To the conservatives who backed President Bush on this exercise of executive discretion, I’ve repeated asked; How would they feel if Hillary sat in the Oval Office? Would they quietly accept this infringement of 4th amendment protections if it wasn’t one of their own making the call? Checks and balances between the branches are vital and shouldn’t be compromised regardless of Party.

Interesting analysis of the appeal process involved:

http://www.redstate.com/stories/national_security/the_nsa_decision_judging_without_facts_or_law#comment

Reading into the ruling it appears that a large portion of the argument focuses on 1st amendment protections. One item that is not addressed in the US Constitution, is, in fact, the issue of privacy. Is privacy a fundamental right? I would hope so, I would like it to be - and we in Oregon could make it one at least within our sovereign borders.

The right to privacy for every Oregon citizen should be protected, and it would be a just use of our state constitution and government to guarantee that right to every Oregon citizen.

Sincerely, Wes Wagner Candidate, State House of Representatives, District 39

Terrorists the world over are holding their sides with laughter.

Their goal is to kill as many US civillians as possible and we continue to make it easier for them in the name of "civil liberties".

Ask the people living under the rule of the Taliban in Afganistan how many civil liberties they had.

Fortunately, even moderates understand that wire-taps are effective. This will go all the way to the Supreme Court on appeal and common sense will be restored.

Good job libs, keep on cheering for the ACLU in all of their battles that run against the grain of the majority.

Is it any wonder that Senator Joe (C) is running ahead of Mr "Anti-war" in the first pol released: 52-40%.

Those in the middle realize that those (of you) on the far left are running this country into the ground with your suicidal PC.

It is not normal that I would comment on national affairs during this campaign, but Dan J.'s boilerplate response from the right has stirred me to respond.

Osama Bin Laden and his "followers" are finely skilled in the "Art of War". They understand that to defeat an enemy, you must use multiple approaches and strategems, most importantly those that are indirect. They are winning this war and will continue to win this war, so long as we pursue the blunt tactics of western military philosophy which relies too heavily on force and not enough on strategy.

They have accomplished many primary victories already and this is but a few of the major ones:

1) They have caused us to become viewed as imperialistic in the international world, while also making us prove the inneffectiveness of our own military strength. This has emboldened our otherwise latent enemies and given our allies reason to not support us.

2) They have utilized the same tactics we used against the USSR - stretched our resources and have caused us to spend ourselves into near economic insolvency.

3) They have caused us to remove ourselves from our basic fundamental cultural value of liberty, causing our government to develop enemies from within to further strain our capacities.

If we could break from our politically deadlocked thinking about this war, we could arrive at a set of strategies that would result in a reasonable victory for this nation - which in all likelihood - does not resemble a traditional military victory.

Sincerely, Wes Wagner

No, no comment was made on the U.S. Constitution. The only comment made is upon your glee of the interpretation of the Constitution by a judge.

Time will tell.

When the Supremes turn this over, I'll make sure to revisit this post and lay down a big "I told you so".

Until then, keep up the good work b!x.

Hey Wesley,

why don't you share some answers instead of laying down the oh so tiresome Liberal tactic of pointing out all the problems while never having any real world workable answers.

Since you are running for office, now is your chance to shine. Please do share these "strategies" you referenced.

Zak,

I'm not proving your point.

I'm joint pointing out how ignorant you really are.

Anytime Libs are on the wrong side of something, they always come back to the same thought: "the American public is just too dense to understand things".

You lib's love to fight the battles most that you are destined to lose.

Keep at it. I love seeing your energy (and enthusiasm) so dearly misplaced.

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.

I have only practiced law for 29 years so I may not fully understand the above, but from what I do know, the government needs a reasonable basis to intrude upon your private affairs, and it needs a WARRANT issued on probable cause supported by an oath or affirmation. I don't see any exceptions based upon political beliefs, or relgious affiliations.

The Supreme Court as modified by the appointments of George II may ultimately decide that the 4th Amendment does not apply to people of Arabic ancestry, or Muslims, or Democrats, or Women, or whatever. In the meantime, I would like to think that our government will only be torturing foreigners.

Well the answers to this question are not simple, it took us nearly 4 decades of imperialism, exploitation of foreign nations, the infringement of international sovereignty before our enemies had a real crack at us. Our response was then to engage in a "pre-emptive war" - the crime we actually hung most Nazi war criminals for (you know it actually wasn't the holocaust that got them hung, technically, it was the invasion of Norway).

The beginning of a solution is to stop repeating the mistakes of the past. We need to stop creating puppet states, stop supporting foreign dicatators until they turn on us, stop using our military forces to provide unilateral protection for american corporate interests, and stop trying to spread freedom and democracy around the world. It will probably take another 4 decades of decidedly civlized behavior before the international world will trust our intentions again, if not longer. But we have to start somewhere.

