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I am thoroughly Disgusted!
I have arrived at the age that "Baby Boomers" can begin
retiring.
I only tell you this so you'll know; I've seen a
lot of Political Administrations.
The "Baby Boomers": all this means is that those of us
who have arrived at retirement age;
were conceived during World War II.
What will the Generation being conceived now be called when
they reach retirement age?
At any rate, it seems to me that there are a powerful lot of
us "Baby Boomers".
And I don't understand why this very large, very powerful
group of individuals:
Haven't stood up, and kicked major "booty"!
How much longer are we, the most powerful generation on this
earth: going to allow this
Political Despot, and his "Gang" Run
rough shod over the known World.
Call, call, write your Congress
Representative.
Impress on them that if they don't
IMPEACH , then their own political
career
is on the line.
My apologies to "THE PROGRESS REPORT" But their lead article
published below: Fit too well.
Just read the headlines!
Aren't they proof enough of Major Crimes, and
misdemeanors or malfeasance in office.
?
IMPEACH Now!
 |
NATIONAL SECURITY Bush Resumes Quest For Unchecked Powers In August, Congress
capitulated to pressure from the Bush administration and passed
the
Protect America Act, which temporarily revised the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by expanding the
administration's surveillance powers while
gutting congressional and judicial oversight. The law, which
contained a sunset provision, is set to expire on Feb. 1. Last fall,
Congress began the process of re-working the legislation, aiming to
maintain the needed updates to the FISA law while correcting "the
most glaring deficiencies of the Protect America Act." At the
same time, the White House insisted that it be given "the
power to grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies"
that violate privacy laws by cooperating with the administration's warrantless
eavesdropping program, a provision that
seriously worries civil liberties advocates. In November, the
House
passed the RESTORE Act, which did not include immunity. But the
Senate was unable to reconcile legislation passed by the Senate
Intelligence Committee that contained immunity with
a Senate Judiciary bill that did not. Facing a filibuster threat
from Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
withdrew the FISA legislation from consideration before the
winter break, planning to return to it this month. Yesterday,
the Senate returned to the issue, again facing differences over
"whether to grant legal immunity to telephone companies."
AMNESTY FOR POTENTIAL CRIMES: In a
speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation yesterday, Vice
President Dick Cheney argued that the administration's push for
retroactive immunity is based on the "important principle" that
"those who assist the government in tracking terrorists should not
be punished with lawsuits." In reality though, the immunity "would
reward those who knowingly broke the law and would undermine the
critical role played by service providers in ensuring that the
government presents the required documentation before being given
access to intercepted communications." Additionally, as Feingold
pointed out, "existing
law already immunizes telephone companies that respond in good faith
to a government request, as long as that request meets certain
clearly spelled-out statutory requirements." "It's
not as if these companies don't have lawyers to tell them what's
legal and what's not," he wrote on the site DailyKos.com. If
Congress does allow retroactive immunity, it will not only encourage
a potential repetition of the
illegal eavesdropping that took place after 9/11, but it would
also protect the administration itself from facing repercussions for
ordering the warrantless program by forcing dismissals of pending
lawsuits that could reveal the truth of what took place.
FEARMONGERING FOR IMMUNITY: With the expiration of the
temporary surveillance bill looming, Reid sought a temporary
extension this week in order to avoid "political
gamesmanship" while completing the bill, but Senate
conservatives and the White House objected and went on the attack.
"To stall legislation needed to help our intelligence community
prevent attacks and protect American lives is
not only irresponsible, it's also dangerous," said Sen. Kit Bond
(R-MO), the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee.
Without the immediate passage of permanent legislation, "terrorists"
will soon "be free to make phone calls
without fear of being surveilled by U.S. intelligence agencies,"
threatened White House spokesman Tony Fratto last week. "With
the day of reckoning so close at hand, we're reminding Congress
that they must act now," said Cheney in his speech yesterday.
