President Gore speaks out against BCE abuse of power

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
It's fucking hilarious you want to play the "ethics" card at this time.........

Want to compare indictments in the last 5 years?

Let's do it in the last 10 and you're on!

[Nickdfresh]

the Los Angeles Times

Gore Calls for an Investigation of Warrantless Spy Program
In his latest speech criticizing Bush, he says a special counsel should examine the issue.
By Ronald Brownstein
Times Staff Writer

January 17, 2006

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore, charging that President Bush's record on civil liberties posed a "grave danger" to America's constitutional freedoms, on Monday urged the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Bush's authorization of warrantless domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency.

In a detailed and impassioned speech sponsored by liberal and conservative groups, Gore said that although much remained unknown about the spying program, "what we do know … virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law, repeatedly and insistently."

Gore, the Democratic nominee who lost to Bush in the bitterly disputed 2000 presidential race, also said Congress "should hold comprehensive … hearings into these serious allegations of criminal behavior on the part of the president."

Since acknowledging in December the existence of the surveillance program, Bush has said it targeted only people in the United States linked to terrorists and "is fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities."

Bush said that his constitutional power as commander in chief and the congressional resolution authorizing him to use military force in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks provided a legal basis for such espionage activities.

Many Democrats and some Republicans have disputed those assertions, and the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, in a study released this month, questioned the surveillance's legality.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings on the NSA program. The authority to appoint a special prosecutor rests with Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, a longtime Bush aide who, the president has said, is among those who regularly review the spying program.

Gore said a special counsel was needed because of Gonzales' "obvious conflict of interest" in investigating the program.

Gonzales did not respond directly when asked in a television interview Monday night about Gore's call for a special counsel. But the attorney general suggested that he did not consider such an investigation necessary because he believes the president has the legal authority to order the NSA surveillance.

"The president not only has the authority, he has the duty … to protect America against another attack," Gonzales said on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." "And he's exercising his authorities in a lawful manner."

Gore's speech Monday was the latest in a series he has delivered in recent years harshly criticizing Bush policies.

Although Gore has said he has no interest in seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, his searing denunciations of Bush, particularly over the war in Iraq, have generated a steady, although low, buzz of interest in that possibility. Some see him as a potential alternative to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who is presumed to be the early favorite in the race.

When Gore left Monday's speech, some of the 50 supporters who surrounded his car chanted, "Gore in '08!"

His speech, delivered to an enthusiastic audience at DAR Constitution Hall, was co-sponsored by the left-leaning American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, and the Liberty Coalition, a recently formed alliance of groups concerned with privacy and civil liberties.

The coalition includes liberal organizations, such as MoveOn.org's political action committee, and conservative ones, such as the National Taxpayers Union, the Free Congress Foundation and American Conservative Union.

"An executive who arrogates to himself the power to ignore the legitimate legislative directives of the Congress or to act free of the check of the judiciary becomes the central threat the founders sought to nullify in the Constitution, an all-powerful executive too reminiscent of the king from whom they had broken free," Gore said.

He did not specifically call for Bush's impeachment, an unlikely occurrence in a Congress in which both chambers are controlled by Republicans. But Gore repeatedly argued that Bush's authorization of the domestic surveillance and other administration assertions of executive authority in the struggle against terrorism threatened "the rule of law," the same phrase House Republicans stressed in their impeachment case against President Clinton.

Ranging beyond the spying program, Gore charged that Bush had "brought our republic to the brink of a dangerous breach in the fabric of the Constitution" through many of his tactics in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism.

Gore criticized the administration's indefinite detention of terrorism suspects and the authorization of aggressive questioning techniques for captives that, he said, "plainly constitute" torture.

If the president has the power "to eavesdrop on American citizens without a warrant, imprison citizens on his own declaration, kidnap and torture, then what can't he do?" Gore asked.