We have to do the one thing to prove our enemies wrong: stop acting arrogant. We have to admit that we mader a mistake, that we have engaged in acts of foreign aggression, vile political manipulation, subterfuge, and general malfeasance. We need to bring our military forces home, shore up a strong defense, and stop provoking enemies abroad. Draw a line in the sand and say, we agree to peace and we will do no further harm, but if provoked again, the full retaliation that will ensue will be complete and total with no regard for civility, compassion or mercy.

However, that will unlikely happen, because there is little profit in peace and civilty for warmongers and international money-lenders.

On another note, if anyone should know that you can't force freedom on other people, it should be us, we have a hard enough time trying to protect it at home and in theory we should have 200+ years of experience.

Sincerely, Wes Wagner

FDR said we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Dan you are obviously terrified of the terrorists. You are so afraid that you think that letting the Republicans tap your lines without a court order that is REQUIRED BY LAW is going to save you. There are lots of countries out there that would welcome a guy like you. China, Libya, North Korea, Iran and Pakistan come to mind. The leaders there also spy on their own people. Maybe you would be more comfortable in a place like that? Oh and since you looked up how Lieberman is polling after losing the primary I decided to look up Bush's approval rating for you. It's between 31% and 38% depending on the poll. That means a majority of people are sick of Republican (Fascist) politics.

Wes,

you once again listed out everything you think is done wrong, without offering any solutions. Typical politician.

Garrett,

I'm not terrified of anything except large spiders. Terrified is not a good word to describe me.

I am very concered we have devolved into a PC culture that has lost any common sense. We are so PC we won't dare profile, even though the overwhelming majority of terrorists (freedom fighters to Liberals) are middle-eastern males bewtween the ages of 17-40. Rather, we harass 60 year old women at the airport.

One more thing Garret, it doesn't matter how Bush is polling. He's not running again. If (R) Senators and House members lose their seats, so be it. Most of them have moved far enough to the left that I hope the get voted out.

At heart, you libs are nothing short of useful idiots to our enemies.

Read it again Dan - there is a very clear plan in there. You are just looking to see something that isn't there, which is why you can delude yourself into thinking that our actions are that of a just and noble nation.

It gets more difficult all the time to tell the difference between conservatives and totalitarians.

It's refreshing to see a judge standup for the constitution in the face of the national security bugaboo.

I don't think that racial profiling is PC. I think it's xenophobic. The overwhelming amount of Islamic people are good people and if you do things like racial profiling the good ones are afraid of us and they don't tell us if they know a guy down the street in their neighborhood building a bomb. How do you think the British exposed this last plot? Is it all the listening to Limbaugh that rots the brains out of fascists and removes their ability of deductive reasoning? Racial profiling reeks of what the Nazi's did to the Jews in the beginning. That is exactly why you can't do things like that.

Sure Bush isn't running again Dan but those who have rubber stamped his bad policies are. That's why Lieberman was beat. I'm not much on polls but they do show public sentiment.

It's a slippery slope when you allow things like illegal wiretapping. Judges know that and that's why things like the wiretapping and holding detainees indefinitely were struck down by the courts. We differ from authoritarian governments because we don't do things like that and we have protections that say nobody has a right to do those things.

"At heart, you libs are nothing short of useful idiots to our enemies."

Those remarks reflect the "war mind" of our failed Commander in Chief.

The only idiots I see are the ones who voted for GW. The ones with intelligence are the ones who have the courage to stand up to him.

Affidavit: Woman Urinated on Plane Floor Aug 17 4:48 PM US/Eastern

By MELISSA TRUJILLO Associated Press Writer

BOSTON A woman on a trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston for security concerns passed several notes to crew members, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed Thursday. Catherine C. Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vt., appeared in federal court Thursday on a charge of interfering with a flight crew on United 923 as it flew from London to Washington, D.C., Wednesday.

She was dressed in a Rolling Stones T-shirt, black pants and socks without shoes for the hearing and was ordered held pending a detention and probable cause hearing next Thursday.

Her attorney, federal public defender Page Kelley, said Mayo was "just barely lucid" when they spoke. "She's got some very serious mental health problems."

U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said he hoped to learn more about Mayo's mental state before the next court appearance. "We believe it's important during that time period to have a doctor examine her," he said.

Mayo's son, Josh, 31, described his mother as a peace activist and said she had been in Pakistan since March. She traveled there often since making a pen pal prior to Sept. 11, 2001, he said. The pen pal hasn't been allowed to visit the U.S., he added.

