Unconstitutional, or not?

Bush has often been accused of being too meek in defending his actions as President. Not in this matter:

Facing angry criticism and challenges to his authority in Congress, President Bush on Saturday unapologetically defended his administration's right to conduct secret post-Sept. 11 spying in the United States as "critical to saving American lives."

Bush said congressional leaders had been briefed on the operation more than a dozen times. That included Democrats as well as Republicans in the House and Senate, a GOP lawmaker said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she had been told on several occasions that Bush had authorized unspecified activities by the National Security Agency, the nation's largest spy agency. She said she had expressed strong concerns at the time, and that Bush's statement Saturday "raises serious questions as to what the activities were and whether the activities were lawful."

Often appearing angry in an eight-minute address, the president made clear he has no intention of halting his authorizations of the monitoring activities and said public disclosure of the program by the news media had endangered Americans.

I'm with the Prez on this - just because someone has citizenship, that doesn't make them invulnerable to suspicion. And, remember, we're not just talking jay-walking here - the suspicion is of terrorism and treason to the US. I remember Lincoln in a similar situation.

Among Lincoln’s unconstitutional acts were launching an invasion without the consent of Congress, blockading Southern ports before formally declaring war, unilaterally suspending the writ of habeas corpus and arresting and imprisoning thousands of Northern citizens without a warrant, censoring telegraph communications, confiscating private property, including firearms, and effectively gutting the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

The fact is, we are at war. It's not just a little "tiff" that can be resolved with quiet diplomacy - it is, in fact, a war. And upholding every part of the Constitution, while losing the war, opens us to the awful prospect of having a government imposed on us by the victors that would laugh at our Constitution.Tags = News and Politics