How To Kill A Mockingbird

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Blogging is light today, I am travelling, but here are a few interesting issues to discuss.

"Congress has lost its taste for a protracted political battle with the Bush administration over the NSA intercept program and may kill a proposed investigation into the controversial effort. According to Charles Babington at the Washington Post, a fierce defense of the project by George Bush and a wider briefing of Congress has blunted the knee-jerk antagonism for the program":

Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday.

"Those kind of numbers have killed the momentum for high-dudgeon hearings, especially after the Alito confirmation hearing turned into such an abomination. No one wants to sit through that again. Most members of Congress from both parties now express a desire to continue the program, as long as they can add in legislation giving Congress more oversight, mostly as a way to justify all of the rhetoric already spent on the issue. By the end of the month, the NSA program will not even rate a mention in the paper."

John Stephenson is pessimistic:

"While I agree that this has damaged the Democrats on the issue of National Security, I disagree that it will not rate a mention in papers by the end of the month. Special interest groups like the ACLU have launched a relentless campaign, and a Federal lawsuit over the program. Even if a probe into the legality of the program does not take place by Congress, the ACLU lawsuit will still continue and the fate of the program could end up in the hands of judges. While some legislators are proposing bills that would provide oversight into the program, this will not satisfy the appetite of the ACLU who are bent on disclosing and destroying the entire program, National Security be damned."

Ed Morrissey in another post challenges George Will's rants about the monarchistic governerment. Calm down Joseph Marshall and breathe deeply:

Will starts off on a rant that not only goes far off the tracks, it doesn't even start on them. He argues that the Bush administration has become "monarchical" in its handling of the war and his argument is primarily based on a misinterpretation of FISA:

But, then, perhaps no future president will ask for such congressional involvement in the gravest decision government makes -- going to war. Why would future presidents ask, if the present administration successfully asserts its current doctrine? It is that whenever the nation is at war, the other two branches of government have a radically diminished pertinence to governance, and the president determines what that pertinence shall be. This monarchical doctrine emerges from the administration's stance that warrantless surveillance by the National Security Agency targeting American citizens on American soil is a legal exercise of the president's inherent powers as commander in chief, even though it violates the clear language of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was written to regulate wartime surveillance.

This is patently untrue.  FISA came into being to regulate peacetime surveillance by the federal government, as an antidote to Nixonian abuses of power that had nothing to do with the conduct of war. In fact, Jimmy Carter's attorney general Griffin Bell made that very argument in promoting the legislation before Congress in 1978, the year after Carter had authorized warrantless surveillance on an American citizen for a simple espionage case involving Vietnam (US v Truong and Humphrey). He told Congress that FISA would not affect the powers of the presidency under the Constitution, and it doesn't, as only a Constitutional amendment can change the enumerated powers.

[...]
In the end, Will doesn't even argue for an end to the program, but for Congress to write a new law making it "legal". If that winds up being the will of Congress, then why argue that it didn't come through the initial AUMF in the first place? Will wants to set a precedent where Congress winds up conducting wars instead of the Presidency, a sure-fire way to lose any future conflict we enter. Congress needs to exercise care in its authorization for military force, and then let the American people exercise their check on the presidency by voting the "monarch" out of office. That's the way the Constitution is structured, not to have 535 individuals micromanaging activities that clearly fall under the normal operation of war.

How much more can the liberals take? That little mockingbird is flapping, after all "in the absence of any pressing news these days -- other than Iran's nuclear weapons development crisis, the election of Hamas terrorists in Palestine, ongoing worldwide Muslim riots and killing in reaction to a cartoon, Al Gore's near sedition while speaking in Saudi Arabia, the turning over of our East Coast ports to be managed by a United Arab Emirates firm, the criminal leaking of vital NSA secrets to the New York Times, Mexican military incursions across our southern border, the Iraqi crisis, Congress's refusal to deal with the developing financial collapse of Social Security and Medicare, inter alia -- the White House press corp has exploded in righteous fury over the question of the vice president's little shooting party last weekend." No wait there is more....

Secret audiotapes of Saddam Hussein discussing ways to attack America with weapons of mass destruction will be the subject of an ABC "Nightline" program Wednesday night, a former federal prosecutor told Cybercast News Service.

The tapes are being called the "smoking gun" of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The New York Sun reported that the tapes have been authenticated and currently are being reviewed by the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
[...]
The U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which according to the New York Sun has already authenticated the Saddam tapes, has reopened its investigation into the possible existence and location of the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But some long-time liberal skeptics are showing no inclination to change their minds.

