realizing that all his celebrations regarding the NSA terrorist surveillance program were all for naught:
Maybe Bush didn’t back down on wiretaps
Stop celebrating — it’s not yet clear whether the administration really intends to start obeying the law.
By Glenn Greenwald
…
But why might the president have agreed to cease violating the law? Last fall, a federal judge ruled that he had violated both the Constitution and criminal law, and an appellate court was about to hold arguments about that decision. And his loyal servants no longer control Congress. Clearly, a desire to avert a now inevitable confrontation with the courts and Congress over the lawless eavesdropping motivated the decision to abide by the law. Other than a rank fear of consequences, there is simply is no coherent explanation for the Bush administration’s sudden abandonment of an illegal program that it had emphatically insisted was central to the “war on terror.”
It’s like a baby when they first actually become concious of their surroundings. Too funny. But there is more reality that is slapping Glenn upside the head which he cannot ignore:
Has a general warrant been issued approving of the program itself? Have so-called anticipatory warrants been issued by the court to allow the administration in advance to eavesdrop whenever specifically defined circumstances arise?
Glenn has always struggled to understand the simplest aspects of the NSA-FISA issue. It is surprising he has started see a glimmer of reality. He is a product of media-fed knowledge. He knows nothing outside what the NY Times tells him. His is an intellect under the total control of others. Sort of sad really.
The reality is that the FISA court barred any leads on terrorists acts in this country prior to 9-11. I have sited it too many times to waste my time siting it again – but the Church Committe in the late 70’s, when the created FISA, praised the NSA for throwing away any and all leads regarding enemies within our borders. Back then the idea of being attacked on our homeland was considered a joke. Now the joke are all those people still mentally stuck in the 70’s (aka stuck on stupid). The truth is, and this too has been clear in statement I have recorded months ago, that our intelligence agencies had indications and leads on the 9-11 terrorists, but the FISA Court would not listen and refused, on tradition, to secure warrents so authorities could investigate.
Greenwald is still so naive he thinks the FIS Court will allow a warrent based on NSA intel alone! Amazing how someone can pretend to follow a story for so long and miss the fact that both chief judges of the FIS Court have gone on record (as has James Baker) in saying a FISA warrent can never and will never be let on NSA leads alone. Greenwald is a sad example of an intellect running on bad and incomplete information. He thinks he understands, but he is so far into the media spin is ego could not handle the wake up call to see things clearly.
If the administration has changed its eavesdropping program to some extent, but is still not fully complying with FISA, then nothing of significance has occurred because the administration is still violating the law.
The administration is on record saying nothing has changed regarding the monitoring of our enemies here and abroad. And now a FIS Court order has added legal support to the President’s own legal authority (yes Glenn, Presidents have legal authorities). Interestingly enough, the Congress has no say in the matter. The laws are on the books, the judges have interpretted the law and found the Administration in compliance, and the President has claimed authority under Article II. The Congress has not say unless they want to make monitoring our enemies overseas illegal, or they want to stop any leads the result from such monitoring going to local authorities to investigate if we are about to experience our next 9-11. Of course this would be political suicide, so this game is over. Now the ony question is how long will it take Greenwald and his kind to realize it is over?
It would never occur to these guys, the Dems, that the President has no desire to be King, only to protect the Country. Why? Because they only have a political motive to every move.
It is not just Greenwald, Ed Morrisey over at Captains Quarters thinks he has been suckered. The reaction of some people on the right to this reminds me of Dubai. Hopefully they will stop and think before they fly off the handle. Again.
This whole debacle is political. The dems are not so stupid as to believe this garbage. They will only go so far with it and then they stop. It is all to discredit Bush. A true storm in a teacup much like the Plame affair. All politics. I wonder how this country would fare if members of congress actually cared about the welfare of this country.
NSA – They’re beinging to find out Bush didn’t back down…
As you know the other day I told you as have others that the apparent change to allow the FISA court full swing in issuing orders for legal domestic survelliance wasn’t at all a back down:
“The Bush administration quickly locked horns with …
The whole “horse” is the size of the HOUSE OF SAUD’s reach. It doesn’t require a skyscraper sized barn to house it, either.
And, Bush probably knows more than he let’s on.
Don’t forget his dad was Mr. CIA, during the days the russians were hot. And, spooks to make a good living feasting on the knowledge they had to sell.
Those days are gone, now.
And, what you read in the papers is on par with seeing “banners unfold.” If you look at the arabs, you’ll see they bought into “the whole can of paint.”
Basically, the arabs aren’t fighters. Or there would already be a military in the field that could take on the IDF. And, America’s got more. And, is larger. So what we see, instead, is the same setup the old soviets used. Where they owned the NY Times. And, pundits made their money “manipulating what people thought.”
