Jose', can you see?

And so the Constitutional debate continues over at CapitalistImperialistPig.


Here are some annotations on the Constitution and the Fourth Amendment:

Valid Searches and Seizures Without Warrants

Detention Short of Arrest: Stop–and–Frisk
Search Incident to Arrest
Vehicular Searches
Vessel Searches
Consent Searches
Border Searches
Public Schools
Government Offices
Prisons and Regulation of Probation
Drug Testing


Click the following link for an in-depth, though dated because it cites no cases beyond 1982, examination of Electronic Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment.

footnote 153 from that link:

The case [Katz v. United States, 1967] contains a clear suggestion that the Court would approve a congressional provision for a different standard of probable cause in national security cases. “We recognize that domestic security surveillance may involve different policy and practical considerations from the surveillance of ‘ordinary crime.’ The gathering of security intelligence is often long range and involves the interrelation of various sources and types of information. The exact targets of such surveillance may be more difficult to identify than in surveillance operations against many types of crimes specified in Title III. Often, too, the emphasis of domestic intelligence gathering is on the prevention of unlawful activity or the enhancement of the Government’s preparedness for some future crisis or emergency. . . . Different standards may be compatible with the Fourth Amendment if they are reasonable both in relation to the legitimate need of Government for intelligence information and the protected rights of our citizens. For the warrant application may vary according to the governmental interest to be enforced and the nature of citizen rights deserving protection. . . . It may be that Congress, for example, would judge that the application and affidavit showing probable cause need not follow the exact requirements of Sec. 2518 but should allege other circumstances more appropriate to domestic security cases. . . .” Id. at 322–23.

Mr. Pig says that our founding fathers, among others, "distrusted unlimited executive power." Well, sure, we all do. Their concern was that America didn't become another England. But they also restricted voting rights to white, male property owners and had 'good' reasons for doing that considering their time and place. But we have grown as a country and things change. The Constitution and its interpretation has changed too (and will continute to evolve). I don't see how people can logically conclude that Bush has exercised "unlimited executive power." I'm reminded of Truman's famous sign, "The buck stops here." The Executive Branch has got to have some final say about some things, especially if we are to call the President The Commander in Chief. What does that imply? Simply, it means that in issues of war and national security there must be a strong, singular leader who can cut through all the bureaucratic bullshit and willy-nilly political crap and say, "Git-R-Done!" (thanks to Larry the Cable Guy).

Ignorant dumbass or not, I do feel safer today than I was on Sept. 10, 2001. I ain't no feminazi. I like to be taken care of by a strong man (or men if that's what it takes). As for Bush setting some slipperly slope precedents that will lead our country into some totalitarian regime, that's just ridiculous, except coming from someone who has such a low estimation of all our government branches that he thinks they all will fail. Is that what you think Mr. Pig? Is your faith in the American way and the American system and the American people so low that you honestly believe that we are in danger of losing all of our freedoms? For someone who sees the world that way I guess it is a natural response to cry, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight'
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?...

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that has made and preserved us as a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust";
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

First and last stanzas of The Star-Spangled Banner.