Here, the AP story on the Martin Luther King Day speech by Al Gore, calling for a special prosecutor to investigate illegal spying on American citizens.
Complete text of Gore's speech, here; Quicktime video highlights available as well, both via Raw Story.
Gore called Bush's illegal surveillance program
"a threat to the very structure of our government." Gore charged that the program has ignored the checks and balances of the courts and Congress.
Gore said that Bush's actions — which the president has defended as indispensable in the war against terrorism — represented a "direct assault" on the special federal court that considers, and decides whether to authorize, administration requests to eavesdrop on Americans.
Gore said the concerns are especially important on King's birthday because the slain civil rights leader was among thousands of Americans whose private communications were intercepted by the U.S. government. . .
Gore said that there is still much to learn about the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program: "What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently," he maintained. . .
Gore was repeatedly interrupted by applause Monday as he spoke to the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy and the Liberty Coalition, two organizations that expressed concern with the legality of the surveillance program.
Gore, also a former member of the Senate from Tennessee, proposed that a special counsel be appointed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate whether there have been violations of the law.
Referring to reports that private telecommunications companies have provided the Bush administration with access to private information on Americans, Gore said any company that did so should immediately end its complicity in the program.
"IF THE PRESIDENT HAS THE INHERENT AUTHORITY TO EAVESDROP, IMPRISON CITIZENS ON HIS OWN DECLARATION, KIDNAP AND TORTURE, THEN WHAT CAN'T HE DO? . . . A PRESIDENT WHO BREAKS THE LAW IS A THREAT TO THE VERY STRUCTURE OF OUR GOVERNMENT."
Hallelujah!
Gore
Bush
illegal spying
3 comments:
About godamned time SOMEONE said that OUR Constitution was being treated like Kitty Litter....I am sure I have lockjaw...I sat with my mouth open in shock for the 45 minutes- Best speech Al EVER gave ( I wish he had been like this in 2000)....he found his - and it turns out yes indeedy there are Brass- now let's see WHO else will join him? ( ahem, like the congress??) and bless him, he even said Whistleblowers need protection ( phew...) and he brought up that LAWS have been Broken...finally...WE the People may still mean Something...
Hear, hear.
That Enigma cracks me up. Love her.
Notice the politicians always become more digestable after they leave the glare of the public eye? He has been funnier, more personable, and more passionate. If he could just get that out there...and he needs to get back to his earlier rants on the planet.
When he is fully charged, he is moving and wonderful.
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