Walter Chronkite no longer holds down the chair.
And, what we get instead, are the headline news showing Americans “banners.” When they were “orange,” you were in the Ukraine.
What’s most surprising is that like all swamps, stuff stays stuck in there.
The arabs aren’t moving forward. And, the UN hasn’t delivered anything new since they grabbed off General MacArthur’s head; and turned ONE COUNTRY (indivisible into two parts), into a stalemate over a worthless peninsula.)
Taiwan, it turns out, is the KEY. And, what we see should disgust us. Since it comes out of the swamp that elevated China to a security council seat (one of 5), right in the beginning; when the UN formed itself.
But the UN is a wedge, or a door stopper. Hasn’t really ever worked. Though they throw some great dinner parties for assorted despots, who bring “guests.”
As to “banner headlines,” I can’t see why people get frightened when they see them. But that’s the “business,” these days of the “news operators.” And, you know how reliable the AP and Reuters really are. (And, that Tony Snow has his hands full with the jerks sent into the White House to cover “it.”) Nothing emerges out-da there, either. If things did, Helen Thomas would have been replaced by a much younger, and thinner woman. WIthout mideastern features. In other words? You’d be able to tell by the shape of the nose, that there was a new operation going on.
But Bush is “doing something,” because the HOUSE OF SAUD is behaving as if the chief’s testicles were constantly being pulled on, now, by the White House. What’s scared the daylights out of those tent dwellers, I have no idea.
But the “real estate” they paid James Baker to pick up? Just another failed operation. Following a host of failed operations.
As to Dubai. Now, that’s interesting! Because the arabs DON’T WORK! They’ve got enough money that when they buy things they hire all the jobs OUT. And, those jobs don’t go to arabs.
Among other reasons, the arabs don’t like the work that arabs produce! They don’t like giving time off, for instance, for prayers five times a day.
So Dubai? The work’s not being done by arabs. And, somebody ELSE is controlling the flow of goods through out ports.
While for the HOUSE OF SAUD the internal fears might be coming from an understanding that Bush isn’t powerless. And, the HOUSE OF SAUD got itself in more trouble, not less so, since 9/11.
Turki’s not in DC, ya know? And, his deparature did not include the usual striped-pants, diplomatic-pants-dancing “turns.” It just didn’t.
And, protocol usually doesn’t go sailing out the winda, either.
So, if you want my guess? It doesn’t matter what the big buracracies do. Just like the super-rich have found out. It doesn’t matter what the Department of Education does either. Since you can live in a neighborhood with GREAT public schools. If you live in one where I do. And, the schools never fell into the hands of the idiots who ruined most of our schools for a living.
This alone is a terrific clue. You can have a public school, run by a small town where real estate values are through the roof. And, you’d be surprised how excellent the delivery of education IS.
And, this is the same in the “spook” community. Where a lot of the garbage keeps the types like Plame employed. But since Clinton left office, they’ve actually lost a lot of their powers.
If you don’t know that, then you probably think Armitage is “up to the minute” on what’s going on. And, I say, nay.
The other thing to know is that if you want something to run well you don’t let it get so large it flies over the radar. So small WORKS! Just as it does, now, in our military. Where the best operations are farmed out just as Rumsfeld planned them to be. TO SMALL GROUPS OF MEN. White men, too. Not the usual parade of affirmative action hires.
Its the reason Bush doesn’t need to talk. He doesn’t want to talk into the media’s distorting microphones. And most of us, most of us as a People, are really leaving Bush alone!
As to Dubai! Do you know how ridiculous the arabs are? They went and built up Dubai as if it was Hong Kong! Because while lots of men and women, too, suffer penis envy; the arabs suffer from way too much stupidity growing in a field of fantasy. And, Dubai will never BE Hong Kong! And, the natural setting of Dubai is DESERT material!
But stupid is as stupid does. All of the time.
but the Church Committe in the late 70’s, when it created FISA, praised the NSA for throwing away any and all leads regarding enemies within our borders.
Absolutely right. I can remember doing intercepts back in the 60’s (before computers) on an old R390 receiver. The two sides of a conversation were often on two different frequencies. If it was determined that one side of the conversation was a “U.S. Person” (not necessarily a U. S. citizen) that side of the conversation was dropped, and we would continue to listen to and record only the foreign side of the conversation. This never made sense to me then, and it makes absolutely no sense in this modern global terror age.
Where do these people come from? Here the Church committee did this. Torrecelli and Clinton decided not to hire anyone with any kind of record for intelligence in the field thereby eliminating just about everyone in the field. There is no such thing as a clean intelligence. Clinton built a wall between law enforcement and NSA. It’s really a miracle we have survived.