Gonzalas is testifying now-cspan 3 for the Sen. Jud. Com. Feigold up.

[rodeodance]

[rodeodance]

1. Feingold asking about legality of NSA program.

http://www.cspan.org/watch/cs_cspan3_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS3

[rodeodance]

2. Gongo says yes. Link here.

http://www.cspan.org/watch/cs_cspan3_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS3

[rodeodance]

4. Feingold talking about stubborness of WH/Justice Depart--is in a tit for

tat with gondo now.

[The Witch]

3. Gonzales stuttering.

Gonzo: "We're wiretapping the enemy."
Russ: "And Americans, sometimes."
Gonzo: "Americans who are talking to al Qaeda."

What Russ should say: "Prove it. Do you know for sure? You have to give reasonable suspicion to a COURT. Thus WARRANTS, asscrack."

[rodeodance]

6. Gondo having lots of trouble saying Pres has to obey the laws!! He just

can not get it out!

[Mandate My Ass]

5. feingold eating him alive

about SCOTUS decision in Hamdan. Said NSA spying would also be pounded down. The courts said the president has to obey the statutes we write.

Gonzo stammering bullshit. If the prez wants military commission, it has to be in accord with UCMJ.

[rodeodance]

7. below is a statement by Feingold-says he will ask about Hamdan dec.

Tue Jul-18-06 09:28 AM
Original message
FEINGOLD: Admin Defense For Illegal Wiretapping Is Just Plain Gone
The Administration's Defense for Illegal Wiretapping is Just Plain Gone
by Senator Russ Feingold
Tue Jul 18, 2006

...............

As many legal thinkers, and some in this community, have pointed out, the Hamdan decision was a rebuke to an Administration that thinks it can make up its own laws. And this decision has ramifications far beyond the issue of detainees. For one thing, Hamdan completely undercuts the Administration's already weak legal argument in defense of its warrantless wiretapping program.


.........................

Yesterday I wrote a letter to the President and Attorney General Gonzales urging them to reconsider the Administration's position about the legality of the NSA's warrantless wiretapping based on the Hamdan decision. I specifically urged them to consider the implications of Hamdan when they conduct their periodic reauthorization of the wiretapping program, which DOJ has indicated occurs approximately every 45 days.

The Administration's legal defense of its warrantless wiretapping program has always been threadbare, but with the Hamdan decision its argument isn't just threadbare any more - it's just plain gone.

Hamdan underscores how this Administration has played fast and loose with the Constitution and the law, and why the President should be censured for authorizing the illegal wiretapping program, for misleading the public both before and after it was revealed, and for failing to inform the appropriate members of Congress about it, as required by law. We have to demand that this Administration, and this President, protect our Constitution and our values as we protect our country. I am going to keep raising this issue - in fact, I plan on asking the Attorney General about it this morning when he comes before the Senate Judiciary Committee. So stay tuned and thanks to all of you for keeping the heat on this Administration to own up to its mistakes and abide by the rule of law.

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/7/18/93819/1656

[rodeodance]

9. Gondo finally said WH must obey laws--yet 'inherant' powers! over

and over he brought this up.

[rodeodance]

Russ made Gondo look like the ** he is! DeWine up now.

[Mandate My Ass]

10. thanks

Feingold saying that now.

Gonzo saying "he can't commit" to any admin. discussion or judiciary committee oversight. Gonzo: "We'll continue to work with committee." Meaning he'll blabber about how they're only listening to terrorists.

Feingold nailing him down.

Gonzo says "our analysis is not static." We provided our legal analysis to the committee.

[wicket]

13. Thank-you!!!

:kick:

[The Witch]

8. I wish Russ would say:

Suppose you have an authority. A President. Who decides he wants to wiretap his political opponents. And I'm not saying this is happening, far from it. But just imagine. Imagine this President then does something awful. He lies and says "No, I don't have to run my wiretapping by the court. It's my right. And I'm only wiretapping terrorists." But this President is lying. How does justice prevail in this case? How do we hold him accountable? CAN we?

[rodeodance]

11. good, but Gongo would say--inherant powers trumps all (that is what he

is arguing now).

[The Witch]

12. Russ's followup would be:

"So you're saying that a President can-- in theory-- lie and cheat and abuse power, and we have no mechanism to check it, no recourse?"

[Vidar]

14. Go Russ!