He drew some of his loudest applause when he argued that Congress had become "entirely subservient to the executive branch" and failed to exercise its oversight responsibilities on Bush. He said Democratic congressional leaders briefed on the spying program "must share the blame" with Republicans for not protesting it.

Gore was scheduled to be introduced via a satellite feed by former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), one of the managers of the House impeachment case against Clinton. But problems with a satellite link prevented Barr from speaking.

Barr, a conservative known for his staunch support for civil liberties, has been critical of the surveillance program.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Let's do it in the last 10 and you're on!

DEAL

[Seshmeister]

Plus don't forget this site wouldn't even exist if Gore hadn't invented the internet and his wife hadn't protected the free speech of rock musicians everywhere...

[DrMaddVibe]

Echelon...look it up.

[DrMaddVibe]

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006 1:43 a.m. EST

GOP Hits Back at Al Gore on Wiretapping

Former Vice President Al Gore's assertion that President Bush "repeatedly and persistently" broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant did not fall on deaf ears in Washington, D.C.

In fact, the Republican National Committee swiftly reacted to the loser of the 2000 presidential election, with RNC press secretary Tracey Schmitt stating:

"Al Gore's incessant need to insert himself in the headline of the day is almost as glaring as his lack of understanding of the threats facing America. While the president works to protect Americans from terrorists, Democrats deliver no solutions of their own, only diatribes laden with inaccuracies and anger."

The RNC then showed why Gore's comments are hard to swallow, providing these insightful reminders:

# Once Upon A Time, Gore Talked Tough About Cracking Down On Terrorists:

In 1999, Vice President Gore Declared: "Hear Me Well - We Will Fight The Reckless Violence Of Terrorism And We Will Never Yield To Terrorism, Ever." (Joe Carroll, "Clinton Exhorts Parties to Surmount Last Hurdle," The Irish Times, 3/18/99)

At A 1996 Counter-Terrorism Event Gore Said: "The Bottom Line Is That President Clinton And I And The Members Of This Commission Have Pledged To The Families Of The Victims Of Terrorism That We're Going To Take The Strongest Measures Possible To Reduce The Risk Of Another Tragedy In The Future." (Al Gore, White House Briefing, 9/5/96)

# Clinton/Gore Administration Used Warrantless Searches:

Clinton Administration Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick: "(T)he Department Of Justice Believes, And The Case Law Supports, That The President Has Inherent Authority To Conduct Warrantless Physical Searches For Foreign Intelligence Purposes And That The President May, As Has Been Done, Delegate This Authority To The Attorney General." (Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick, Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence, U.S. House Of Representatives, Testimony, 7/14/94)

In 1994, President Clinton Expanded The Use Of Warrantless Searches To Entirely Domestic Situations With No Foreign Intelligence Value Whatsoever. In A Radio Address Promoting A Crime- Fighting Bill, Mr. Clinton Discussed A New Policy To Conduct Warrantless Searches In Highly Violent Public Housing Projects." (Charles Hurt, "'Warrantless' Searches Not Unprecedented," The Washington Times, 12/22/05)

"One Of The Most Famous Examples Of Warrantless Searches In Recent Years Was The Investigation Of CIA Official Aldrich H. Ames, Who Ultimately Pleaded Guilty To Spying For The Former Soviet Union. That Case Was Largely Built Upon Secret Searches Of Ames' Home And Office In 1993, Conducted Without Federal Warrants." (Charles Hurt, "'Warrantless' Searches Not Unprecedented," The Washington Times, 12/22/05)

President Bill Clinton: "(T)he Attorney General Is Authorized To Approve Physical Searches, Without A Court Order, To Acquire Foreign Intelligence Information For Periods Of Up To One Year ..." (President Bill Clinton, Executive Order 12949, "Foreign Intelligence Physical Searches," 2/9/95)