An American in Pakistan: A New Kind of Arrogance

by Catherine Mayo

As a Vermonter used to 6 months of snow, two months of mud season, and one month when I can take off my long winter underwear, it is taking me awhile to realise that Pakistani heat is not a one-day event that will go away with a thunderstorm in the morning. The solution I have found is to drink one coke after another - with ice. I’m not sure what a doctor would say about this, but it works. So I am doing all right with the heat. I can’t blame it for the bad mood I woke up with this morning.

I started reading the paper, but then put it down after glancing at the headlines. It gives me a severe case of nerves when I know what the news is before I have read it. Once America decided that "might is right", everything else became a cliché, too. When dissent is not allowed, all truth becomes predictable. But that is not the reason for my bad mood, either. What really bothered me, as I drank my coffee and ate my eggs, was that I had to somehow write a column that told the truth in new ways. It is getting harder and harder. What if one morning I wake up and find that it can’t be done anymore?

Feeling sorry for myself, I put on a CD of really old music. Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Genesis. When they woke up in the morning, they knew that they had a whole day yet to be invented. They could plan on moving to the moon, and make a list of what they would need to bring with them. They could make up a new kind of love, like the time that people did scientific experiments to show that two potted plants sitting next to each other on a windowsill could love one another if they listened to enough Mozart. Even the thought of such a possibility can make a person smile in the morning.

But if I invented a truth today, I know already that by the end of the day I would have to declare myself a failure. Someone would listen to me, and shake his head, and tell me that the truth doesn’t matter anymore. Feeling even more sorry for myself, I decided to go out to my favourite lake. I sat on a bench near the shore, under a trumpet vine just like the ones at home. Small birds almost like hummingbirds darted in and out of the orange blossoms. Every once in a while a fish jumped up through the surface of the lake. An old man, sitting on another bench, began to play a Pakistani kind of flute. He was very, very good, his music had so many surprises in it.

Americans are not surprised that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. They are not surprised that Saddam Hussein cannot be found, and that Chemical Ali is missing instead of dead. They are not surprised that there is no Al Qaeda there. They are a little surprised that Iraq has so much desert, they thought that Baghdad made up most of the country. They are not surprised that Iraq’s only terrorist group has been recruited by US troops to serve as a police force. They are not surprised that Iraq’s nuclear facility has been looted, and Iraqi people are showing clear signs of radiation poisoning. What surprises them is that people are asking questions. It is all ancient history now, the stock market is up again, the news now is Martha Stewart again, and the Laci Peterson case, and the west nile virus. The rest of the world should be doing what they are doing: shrug your shoulders, man, what is done is done, it is time to move on. It goes right over the heads of Americans that when a crime has been committed, questions need to be asked.

Americans are true innocents when it comes to this. Since they did it, no crime has been committed, because America cannot do anything wrong. It is the innocence of an arrogance that even other empires in the world do not understand. When the Greek Empire ruled the world, or the British Empire, they understood that defeat at certain times and in certain places was inevitable. They knew that the power of a government did not insure its infallibility. Americans, on the other hand, make a false assumption based on the definition of democracy itself.

America relied on the free voice of its own people to tell the state when it was doing the wrong thing. Good prevails when every voice is heard with equal respect. There was no room in the American system for blind obedience. Each person in the country had the moral responsibility to speak his own truth, and to listen with equal seriousness to the truth of others. Judgments of right and wrong were made among the people themselves, through the humility of majority rule. When dissent is silenced, a person does not know the truth of the man standing next to him.

Cathy Mayo is an American journalist based in Pakistan

I've spent a lot of time and personal money and campaign money railing on this topic, it is nice to see a court decision reflecting the US Constitution & BOR, but, we'll see. It will be an interesting point to see if GeorgeII's "strict constructionists" will be any such thing.

It has been fun to watch some of my friends wear a hat saying,"Those who would sacrifice liberty in pusuit of security will receive neither" defend the POTUS position. People will just insist that their sacred cow Ammendment trumps all others, which are negotiable. BTW Gun Control folks, please pay attention.

Here's how it works, fear will be worked up over some despised minority and a law abridging some piece of the BOR will be passed, but everybody will be just fine with it because after all, it's just those Mafia types, Drug Dealers, Gun Nuts, Islamists..... and they're dangerous. When you go for it, you encourage the Government in its behavior and you teach them bad lessons in how to do it and to whom - initially. I know you think I exaggerate, you don't like the Patriot Act, go back and look at RICO, you won't like what you find.

<h2>I haven't heard anyone describe just what internal spying without 72 hour delayed oversight can do that can't be done otherwise. The only reason that makes sense to me is that they want to spy for other reasons (political or economic) than counter-terrorism. I'm especially inclined to think that way because I'm hard pressed to think of anything the Bush administration has done that hasn't been beneficial to benLaden and his like around the world.</h2>