"Liability protection, retroactive to 9/11, is the right thing to
do. It's the right way to help us prevent
another 9/11 down the road," he added.
MORE TO WORRY ABOUT THAN IMMUNITY:
The RESTORE Act passed by the House in November ably balanced
national security with civil liberties by giving "the government the
powers it says it needs to intercept terrorist communications
without issuing a fishing license to spy on innocent Americans."
But the Senate Intelligence bill, which
the White House is pushing as the only bill it will accept, does
not provide the proper protections for the privacy of Americans. In
the bill, the government is allowed "to acquire
communications between foreigners and Americans inside the
United States, without a court order" as long as the foreigner is
outside the country and "the purpose is to obtain foreign
intelligence information," a term with "an extremely broad
definition." In the entire process of reforming FISA, the
administration has shown
outright contempt for oversight by the legislative and judicial
branches. The Senate Judiciary bill gives the secret FISA court "authority
to assess the government's compliance with its wiretapping
procedures, to place limits on the use of information that was
acquired through unlawful procedures, and to enforce its own
orders." The Senate Intelligence bill does not provide any such
authority. If the Judiciary bill is shot down by the full Senate,
senators are
expected to offer amendments to try to improve the oversight
measures of the Intelligence Committee bill.
ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH
RE-NOMINATES TORTURE MEMO AUTHOR TO TOP DOJ POST: In "a
move that was seen as
a snub to Senate Democrats," President Bush yesterday
re-nominated Steven Bradbury to be head of the Justice
Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Last fall, The New York
Times revealed that in 2005, Bradbury signed off on a secret
Justice Department torture memo that endorsed "the
harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central
Intelligence Agency," allowing waterboarding and other torture
techniques. Bradbury's memos, which are still secret, have been
described "as an effort by the Bush administration to
circumvent laws prohibiting torture and to undermine a
public legal opinion issued by the Justice Department in 2004
that declared torture to be 'abhorrent.'" Bradbury's nomination
will likely come up when Attorney General Michael Mukasey
testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.
During his own nomination hearings last fall, Mukasey promised
that he would "review"
the Bush administration's torture policy and decide on its
legality. As of yesterday, he said he was
still considering the question.
IRAQ -- CBO PREDICTS RISE IN BUDGET DEFICIT, REPORTS
SKYROCKETING IRAQ WAR COSTS: The nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a
report yesterday on the U.S. budget and economic outlook.
The CBO projects the 2008 fiscal year budget deficit to
rise to $219 billion, up from $163 billion in 2007. Yet the
report added that "'funding that is likely to be needed to
finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan could add
$30 billion to outlays this year," making its total
budget deficit projection for 2008 at $250 billion. CBO also
stated that "funding for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
and other activities in the war on terrorism
expanded significantly in 2007," from $120 billion in 2006
to $171 billion in 2007. President Bush "has requested $193
billion for war-related purposes in 2008, of which $88 billion
has been appropriated thus far." Congressional Democrats
reportedly predict that the
budget deficit could increase to as much as $350 billion.
ENVIRONMENT -- EPA'S DENIAL OF
CALIFORNIA WAIVER ON GREENHOUSE GASES FACES SCRUTINY:
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen
Johnson
went against the advice of agency staff when he rejected a
waiver requested by California last year to institute more
stringent greenhouse gas regulations. Yesterday, Sen. Barbara
Boxer released excerpts of a PowerPoint presentation made by EPA
staff to Johnson before he rejected California's waiver.
Included in the slides are conclusions that California continues
to have
compelling and extraordinary conditions in general" that are
vulnerable to climate change conditions and the EPA is to lose
an almost certain lawsuit by California. California,
along with 15 other states, filed suit on Jan. 2 against the
EPA to have the waiver rejection overturned. Meanwhile, two
congressional committees
have opened investigations into how the decision was made.
Boxer's Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a
hearing on the issue today, at which
Johnson is testifying |
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http://americaunderattackin2001.com/webmy233.htm
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