# Meanwhile, Polling Shows Americans Support President Bush's Decision On Wire Tapping:

"(A Rasmussen Reports Survey Found) Sixty-Four Percent (64 percent) Of Americans Believe The National Security Agency (NSA) Should Be Allowed To Intercept Telephone Conversations Between Terrorism Suspects In Other Countries And People Living In The United States … Just 23 percent Disagree." (Rasmussen Reports' Web site, http://www.rasmussenreports.com, Accessed 1/6/06)

Eighty-One Percent (81 percent) Of Republicans Believe The NSA Should Be Allowed To Listen In On Conversations Between Terror Suspects And People Living In The United States. That View Is Shared By 51 percent Of Democrats ..." (Rasmussen Reports' Web site, http://www.rasmussenreports.com, Accessed 1/6/06)

# The FISA Court Does Not Provide Flexibility Needed To Fight The War On Terrorism:

President Bush: "(T)he (9/11) Commission Criticized Our Nation's Inability To Uncover Links Between Terrorists Here At Home And Terrorists Abroad. Two Of The Terrorist Hijackers Who Flew A Jet Into The Pentagon, Nawaf Al Hamzi And Khalid Al Mihdhar, Communicated While They Were In The United States To Other Members Of Al Qaeda Who Were Overseas." (President Bush, Radio Address, Washington, D.C., 12/17/05)

9/11 Commission Report: "On January 15, (2000) Hazmi And Mihdhar Arrived In Los Angeles. ... After The Pair Cleared Immigration And Customs At Los Angeles International Airport, We Do Not Know Where They Went. ... We Do Not Pick Up Their Trail Until February 1, 2000 ..." ("Final Report Of The National Commission On Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States," The 9/11 Commission Report, 7/22/04)

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: "The Operators Out At NSA Tell Me That We Don't Have The Speed And The Agility That We Need, In All Circumstances, To Deal With This New Kind Of Enemy. You Have To Remember That FISA Was Passed By The Congress In 1978. There Have Been Tremendous Advances In Technology ... Since Then." (Attorney General Gonzales, Press Conference, 12/19/05)

The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol: "Remember Moussaoui? Remember August 2001? The FBI Wanted To Go To The FISA Court To Get Surveillance Capabilities Based On What They Found On His Computer, And The Justice Department Decided No. Now, The Patriot Act Did Not Change That Standard Of FISA ..." (Fox News' "Fox News Sunday," 12/18/05)

Kristol: "I Wish Bill Clinton Had Done This. I Wish We Had Tapped The Phones Of The People Of Mohammed Atta Here Into The United States If We Discovered Phone Calls From Afghanistan To Him. That Was Why 9/11 Happened. That's What Connecting The Dots Is." (Fox News' "Fox News Sunday," 12/18/05)

9/11 Commission Report: "The Agents In Minnesota Were Concerned That The U.S. Attorney's Office In Minneapolis Would Find Insufficient Probable Cause Of A Crime To Obtain A Criminal Warrant To Search Moussaoui's Laptop Computer. Agents At FBI Headquarters Believed There Was Insufficient Probable Cause. Minneapolis Therefore Sought A Special Warrant Under The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act To Conduct The Search ... FBI Headquarters Did Not Believe This Was Good Enough, And Its National Security Law Unit Declined To Submit A FISA Application." ("Final Report Of The National Commission On Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States," The 9/11 Commission Report, 7/22/04)

# Bush Administration's Wiretapping Authorization Has Been Successful:

"Officials Have Privately Credited The Eavesdropping With The Apprehension Of Lyman Faris, A Truck Driver Who Pleaded Guilty In 2003 To Planning To Blow Up The Brooklyn Bridge." (Peter Baker, "President Says He Ordered NSA Domestic Spying," The Washington Post, 12/18/05)

[DrMaddVibe]

Al Gore Led Effort to Tap Every Phone in America

Charles R. Smith
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006

Big Brother Al

There are times when Al Gore should sit down and shut up. Former Vice President Al Gore called for an independent investigation into President Bush's domestic spying program, insisting that the president "repeatedly and insistently" broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.

