Adventures in My Mind
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Jun 26, 2008
15 Patriots Stand to Protect the Constitution
Ever wonder who the modern day Patriots truly are? Here's a short list to consider:
- Joseph Biden
- Barbara Boxer
- Sherrod Brown
- Maria Cantwell
- Chris Dodd
- Dick Durbin
- Russ Feingold
- Tom Harkin
- John Kerry
- Frank Lautenberg
- Patrick Leahy
- Robert Menendez
- Bernie Sanders
- Chuck Schumer
- Ron Wyden
These brave men and women are United States Senators and today they took a stand - a stand to protect the Constitution, a stand to insulate the American people from an over-intrusive Big Brother-like government, a stand to ensure that perpetrators of serious crimes and even more serious breaches of the public trust would have to answer for their misdeeds.
That, of course, is a much more poetic way to say that only 15 of 100 U.S. Senators felt it necessary to attempt to find accountability and a more constitutionally acceptable way to gather intelligence information. Thanks to the other 85 senators the Bushies were handed a huge victory in their efforts to wiretap without warrants - an act that is deemed illegal by the U.S. Constitution, by the way.
In the process, all telecoms who participated in the illegal spying program will never be held accountable for the illegal gathering of customer data that they gift wrapped for W. They will never see their day in court. We will never know who ordered the program. We will never know the extent to which they illegally gathered information. We will never know why the surveillance occurred outside the court systems necessary checks. We simply will never know anything.
Since 9/11, the Bush administration has declared war, not on terrorism, but on the Constitution. At every turn they have sought to weaken the protections granted by our amazing model for self-government. They have sought to promote the office of the president to a monarchical position unaccountable to other branches of government. The fight against the FISA compromise was an incredible opportunity for Congress to refuse to cede ground to our junior monarch and his zealous band of imperialists. Instead, they threw it away like so much refuse. The spineless bureaucrats failed in both the Senate and the House to keep us safe from a larger threat than bearded psychos holed up in caves in Bora Bora: they failed to protect us from ourselves.
Sadly, you'll note, that Barack Obama's name is not on the above list. He supports the so-called FISA compromise bill that makes a complete mockery of the 4th Amendment which states: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.It couldn't be more clear: safety, security, probable cause, sworn warrants. None of it necessary any longer. This to me was Senator Obama's first truly presidential test, and he failed miserably.
But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. --John Adams
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 10:03 AM
