Originally posted by Double-J:
Thank God it was stopped.
Unfortunately, I think its going to take another 9/11 or similar tragedy in the U.S. for people to get their heads out of the sand and stop worrying whether the President is using ECHELON to listen to their phone conversations (you're really not that important, seriously) and get behind initiatives to stop these bastards. And I know, I'll await all of the responses (rationalizations) about how once we've lost our personal freedoms, we've lost the war. Wow. As if the fucking government couldn't listen to your conversation and you'd would have ever known anyways.
Once again, it leaves me longing for the glory days of the CIA...hmm.
No one is saying the government should not be listening in on conversations or intercepting e mails or anything else. What the cirtics of the president are complaining about is that he thinks he can do it without getting a warrant. The constitution is very clear on this subject, and there are laws on the books that say a sealed warrant which can be obtained AFTER the eavesdropping takes place, legitimizes the wiretap. Someone can come up with the exact number, but I believe there have been thousands of these warrants issued over several administrations and apparently less than a dozen have been rejected.
I happen to love my constitutional freedoms more than I hate the terrorists, and there is nothing in the law which prevents the kind of wiretapping necessary to keep track of what is going on. The point is we are a country of laws, not of men (or women) and unlike the Islamo-Muslim fanatics, we should not go forth like a bunch of sheep at the say so of any single person. Unfortunately this president disagrees with that principle.
So those of you who say there are people out there with their heads stuck someplace or another, please get your facts straight before opening your pie holes.
