A commentary so good I had to share it

p m carpenter's commentary

August 06, 2007

Monday's memo

I laughed -- literally -- upon reading the first five words of yesterday's New York Times coverage of the Democrats' shameless collaboration in further suspending the Constitution: "Under pressure from President Bush...."


Under pressure from whom?


But I imagine "whom" laughed harder than I. Because "whom" had hornswoggled and bamboozled them again. "Whom" had pulled off another good one. "Whom" still has the decisive victors of the last election believing they lost. "Whom" is down to a political base of his wife, his dog, a few Bundist Christians and a scattering of Skinheads -- yet he could bend Democrats to his will, just by shouting "Boo!"


And the burlesque didn't stop there.


"Civil liberties and privacy advocates and a majority of Democrats said the [approved changes in the terrorist surveillance program] could allow the monitoring of virtually any calls, e-mails or other communications going overseas that originate in the United States, without a [warrant], if the government deems the recipient to be the target of a U.S. probe."


Sounds frighteningly intrusive, doesn't it? Downright unconstitutional? Utterly offensive to those historic and familiar words, "The right of the people to be secure ... against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause ..."?


Well, not to worry, since "Under the administration's version of the bill, the director of national intelligence and the attorney general can authorize the surveillance...."


Butch Cassidy-like, for a minute there we thought we were in trouble. But, given Alberto Gonzales' unbesmirched veracity and virtue, and given Congress' outspoken confidence in his abilities and judgment, our peace of mind is intact. The Republic is safe, for Alberto is in, and still in charge.


Let us not even ponder the slippery-sloped ramifications -- for instance, that we started with a "secret court" approving warrants on citizens, yet now, even star chambers are too fastidiously quaint. We've matured. Now, the simple stroke of a pen by a known and bumbling felon -- a wannabe dictator's puppeteered jackal -- can put you under a federal microscope. But please know it's for your own good, your safety, your protection from those who hate your theoretical freedoms.


So let us ponder that not. It's too depressing. Let us, rather, return to the burlesque -- a show that never seems to close and always seems to feature an entertaining cast of cowering Democrats.


True, less then 20 percent of House Dems voted along with the Senate to white-out the Fourth Amendment. But it was the leadership's all too typical, after-the-fact, "Boy, are we going to get tough now" attitude that made the entire party look so foolish.


The TSP changes are slated to expire in six months, but, sternly admonished the House Democratic Caucus chairman, Rahm Emanuel, "There is no way we are ever going to wait six months." What he omitted was, "But we've got this dang summer vacation we simply must take, and its urgency takes precedence over the Constitution."


Also omitted was any acknowledgement that six months from now will be six months nearer to the next terrorizing election -- a season when "Boo!" will come with an even more powerful kick, and, likely, an even more cowardly reception.

http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2007/08/mondays-memo.html