Day: August 17, 2006

Judge Rules Bush’s Domestic Spying Program Illegal

Jon Ponder

This is good news — except for the fact that people who willingly break the law, including Pres. Bush, don’t really care what judges have to say about their illegal activities:

It’s too bad there’s no judicial remedy for punishing presidents who break the law — except when they lie about extramarital sex.

The Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling, saying the program was “a critical tool that ensures we have in place an early warning system to detect and prevent a terrorist attack.”

In a 44-page memorandum and order, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, — who is based in Detroit, Michigan — struck down the National Security Agency’s program, which she said violates the rights to free speech and privacy.

The defendants “are permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly utilizing the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III,” she wrote.

She further declared that the program “violates the separation of powers doctrine, the Administrative Procedures Act, the First and Fourth amendments to the United States Constitution, the FISA and Title III.”

She went on to say that “the president of the United States … has undisputedly violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders.”

It’s too bad there’s no judicial remedy for punishing presidents who break the law — except when they lie about extramarital sex.

Quote du Jour

Pensito Editors

A wise and courageous prince, with money, troops and laws, can perfectly well govern men without the aid of religion, which was made only to deceive them; but the stupid people would soon make one for themselves, and as long as there are fools and rascals there will be religions. Ours is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody that has ever infected the world.

— Voltaire (1694-1778), French philosopher

Poll: Bush’s Approval Rating Down to 34 Percent, 45 percent Among Wal-Mart Shoppers

Buck Banks

Eroding, imploding: According to a poll conducted by Zogby International this week, George Bush continues to lose support among his Republican base and his approval rating has hit 34 percent, down two points in the past two weeks. The survey was conducted Aug. 11-15, 2006, and included 1,018 respondents.

The numbers continue to reflect erosion in the President’s political base — just 62 percent of Republicans give him positive marks for his job performance, while 38 percent give him negative marks. Even among weekly WalMart shoppers — a demographic group identified by Pollster John Zogby as a critical support group for Bush — just 45 percent now give him positive job marks, though his numbers among those shoppers have improved 10 points since early June.

More than three out of four — 76 percent — of weekly WalMart shoppers voted for Bush over Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election, earlier Zogby polling showed.

Among both conservatives and those who consider themselves very conservative, 59 percent give [Bush] positive marks, while 41 percent in each group gave him a negative job rating.

One third of respondents — 34 percent — said that, overall, the nation is headed in the right direction, while 59 percent said they think things are off on the wrong track.

Democrats continue to carry a lead into the fall campaign season on the generic congressional election question. Likely voters in the poll, asked whether they planned to vote for the Democrat or the Republican in their local congressional election, 39 percent favored Democrats, while 31 percent said they would be voting for the Republican candidate. Democrats also are winning the battle among independents, who favor the out–of–power party by a 32 percent to 20 percent margin, with 41 percent of independents yet undecided.

Asked if the war in Iraq has been worth the loss of American lives, 38 percent said “yes,” while 56 percent said “no,” a ratio that has held steady over the past year or so.