Jan 18 2009
The End of the Bush Error
We did it! We made it this far, 8 years after the biggest error our Supreme Court ever made — appointing George Bush the President of the U.S. And what a catastrophic error it has been! But most of us have survived. A million Iraqis, sadly, did not. Tens of thousands of Afghans, sadly did not. You know that old saying: “Fish and bad presidents start to stink after a few years”. In the case of Bush, he’s been reeking for at least five. It seems like it’s been decades. Here are some of the more humorous (most unintentionally humorous) moments of the Bush regime.
Just remember: it’s easy to laugh at his behavior and mangling of the English language, but never forget the terrible things he has done. Here is one brand new example: a secret FISA court ruled last fall that telecommunications companies are forced to provide emails and other personal communications data if someone is suspected of being a terrorist. Does the Decider make that call? This is absolutely amazing.
“Court Affirms Wiretapping Without Warrants
By JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: January 15, 2009
WASHINGTON — In a rare public ruling, a secret federal appeals court has said telecommunications companies must cooperate with the government to intercept international phone calls and e-mail of American citizens suspected of being spies or terrorists.
The ruling came in a case involving an unidentified company’s challenge to 2007 legislation that expanded the president’s legal power to conduct wiretapping without warrants for intelligence purposes.
But the ruling, handed down in August 2008 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review and made public Thursday, did not directly address whether President Bush was within his constitutional powers in ordering domestic wiretapping without warrants, without first getting Congressional approval, after the terrorist attacks of 2001. “
I just hope that President Obama can undo even half the damage that Bush has done, in the next four years.
And this list from Rolling Stone and other lists will remind us for years of what we are missing.
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