Bush blocked probe into spying. Well, yes. I'm not surprised by this. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it either.
I've written previously about the program and others like it. I criticized the MSM for publishing details of these programs as they are legal and reviewed by oversight committees and courts.
The article listed above, despite its bombastic headline, is thin on content. Presidents naturally resist opening secret programs any more than absolutely necessary. As it should be.
Donviti asks "call me crazy but I come from the school of thought (logic) that if you have nothing to hide, why hide it. Keep believing everything is fine...."
I call strawman. "Hiding" something doesn't mean it is illegal. You don't put your valueables in plain sight unsecured if you want to keep them. Why, I would ask, does Donviti "hide" his money in his wallet? Why not leave it on your doorstep when you go to work in the morning? If he has nothing to "hide" where's the problem?
Same scenario here. Disclosing the program, it's scope and capabilities is a sure way to kill the effectiveness of it. IIRC, Donviti served in the military. Surely there was at least some mention of national security issues. We keep performance of aircraft closely guarded secrets for a reason.
The other thing critics miss is that public disclosure of such a program cannnot be limited to the US public alone. Any disclosures will circle the globe very very quickly and the impact on surveillence activities is evident very quickly.
So, you ask, if you support the program, what's the problem.
Simply put; authoritarian impulses. I see the President and moreso, Cheney as having an over reliance on secrecy and authoritarian impulses.
Americans don't like to be led by people who regard themselves as better than the voters. Americans are not ruled, we are governed. We need to be lead, not pushed. The Bush administration, erred greately by putting (or trying to) the debate in simplistic terms without connecting the dots for us. They could have easily created a webpage that creates a matrix demonstrating why there is an "axis of evil" and how it functions. Why it is so important to destroy it and how they came to these conclusions. In fact, any GOP funded think tank could have done the same with open source material but I haven't seen anything comprehensive. I've seen excellent essays of both limited and broad scope but I've not seen anything that puts the whole thing both high level and granular together to make a cohesive arguement.
Likely this didn't come from the administration for fear of someone punching inevitable holes in their case. However, the think tanks could have earned their grants by doing so.
Both parties are run by people who despise their base. Democrats hate the Kos Kidz and the GOP hates the evangelicals. Both groups are derided privately but courted as a necessary evil. The price of doing business.
As Peggy Noonan put it:
I've written previously about the program and others like it. I criticized the MSM for publishing details of these programs as they are legal and reviewed by oversight committees and courts.
The article listed above, despite its bombastic headline, is thin on content. Presidents naturally resist opening secret programs any more than absolutely necessary. As it should be.
Donviti asks "call me crazy but I come from the school of thought (logic) that if you have nothing to hide, why hide it. Keep believing everything is fine...."
I call strawman. "Hiding" something doesn't mean it is illegal. You don't put your valueables in plain sight unsecured if you want to keep them. Why, I would ask, does Donviti "hide" his money in his wallet? Why not leave it on your doorstep when you go to work in the morning? If he has nothing to "hide" where's the problem?
Same scenario here. Disclosing the program, it's scope and capabilities is a sure way to kill the effectiveness of it. IIRC, Donviti served in the military. Surely there was at least some mention of national security issues. We keep performance of aircraft closely guarded secrets for a reason.
The other thing critics miss is that public disclosure of such a program cannnot be limited to the US public alone. Any disclosures will circle the globe very very quickly and the impact on surveillence activities is evident very quickly.
So, you ask, if you support the program, what's the problem.
Simply put; authoritarian impulses. I see the President and moreso, Cheney as having an over reliance on secrecy and authoritarian impulses.
Americans don't like to be led by people who regard themselves as better than the voters. Americans are not ruled, we are governed. We need to be lead, not pushed. The Bush administration, erred greately by putting (or trying to) the debate in simplistic terms without connecting the dots for us. They could have easily created a webpage that creates a matrix demonstrating why there is an "axis of evil" and how it functions. Why it is so important to destroy it and how they came to these conclusions. In fact, any GOP funded think tank could have done the same with open source material but I haven't seen anything comprehensive. I've seen excellent essays of both limited and broad scope but I've not seen anything that puts the whole thing both high level and granular together to make a cohesive arguement.
Likely this didn't come from the administration for fear of someone punching inevitable holes in their case. However, the think tanks could have earned their grants by doing so.
Both parties are run by people who despise their base. Democrats hate the Kos Kidz and the GOP hates the evangelicals. Both groups are derided privately but courted as a necessary evil. The price of doing business.
As Peggy Noonan put it:
Neither likes their base, really, and both think they are smarter. But the Democrats think, deep down, that their base is barking mad. The Republicans don't. They just think their base is a bore.
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