 By Robert Freedland January 09, 2006
I very much enjoyed Mark Neckameyer's letter of January 8, 2006. Especially the part where he stated: "Warrants take time to secure. Fighting murdering terrorists, according to our President, must happen real time and fast." That sounds nice. Except it isn't true. The secret FISA Courts, set up especially to fight terrorists, do not slow down the President. He can legally implement wiretaps WITHOUT a warrant. He just needs to seek approval within 72 hours of doing so. That won't slow him down. That is just the law. And somewhere in that Constitution is that Oath of Office. You know, Mr. Neckemeyer, where he swears to "Uphold the Laws". Wiretaps wouldn't have prevented 9/11. But maybe if the President had read that Presidential Directive that was on his desk while taking his vacation down in Crawford, Texas, the terrorists could have been stopped. You know, the one that said "Osama Bin Laden Intends to Attack America". Yes, that one, that Bush didn't do anything about. So we don't need a President whose administration exposes a CIA operative. We don't need a President who manufactures propaganda against Congressional Laws. We don't need a President who suspends the Geneva Conventions and endorses torture of enemy combatants. We don't need a President who ignores his own requirements to follow judicial oversight before implementing NSA wiretaps. And we don't need a President who failed us when natural disasters hit our country and who distorted intelligence to get us into a proactive war against Iraq. And we don't need a President who believes that science should be taught alongside creationism, and that research into cures for disease should be discouraged because cells destined for the garbage heap are more important than people suffering from diabetes, Parkinson's Disease, and spinal cord injuries. We need a President who appoints individuals to the FDA that listen to their advisory panels and who don't make political decisions but instead make decisions based on scientific research. No, our nation doesn't need a President like George W. Bush. We need a President who respects our civil rights, works with our allies to defeat terror threats, and doesn't send our soldiers into jeopardy on wild goose chases looking for WMD's that were never there. We need a President who supports scientific inquiry and provides for the research into the cures for diseases. A President who believes that America is above torturing even the most heinous among us. That believes that he too must follow the rule of law. America deserves better than what we have received. Robert Freedland
About: Robert Freedland is a practicing physician and an amateur blogger.
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