Official Senate Committee Hearing - Electronic Surveillance - Thread 19

[Sydnie]

thread 18
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=339174&mesg_id=339174

[Sydnie]

1. Specter questioning the Jackson test

and Gonzo's new reasons.

[EFerrari]

2. "This in no way takes from the president's constitutional authority,

this legislation." (FISA)

He just said Bush was above the law. Ooops, I forgot! That's his job.

[Sydnie]

4. Funny how that position has changed hands so many times today

isn't it? :wtf:

[EFerrari]

7. I know. But he keeps this as a fall back, always.

That's why Alito was so important -- with his defence of the Unitary Executive theory.

[Wheezy]

3. LOL! Love your Gonzo!

And thank you for doing this.

[Sydnie]

5. You're welcome

:hi:

[EFerrari]

6. Torquemada keeps cherrypicking from the Hamdi decision. n/t

[Sydnie]

8. What plain language? Hasn't he said all day it was all up to

his interpretation?

[livvy]

9. I've been watching and listening to this all day....

(Gads, this moves fast. By the time I had posted this, thread 18 was gone! Not that I have anything earth shattering to offer, but just want to get my two cents in.):)
here is one thought that keeps coming back to me, and it is really irrelevant, but I just can't resist commenting...
Where the hell are the tie police? I have never seen such a display of ugly ties all together in one room in my life.
Other than that, this has been one big lie-fest for this slimy weasel. I stopped counting his lies after the first 10 minutes.
Some have asked some great questions, but of course, the weasel either isn't at liberty to answer or he spins and lies.
I guess the ties caught my eye because the lies were getting so boring. The mind does tend to wander when the same old sh*t is being scooped out.
Great Noodly Appendage, what has happened to our country?

[EFerrari]

12. I don't blame you. The lies do get boring at times.

Big Lies and Bad Ties.

[gkhouston]

13. LOL, the tie police!

I think they're mostly hanging out in the KO/Countdown group, dissin' Dan Abram's ties. :7 It's terrible, I was at church yesterday and one of the guys in Sunday school had on a real eye-bleeder and the first thing I thought of was Dan Abrams. :rofl:

[hootinholler]

37. Tie selection 101:

If a tie clashes with itself, it is therefore neutral and may be worn with anything.

-Hoot

[EFerrari]

10. When questioned by Specter, AG calls his intelligence into

question, "I can't believe that as smart as you are, you don't see that the President (needs a way to deal with a similar threat) as the one we just experienced."

Is it a goood idea to call Specter a dummy? :shrug:

/edit for brackets

[spuddonna]

11. Same thing I was just thinking...

Specter looks like he's gettin a bit irked...

ETA: Gonzalez was coming off there as an enormous dickhead... I hope that bit gets aired a lot tonite!

[Pirate Smile]

17. Did Specter just say they are going to be doing a lot more of this?

He does (finally) seem to be getting a little pissed.

Maybe it was his little temper tantrum aimed at Harry Reid on the Senate floor a little while ago that got his blood moving - finally.

[ROakes1019]

21. Specter

Okay, so Specter didn't swear Gonzo in. Maybe he knew the majority on the committee would overrule him. Right now, Specter is reading Gonzo the riot act. Or is he just begging now? He's hoping the Intelligent Committee will get to the nub of the matter--lawyers should be allowed to see the whole thing about this claim of inherent powers of the President.

[EFerrari]

28. Pro forma. He did the same with the Alito hearing. n/t

[Pirate Smile]

30. The Intelligence Committee is COMPLETELY USELESS with

Pat Roberts at the head.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. So now he's claiming an AMENDMENT which is the "Authorization

to use Force" HUH?????? It's an amendment known ONLY TO HIM AND HIS IDIOT BOSS? :wtf: They amended the FISA Law and didn't tell anyone?:rofl:

[Sydnie]

15. A signing statement to amend it? Is that what we have here? n/t

[gkhouston]

16. well, if * can "change" the law with signing statements, this

is a "logical" next step, is it not? :crazy:

[EFerrari]

20. Reminds me of "Space Balls" and the little action figures

that the bad guy played with when no one was looking.

[alcibiades_mystery]

36. Earlier he said UAMF did NOT amend FISA

It is a completely laughable argument. FISA remains unamended by the UAMF, but the UAMF allows the administration to ignore FISA! Well, unamended to be sure, then: utterly voided.

Their argument is that FISA contains a provision that allows the executive to ignore FISA if another law comes along, but that law need not amend or overturn FISA. The depths of depravity and cynicism of such an argument should be clear for all to see, but they are apparently not.

How can you have a law that allows another law to void it, despite the fact that the new law makes no mention of voiding it, and the original law remains intact!??!!?? That is the Bush Administration's argument! It is completely unbelievable, illogical, counter-intuitive, craven, arbitrary, and monarchical. It bears resemblnce to nothing other than the bizarre and tortuos codes of France pre-revolution, where nobody is exactly sure of the status of any law, because they are intact or not depending on the fickle will of the monarch. Laws continue to remain in force, but have no force, subsequent laws void previous laws without explicitly voiding them, laws retain force sometimes but not others, and the whole structure of law is as stable as the weather. It is a chaos of sometimes-rules, the equivalent of playing football with holding sometimes relevant and sometimes not, but you never know which: arbitrary rule by its very definition - the UAMF superceded FISA without telling anyone that it did so, but FISA remains operable and in force! A laughable argument unworthy of this great Republic.

[in_cog_ni_to]

18. Hmmm....what's Specter up to? He sounds pissed off about this.

I don't trust the rat bastard.

[jsamuel]

19. Specter is tearing Gonzo a new one... saying it is plainly illegal

"President may have a constitutional right to inherent authority, but that doesn't give him the right to ignore Congress' constitutional right to make law."

[EFerrari]

22. And, the gavel comes down. n/t

[Pirate Smile]

25. God, that was frustrating.

[EFerrari]

34. Yes, it was. n/t

[helderheid]

23. excellent amen and I need that drink

[gkhouston]

27. ah... Specter is FINALLY getting the point that many of us

were trying to make to him during the Alito confirmation process. Let's hope he can hold on to this realization that his power/authority is on the verge of vanishing forever long enough to exercise what little control he has left.

[Sydnie]

24. Concluded with no word as to what they will do next or what they

will do with the testimony that they heard today.

[EFerrari]

35. Yes, bad framing. I think Specter is also busy

covering Cheney's tush re asbestos today and tomorrow.

So many crimes, so little time.

[livvy]

26. So that's it? Now what?

Seriously, does anything else happen after this?

[Sydnie]

31. No clue

they didn't say. Hinted that they would continue at some point, but we don't know when.

[Jeanette in FL]

29. Thank you Sydnie and Viva-La-Revolution

Wow you guys did a great job of keeping this updated. Really appreciate the effort. Thank you so much.

[livvy]

32. Ditto that. It was no small endeavor. The thread moved so fast!n/t

[gkhouston]

33. Yes, thanks.

I suspect the next chapter of this may occur in closed session. :scared: