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1. There are any number of reasons, ranging from distrust of those law enforcement agencies to a lack of clarity in the law. At the heart of it, however, was the Church Committee Report, which detailed abuse after abuse of governmental agencies engaged in espionage. It was one of those events Congress politically had to respond to, like the 9/11 Report or Enron - they HAD to do something.

2. The Patriot Act did - FISA limited permitted survellants to foreign powers and their agents, which had already been expanded to cover agents of foreign terrorist groups, but the Patriot Act extended it to also cover "lone wolves" that were engaged in terrorism but couldn't be connected to a known terrorist group. The Patriot Act, however, did not change the provision that limits those who can be surveilled (here or abroad) to non-US Persons.

3. They can. I'm not sure it solves the issue legally, but this strikes me as a moral response.

4. I think your point 4 raises the fundamental question. Most of us are willing to give government some leeway, but when an argument is made that government has unlimited authority to do what it wants without limitation, most of us will take offense. I think the Administration needs to, and is trying to, be clear that they respect a system of limited government. But they have put themselves in a position where it is hard to see that their legal arguments do not effectively eliminate any such limitations.

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There's the problem that Bush reauthorized the "mistakes" more than 30 times.

Ben Franklin agreed with you. See my sig line for details.

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This is the biggest problem I have with the entire process. 30 reauthorizations means reauthorization every couple of weeks, and the only place in FISA I find something that has a period of about two weeks is here:

Now, in that little clause, as I read it, the fifteen days follows "a declaration of war by the Congress" rather than the Presidential authorization. It seems clear to me that only one authorization is allowed.

I would hope that people in the executive branch would have a basic command of grammar. Particularly Republicans.

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New rule: From now on, Spanky must preface all of his posts with the word "Whoa!" He must also type them using his best Keanu voice.

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My wife has a nephew, let's call him "Jailbird." He also thinks that the rules that apply to everyone else don't apply to him. He also has a history of fondness for cocaine.

He's been diagnosed a sociopath. However, unlike some sociopaths, he's never really managed to either restrain his more grandiose impulses nor has he enticed other, more balanced people to act as his handlers.

The biggest problem we've always had with him is, how do you get someone to follow the law when they've been relatively successful in finding people to run interference for him all his life?

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I should have been more specific. I have no problem with the government listening in on calls made by foreign nationals, or calls that originate or end up outside of US borders. When I ship something in or out of the United States, or when I go in and out of the United States the US Government has authority to search that stuff without a warrant. The government also has a right to keep tabs on any foreign nationals in the United States. I think all that is good for national security and doesn't threaten civil liberties. I think the same should apply to communication. And I don't understand why it doesn't.

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Given how he likes to stalk, can you imagine if he could get control of travelling in the Matrix? Heavy! Bitches would be giving it up.

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Whoa Dude, that was like really immature and not at all funny

OK, Spanky, here's a response to your free market screed of a few days ago.

Please see that whether this is true or not depends (in part) on what property rights you started with. At common law, you don't have the right (broadly speaking) to use your property to harm others. For example, if you burn leaves on your property such that you smoke your neighbor out of his house, he can sue you under a nuisance theory. Environmental laws take this principle, and apply it in the context of what we now understand about how the world works. If you never had the right to use your property to harm others, it's not a taking to prevent you from doing this now in a more subtle way.

First, we have a conceptual problem, about what you mean by "free markets." No market is free of government regulation, in the sense that the common law (at the least) governs the conditions under which people exchange goods and services.
It defines who owns what, and how they can be exchanged. And what people can do in the absence of such deals (tort law). In this sense, no market is free, except maybe those in Somalia right now, and no one thinks that model works particularly well.

Moreover, if we assume that the government defines who owns what and how it can be exchanged, neither statement is always true. Markets sometimes fail, for predictable reasons. Participants lack information, or abuse a commons, or there is a monopoly, etc. Setting aside blatant redistribution, much government regulation is a response to perceived market failure.

Sometimes. But sometimes government intervention makes markets work better. For example, the Truth-in-Lending Act arguably makes credit markets work better because consumers have adequate information to assess the products they buy.

Here, you are describing a form of market failure begging for government action: Consumers externalize part of the cost of operating vehicles by polluting the air.

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dissent.
SS is funny because he's immature. What his post was, was not nice. But I will commit to this SPank- I will coerce him to become as nice next year as i was this year. Kumbahfuckingyah

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You wouldn't care one bit unless you had something to hide.

What the hell is your real name? Akbar Muhammad?

If you use your property to harm others something is exiting your property and effecting someone elses. You are responsible for your property and everything that exits it. If smoke is leaving your property and going into your neighbors property you are infringing on his property rights. The stuff I was talking about is if the government decides that your property is a wetland and says you can't build on it. That is a taking without just compensation. Or if you own a shop and the government decides your area is now not zoned for commerical use. These things should be compensated (not prevented - I believe in the power of eminent domain - just compensated).






If regulations are instituted to make the markets more efficient I have no problem with them. For example information usually makes a market perform better. But the market is almost always a better determiner of price, demand and need than the government is.



Again - making the markets more efficient. Sometimes the government intervens for reasons other than making the markets more efficient. When this is done for health, safety or environmental reasons, that is fine, but any other reason is usually bad.


Your problem is that you equate free markets with anarchy. They are two different concepts. The term market implies that you have a functioning market that requires a system of government. Without a government to enforce the rules of the "market" you don't have one. The strongest simply gets the goods. You need a respect for private property and contract law which the government needs to enforce. The first step in creating an efficient market is a respect for property rights. Without property rights you get no market. Externalities are an infringement on property rights. The most basic rule of markets. If you are dumping stuff off your property (be it a gas, liquid or solid) you are infringing either on your neighbors property rights, the public's property rights or both. The government needs to start enforcing property rights for individuals and for public property.

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I guess I am not very funny because that post was supposed to be a joke.

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I don't care how much you defend him in your stupid columns, your man Delay is going down.

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Well. Go Figure. George Will agrees with me:

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/will1.asp

and Ann Coulter does not:

http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/welcome.cgi


I think I am in good Company.

Chalk up two for Spanky.