Now We Know What the Battle Was About

The program described is intelligent, useful and sane. The objections are technical and legalistic. Unfortunately, congress is incapable of sensible judgment these days, so the programs will only happen illegally. But they will happen, because they must happen.

A very interesting article! BUT: How can I actually know that Newswweek this time has presented an accurate, honest and balanced work of journalism and not just an 'opinion' piece a la staff writer Lisa Miller's cover story in Newsweek?

The left-wingers at Newsweak are at it again. The simple fact is that calls or emails to or from a foreign country are not constitutionally protected; therefore, the wiretaps and data collection are NOT illegal. The NSA has been doing this program siince the cold-war, and guess what, we all survived and in fact WON the cold war!

Must be an especially slow day at Newsweak. What, no hidden defects in soldier's body armor to disclose to our enemies this week? Oh yeah, that was the New York Times...same thing!

Actually NJimbo calls to and from a foreign country ARE constitutionally protected when an American citizen is involved that's why the FISA court was established with the authority to issue warrants for this. NJimbo you are correct in that this activity has been going on for decades however they government obtained warrants when doing so. This is not hard for the government to do. The FISA court has only turned down three warrant requests in over 30 years. They aren't very hard to deal with. The Bush Administration insisted on the right to do do so whenever they felt like it for any reason without a warrant. That was the illegal part.

tmncedar,
You may be right, but you may also be wrong. Can you point to reports suggesting Roosevelt broke laws? Bush was arrogant enough to think that no one would go against him. He should be tried in a military court for his transgresions. Executive privilege shoud come with exuctive responsibility, and executive accountability.
I hated Ashcroft. Turns out he knew his job better than his appointer. Kudos to him and his staff for doing the right thing.

I have never seen so much hate for a group of people as in these comments. We live in the undisputed greatest country in the world, yet so many here want to change how it came to be so. The rich get richer because they work hard. If you work hard, you can have a great life too. I have never received work from a poor person. And by the way, the government is the richest entity in the world, yet we look to them to solve the problems they created. This country was founded in rebellion to government, not individuals.

http://www.usefulopinions.blogspot.com

Dear Newsweek:

This is marginally interesting. What IS interesting to me is: Why did the MSM roll over and play dead while all of this was happening? You guys wasted more column inches on a wayward cigar and a semen-stained dress than you did on the entire whack job Bush and Cheney did on the constitution. Where were the stories about the "at an undisclosed site" Dick? Or the idiot legal opinions from Yoo, Gonzales, et al. You guys drank the Kool-Aid and abdicated your responsibility to the American people. There is a circle in hell for journalists who fail to speak truth to power: somewhere between the Simonists and the Pederasts.