What Al Gore forgot to tell his audience was that he not only supported eavesdropping on Americans without court approval – he also chaired a project designed to execute just that in total secrecy. In short, Al Gore wanted to bug every phone, computer and fax in America.

In 1993 Al Gore was charged by then President Bill Clinton to run the "Clipper" project. Clipper was a special chip designed by the National Security Agency (NSA) to be built into all phones, computers and fax machines. Not only would Clipper provide scrambled security, it also contained a special "exploitable feature" enabling the NSA to monitor all phone calls without a court order.

In 1993, VP Al Gore went to work with a top secret group of Clinton advisers, called the IWG or Interagency Working Group, and delivered a report on the Clipper project.

"Simply stated, the nexus of the long term problem is how can the government sustain its technical ability to accomplish electronic surveillance in an advanced telecommunications environment," states the TOP SECRET report prepared by Gore's Interagency Working Group.

"The solution to the access problem for future telecommunications requires that the vendor/manufacturing community translate the government's requirements into a fundamental system design criteria," noted the Gore report.

"The basic issue for resolution is a choice between accomplishing this objective by mandatory (i.e., statutory/regulatory) or voluntary means."

The documented truth is that America was to be given no choice but to be monitored by Big Brother Al. This awful conclusion is backed by several other documents. One such document released by the Justice Department is a March 1993 memo from Stephen Colgate, Assistant Attorney General for Administration.

According to the Colgate memo, Vice President Al Gore chaired a meeting with Hillary Clinton crony Webster Hubbell, Janet Reno, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and Leon Panetta in March 1993. The topic of the meeting was the "AT&T Telephone Security Device."

According to Colgate, AT&T had developed secure telephones the U.S. government could not tap. The Clinton-Gore administration secretly contracted with AT&T to keep the phones off the market. Colgate's memo noted that the administration was determined to prevent the American public from having private phone conversations.

"AT&T has developed a Data Encryption Standard (DES) product for use on telephones to provide security for sensitive conversations," wrote Colgate.

"The FBI, NSA and NSC want to purchase the first production run of these devices to prevent their proliferation. They are difficult to decipher and are a deterrent to wiretaps."

Buried in the Colgate memo is the first reference to government-developed monitoring devices that would be required for all Americans.

According to the March 1993 Colgate memo to Hubbell, "FBI, NSA and NSC want to push legislation which would require all government agencies and eventually everyone in the U.S. to use a new public-key based cryptography method."

Gore Lied

Al Gore quickly embraced the Clipper chip and the concept of monitoring America at all costs. In 1994, Gore wrote a glowing letter supporting the Clipper chip and the government-approved wiretap design.

"As we have done with the Clipper Chip, future key escrow schemes must contain safeguards to provide for key disclosures only under legal authorization and should have audit procedures to ensure the integrity of the system. We also want to assure users of key escrow encryption products that they will not be subject to unauthorized electronic surveillance," wrote Gore in his July 20, 1994 letter to Representative Maria Cantwell.

However, Gore lied. In 1994, federal officials were keenly aware that the Clipper chip design did not have safeguards against unauthorized surveillance. In fact, NASA turned down the Clipper project because the space agency knew of the flawed design.

In 1993, Benita A. Cooper, NASA Associate Administrator for Management Systems and Facilities, wrote: "There is no way to prevent the NSA from routinely monitoring all [Clipper] encrypted traffic. Moreover, compromise of the NSA keys, such as in the Walker case, could compromise the entire [Clipper] system."

Ms. Cooper referred to Soviet spy John Walker, who is serving life in prison for disclosing U.S. Navy secret codes. In 1993 Ms. Cooper did not know of Clinton Chinagate scandals, the Lippo Group, John Huang or Webster Hubbell, but her prophetic prediction was not so remarkable in retrospect.

