The Bill of Rights, Amendment IV, Constitution of the United States of America: 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. The Presidential Oath of Office, as taken by George W. Bush: I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The offense: WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 *- Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials. Will Congress now do its duty?
Rex I have to agree with you on this one. Not that Bush should be impeached but that it is a horrible thing and really shakes my faith in Bush. I've always supported the Patriot Act, still do, and I've supported almost all of Bush's ideas but this is going a step too far. One of the greatest things about America is that in this country a person doesn't have to worry about being spyed on like they are in the soviet union. He says that the reason he did it was to try and stop another attack like 9-11 from happening but don't the terrorist win by getting our government to undermine liberty to be "more secure"?
Oh no, we're spying on terrorists to protect the people! I can see it now, if we weren't doing it and another terrorist attack hit, everyone would be saying "Bush should've been spying on terrorists in the U.S." The government isn't looking for all the bad things that citizens are doing, they're monitoring terrorists' communications inside and outside of the country. I've decided that Rex is the most comical poster here. He really makes me laugh. Thanks Rex! :thumb:
Right, because we never had the capability to ever spy on anyone before. Oops. Looks like those silly terrorists won: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051217/ap_on_go_co/patriot_act
To say that giving the government unchecked powers to spy on people is ok then you should go live in a communist country. I'm all for the government protecting me from terrorists but spying on people without having to get a warrant is too extreme for me. If the government doesn't have to get a warrant to spy on you how long will it be until the government starts searching your home without a warrant or your knowledge? At least the Patriot Act required the government to have periodic check-ins with the justice department and approval was required by the justice department to search or spy on people. Countries where spying on citizens with no warrants is ok: Soviet Union, China, N. Korea, Vietnam, Iran, S Arabia, and the list goes on. I for one do not want to see the United States use the same practices as these liberty/freedom hating countries. Before anyone accuses me of just being a liberal, most of you know that I am a very staunch conservative and have always supported Bush this is just going too far and things like this need to be stopped before we lose all privacy and security in the home.