Via John Hinderaker @ Powerline:

The tapes also reveal Iraq 's persistent efforts to hide information about weapons of mass destruction programs from U.N. inspectors well into the 1990s. In one pivotal tape-recorded meeting, which occurred in late April or May of 1995, Saddam and his senior aides discuss the fact that U.N. inspectors had uncovered evidence of Iraq's biological weapons program—a program whose existence Iraq had previously denied.

At one point Hussein Kamel, Saddam's son-in-law and the man who was in charge of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction efforts can be heard on the tapes, speaking openly about hiding information from the U.N.

"We did not reveal all that we have," Kamel says in the meeting. "Not the type of weapons, not the volume of the materials we imported, not the volume of the production we told them about, not the volume of use. None of this was correct."
[...]
Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, ... says there are more than 35,000 boxes of such tapes and documents that the U.S. government has not analyzed nor made public that should also be translated and studied on an urgent basis.

NIGHTLINE TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS here.

In absolute desperation and in a brave attempt to calm down the Arab street, the Australian SBS network delivers the diplomatic peace offering for the Muhammad cartoons. The scene is set the timing is perfect..., and Salon of course has the exclusive.

"More cucumber sandwiches?" President Putin asks his Hamas guest of honor. "No thank you President that looks like Danish ham", as if he would eat any other. Does the Machiavellian President Putin think he actually might?

Siggy has an excellent post, pointing us to the Muslim 'disconnect' with the real world:

Thus, without that intervention, Muslims see themselves as impotent. They are waging a battle against superiors- one they cannot win. Unworthy as they are, they wage the battle nonetheless, in the hope that Allah will take mercy upon them and intercede on their behalf and continue the righteous slaughter of their adversaries they have begun in his name.

They are the enraged rapists that cannot perform- and that only enrages them further. With no chance of success (that being defined as the subjugation of the kafir and his lands to serve Muslims), the frustration is only highlighted and the acted out violence is more directed at the frustrated self than the object of their vilification. Burning KFC franchises (symbols of success and wealth.Their destruction is clearly seen as an expression of dissatisfaction with their own less than stellar lives- stifled in reality, by Islam- the center of their identities), owned and operated by fellow Muslims, will not affect the US, Americans or American foreign policy in any way. The rabid, vile, malicious and evil vilifications of Americans, Christians and Jews only serves to highlight just how disconnected Muslims are from the rest of the free world. The connection to the 'free world' cannoty be understated. In the Judeo-Christian ethic, we are blessed with free will. Muslims are not so endowed. Apostasy is punishable by death. Miss a prayer time in Saudi Arabia, and the Whabbi religious police, the Muttawa, might subject you to a beating. It is these same Muttawa that barred the doors of a girls school that was on fire, because the girls might be seen without 'appropriate' clothing. Fifteen girls burned to death.

Speaking of disconnect Peggy Noonan 'surprises' us all with a "Why Bush may be thinking about replacing Cheney", and Dick Cheney chooses Hume. Thomas Sowell accuses the MSM of being spoiled brats. Ahem.

Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard has the must-read piece of the day on the new Iraqi docs and tapes. Thank you to Hugh Hewitt.

Fausta has a great round up of what is getting coverage.

For more check out:

Hugh Hewitt , Wizbang, Flopping Aces, The Political Pit Bull, Althouse, Newsweek, The Counterterrorism Blog, Power Line, MSNBC, Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, PoliPundit.com, Riehl World View, Right Wing Nut House, Macsmind, Sister Toldjah, Suitably Flip, Super Fun Power Hour, Right Winged, Cold Fury, Decision '08, Dr. Sanity, The Daily Brief, The American Street, Donklephant, Generation Why?, ABCNEWS, Say Anything, Right Wing News, Publius Rendezvous, Outside The Beltway, Tammy Bruce, The Modearte Voice, Andrew Sullivan,  The Jawa Report, Generation Why?, Tim Blair, A Blog For All, The Reaction, USS Neverdock, Taking Back ND

UPDATE: On a funny note Looney old Helen Thomas, the dean of the White House Press corps, lovingly known as Aunt Bethany, was interviewed by Hugh Hewitt. I urge you to go and read the transcript at Radioblogger immediately,  but for now will leave you with one of my favorite parts of the exchange, about halfway through, when Helen apparently forgets who she's talking to:

HT: Who am I talking to?

HH: Hugh Hewitt.

HT: Am I talking to a journalist?

HH: Yes. Yes, for a long time. I'm just curious about what's gone wrong...

HT: Tell me about your career. What have you really done?