Yet, Al Gore pressed ahead, continuing to support a flawed design despite warnings that the design could "compromise" every computer in the U.S.

A 1996 secret memo on a secret meeting of CIA Directer John Deutch, FBI Director Louis Freeh and Attorney General Janet Reno states, "Last summer, the Vice President agreed to explore public acceptance of a key escrow policy but did not rule out other approaches, although none seem viable at this point."

According to the 1996 report to V.P. Gore by then CIA Director Deutch, Reno proposed an all-out federal takeover of the computer security industry. The Justice Department proposed "legislation that would ... ban the import and domestic manufacture, sale or distribution of encryption that does not have key recovery. Janet Reno and Louis Freeh are deeply concerned about the spread of encryption. Pervasive use of encryption destroys the effectiveness of wiretapping, which supplies much of the evidence used by FBI and Justice. They support tight controls, for domestic use."

Share With China, Syria and Pakistan

Declassified documents from the CIA and the U.S. State Department also show that the Clinton-Gore administration considered sharing Clipper code "keys" with foreign powers including China, Syria and Pakistan.

"Are Clipper devices likely to be permitted for importation and use in the host country?" asked a secret 1993 CIA cable addressed to the U.S. embassies in Beijing, Damascus and Islamabad.

"Would the host country demand joint key holding or exclusive rights to Clipper keys for law enforcement or intelligence purposes?"

The secret 1993 CIA cable is one of 69 documents released by the U.S. State Department on the secret Clipper chip project. The documents were forced from the State Department through the Freedom of Information Act.

In addition, the State Department refused to release 12 documents as classified "in the interest of national defense or foreign relations." The documents show that the Clinton-Gore administration considered sharing secret Clipper surveillance keys with China and other hostile powers in order to monitor worldwide communications for "law enforcement" purposes.

Al Gore called the Bush anti-terrorism program "a threat to the very structure of our government." The former vice president's memory of his own threat to American privacy is flawed and filled with lies. I only hope that Gore elects to come clean with documented history. Until then he can fade into the oblivion of a lying, second-rate ex-presidential candidate.

[Nickdfresh]

So what is your schizophrenic complaint aSSvibe? Firstly, CLINTON-GORE didn't tap enough phones to find the 9/11 hijackers... There was nothing to have stopped investigative agencies from tapping the phones of ATTA and Co. All they need is a FISA warrant...

But then: we've had "Echelon" for the past 50-years (for use under the FISA Court), and GORE secretly wanted to tap every phone in America?

Interesting paradox...

William Kristol is the source? A PNACer Neo Con that's responsible for the current Iraqi debacle?

About as reliable as this NEWSMAXipad garbage you posted here...

IMLAO...

I know, it's all CLINTON's fault (he should have anticipated that a total idiot would follow him and fuck things up)

[DrMaddVibe]

How do you slice your bread nicker00...how do you do it?

[Nickdfresh]

Bagle actually, usually laughing at the hillarious spew posted from NEWSHAX...

[DrMaddVibe]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Bagle actually, usually laughing at the hillarious spew posted from NEWSHAX...

"bagle" it is then.

[Nickdfresh]

Oh sorry, I meant "bagel."

Should I put all of your sp. errors in quotes too?

Naw, that would be really gay. Showing BigBlunderBree and 4moronyears as hyposhits is enough for now...

[FORD]

I love how the shitbags "verify" their sources....

NewsHax quotes the Moonie Times, which quotes FAUX News, which quotes the Weekly PNAC Standard, which quotes Closet Boy Drudge, who quotes CNS "news" who quotes "Some Crazy Ass Freeper Blog Ran By A Dumbfuck In Kansas Who's Shoe Size Is Larger Than His IQ", who quotes Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps.

Never mind that all of the above are proven liars, of course.

[Warham]

And they all quote CBS, which is the biggest fraud and liar of them all.