patriotism n: impeaching the President for lying about receiving an extra-marital hummer [syn: rule of law, checks and balances]
partisanship n: opposing the President for long-term, widespread abuse of power [syn: politics of personal destruction, treason, aid and comfort to the enemy]
As they used to say on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, “Looks like this is the end!” Via a post at TalkLeft comes a Countdown transcript from January, which addresses the views of the Fourth Amendment held by General Michael V. Hayden.
OLBERMANN: Also on the subject of the NSA spying, and a lot more serious, as a cartoon to a James Thurber cartoon once read, paraphrasing here, Sometimes I get the feeling that your mother and your Uncle Ed are running the government.
In the wake of the unprecedented news conference by the creator of the domestic eavesdropping program, General Michael Hayden, a slight mistake the general made has been revealed. And it’s hard to tell which is more frightening for those of you in favor of continuing the democracy, the mistake itself, or the general’s insistence that it was not a mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My understanding is that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution specifies that you must have probable cause to be able to do a search that does not violate an American‘s right against unlawful searches and seizures. Do you use…
GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: Well, actually, the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure. That’s what it says.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the measure is probable cause, I believe.
HAYDEN: The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But does it not say probable…
HAYDEN: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: … the court standard…
HAYDEN: The amendment says…
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: … the legal standard…
HAYDEN: … unreasonable search and seizure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: … the legal standard is probable cause.
HAYDEN: Just to be very clear — and believe me, if there’s any amendment to the Constitution that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it’s the Fourth. And it is a reasonableness standard in the Fourth Amendment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: To quote the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in its entirety, the one the general and the NSA folks are so familiar with and know is about reasonableness and not about probable cause, quote, “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 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.”
Well, maybe they have a different Constitution over there at the NSA.
Emphasis added.
Who is General Michael V. Hayden? The man likely to become the new head of the CIA.
How many licks does it take to get to the probable cause portion of the 4th Amendment?
Don’t ask General Hayden, Bush’s presumptive nominee to be the head of the CIA. He has no fucking idea. I have to give Bush credit for consistently finding the most incompetent, uneducated creeps to head the major government departments. Maybe they’ll …