Who's Watching the Spies?

If you do not want civil liberties, you should support government agencies to oversee it. If you want to destroy something, then you appoint a bunch of people to have authority over it, and then buy them off, pressure them, reward them for doing your will, etc.

If we have rights, then we do not need a board to enforce them. We should simply ignore actions that violate them, or fight back against them.

Amazing,Bush continues to use the policy put in place by T.Delay using only republicans to positions, guess they truly believe there is safety in numbers.
Interesting in this memo is the name of Henry Kissenger,Halperin once worked for him,our ambassador to Iraq when the war was over was a Kissinger gofer, we all saw how that turned, out this guy could not walk and chew bubble gum at the same time and was it not Kissenger who was offered a position by Bush but,bolted when he was advised that he would have to show his portfolio of people he dealt with?
This person continues to play in the shadows of our govt.and a favorite of the Bush family,Why?

Bush will never change the Delay doctrine of hiring only Republicans is and has been ingrained into this group far too long for it to be trashed now.
The person that continues to work and play in the shadows is none other the Henry Kissenger,please note that Halperin's name was dropped from this group as it not also interesting that the person who was chosen to be our ambassador to Iraq after the war was also a Kissenger gofer?
Vince

If a federal law creates a board that does not actually engage in executive-branch activity, but simply has the authority to be present & observe, and report back to Congress (as part of checks & balances in government), then why shouldn't the law allow Congress to unilaterally appoint persons to such an oversight board (both when the White House is controlled by a Republican president while the Congress has a Democratic majority, AND vice-versa).

I ask myself time and time again. why do I even read about this garbage,the things that the Bush Administration is doing to this country in the name of security is outrageous and what it is worst is that we the people are the one giving him this power by even considering the nonsenses that came out of his mouth. if we think that congress or any one in Washington is going to do something,we are dreaming full to even considering such action migth came by anytime soon.

Why can't any of these Congressmen put Bush on his ass once and for all?

just wondering while you are talking of security - who will be watching the bushies white house computers and files as they leave office? this gang has a record for "misplacing" records and files by the thousands. exactly who will be safeguarding white house computers? in the name of national security should not some neutral agency(and not justice)be tending them to make sure the records are safe? gosh in this time of war i would think bush and cheney would insist on secutity since we are at war. including all dept.'s and of course the v.p.'s systems and maybe that mansize safe where he keeps bush until he needs him.

Putting the words "George Bush" and "Civil Liberties" in the same sentence is what the late, great George Carlin would call an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp, or military intelligence.

Bush hasn't given a damn about civil liberties, other than his own, since he was elected in 2000. In fact, even his election was based on depriving people in Florida of their civil liberties. He is nothing if not consistent.

TheBroker has given us two wonderful quotes by Franklin and Jefferson. But the quote that truly sums up the Bush administration's approach to civil liberties is one by James Thurber: "Government of the chickens, by the chickens, and for the foxes, cannot long endure."

We have allowed the fox to guard the henhouse far too long, but a Civil Liberties Board with some real teeth in it will have to wait for the next president - this one has put too much energy into depriving people of their civil liberties instead of protecting them.

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." ~ Benjamin Franklin

I'm sick to my stomach over Americas complacency over this issue. If you look at the history of United States policy, you'll see that when we lose freedoms, we never regain them. A little here and a little there adds up to a lot!! The founding fathers dreamed of a society run "by the people for the people". The federal government is supposed to have one sole purpose.. To protect our freedom!! Since when does widdling away our personal freedoms achieve this goal? I suggest that some of you people who take this situation with a grain of salt log on to youtube.com and search for "Chalmers Johnson".

"Nor is it conceived needful or safe that a standing army should be kept up in time of peace for [defense against invasion]." ~ Thomas Jefferson

I hope that big brother warches little brother (state Pigs) ***!

He should have had to stand up in a constitutional law course for three hours in a row once a month and submit to a good grilling by a good constitutional law professor on what that document provides. Yale should be ashamed of itself for giving him one of its diplomas. He is barely "mail order degree" quality and the whole nation has suffered for eight years from it.

It is so ironic that he claims that he is the "education" president and has no idea what an education is.

Never again vote a president into office who is so ignorant of how our constitution works to protect its citizens not only from each other, but from their government itself. Bush thinks that he is a king who has all of the law of the land in his hands and that the constitution is just something that the "A" students studied while he got drunk and sniffed cocaine. We must at least have a constitutional amendment that prohibits anyone to occupy the office if he cannot properly pronounce the word "nuclear". If he is that stupid, then there is a whole lot else that he should know before he is allowed to use the awesome power of the office.

"Every generation needs a new revolution."
"Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people. "
"One man with courage is a majority. "
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Just a few more words from TJ

Maybe we should be our own civil liberty board again...

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."- Thomas Jefferson

civil liberties get taken away and we just sit back and hand them over. Stop relying on the government to protect your rights, thats your job

A civil liberties board would be great under any other president but the Bush administration only opperates behind closed doors and they answer to no one. It's ridiculous how they break laws without explanations and without consequences. I don't think they would have any trouble stomping all over a civil liberties board just like they do to everyone else who questions their actions.

I don't need a civil liberties board to look out for me. More bureaucracy that doesn't work? Get real! -Tony C.