HH: Well, it's not nearly as impressive as you.

HT: Where did...yes, it's...it's very important to me. Where did you work?

HH: PBS for ten years.

HT: PBS?

HH: Yes.

HT: Well, that's a good credential.

HH: There you have it. See? I'm...

HT: But then you decided to switch over?

HH: To switch over to what?

HT: God knows what you are.

She eventually ends up putting the phone down on Hewitt. The Anchoress has a good laugh. Gateway Pundit, and  News Busters,  pick up the serious note, and Rusty Shackleford's commenter is convinced she died long ago..... now you say that in too many of the wrong circles and we'll get accused of another conspiracy.....Digby takes the opportunity to go off on the now famous liberal tangent, and Auntie Bethany is hailed as the Liberal Queen.

Don't miss Glenn Reynolds' 'Who's More Fanatical Left Or Right?':

Marshall Whittman:

While Greenwald suggests that "loyalty" to Bush is the requirement for the right, the standard to to be a member in good standing of the liberal/left community is hatred of Bush. The Moose opposes most of the economic agenda of the Administration. However, he critically supports the President in the war on terror - including the NSA program. This has won the Moose the visceral opprobrium of the left. Because in the left wing universe, one must oppose everything the President supports. The truth is that a good part of the left believes that George W. Bush is a greater threat to America than Osama bin Laden.

Comments

[Semanticleo]

Joe;

If you can just blow the froth off the beermug
and read this;

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/editorial/13900376.htm

[Constant]

On the NSA, there's a way to compel Congress to investigate, even if they refuse: [ Click ]

[Joe]

Semanticleo,
The White House is desperately seeking a deal? I think you have the "desperation" part reversed - witness how this is playing out.

[Joseph Marshall]

Even if a probe into the legality of the program does not take place by Congress, the ACLU lawsuit will still continue and the fate of the program could end up in the hands of judges.

My, my! What a horrible thing! Actually allowing trials and judges to determine whether the law has been broken! Can you imagine! And in America, too!

The tapes are being called the "smoking gun" of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq.

Well, gee. A megalomanic talks about what he would like to do to America if he could. He must obviously be able to do it if he talks like that. Wait a minute! I thought all those pesky Muslims were just impotent rapists disconnected from the world.

So disconnnected and impotent in fact that even though the megalomanic has such incredible supplies of Weapons Of Mass Destruction--Plutonium, Sarin, Anthrax, Botulism, Thyphus, Typhoid, Polio, Tuberculosis, for Heaven sake!--he doesn't use them when his precious country is invaded. How much more impotent can you get?

No, no! Wait a minute! Don't you understand that the Turk is at the Gates of Vienna?! We are about to be overwhelmed and here you sit twiddling your thumbs, worrying and whining about liberty!

Where did they hide all those Weapons of Mass Destruction? Where? Where!? Do they possibly have them outside the city walls?

They rely on the mercy and intercession of Allah. Do you suppose He helped?

Do you suppose they might be right after all about Who runs the Universe?

Okay, okay. Let's take a deep breath. Calm down. You can't win a war by being hysterical.

There. That's better.

[Semanticleo]

Joe;

Is that why the WH is desperately seeking a deal
with Sen Roberts to revise FISA?

[Joe]

Eh. I don't read Hewitt or Thomas; they're boring. However, I really liked this, Alexandra:
This is patently untrue. FISA came into being to regulate peacetime surveillance by the federal government, as an antidote to Nixonian abuses of power that had nothing to do with the conduct of war. . . That's the way the Constitution is structured, not to have 535 individuals micromanaging activities that clearly fall under the normal operation of war.
Best synopsis on the whole affair I've read yet. The polls of public support for the President's Article II powers are piercing the fog of BDS; even the hard left should recognize this as a losing issue now, and should have enough sense not to challenge a wartime President any further. Much too late to prevent destroying a useful tool in the WoT, unfortunately.

[Semanticleo]

An update to your update;

Just a touch of reality on the "brilliant
and talented" Hugh Hewitt ("Hiltzik-Hewitt Smackdown: A Report").

Enjoy;

[Semanticleo]

You forgot the best line;

Helen nails him with this simple question:

Helen: I judge these people on their actions. Do you?

From your favorite link CROOKS AND LIARS.

[Fausta]

Excellent post, as always!

Loved the Helen Thomas "moment" -- like Rusty's commenter, I also thought she'd died long ago!

[Fausta]

Excellent post, as always!

Loved the Helen Thomas "moment" -- like Rusty's commenter, I also thought she'd died long ago!