Just before dawn this morning the space shuttle Atlantis landed marking the end of the 30 year old space shuttle program. Here's the video of the final landing:
I still remember the first launch like it was yesterday. It's really sad to see this program disappear given it's iconic stature in American culture. Hopefully the next program will be more exciting than the space shuttle program was, but I really don't think it will be.
Everyone has been blasting Pelosi for going to Syria, but there has been no critisism of Republicans doing the same. Today, Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) is in Syria meeting with Damascus. Now Boehner is giving the Republican excuse of why Democrats can't go to Syria:
Boehner declined to criticize [fellow Republican Rep. David Hobson] for joining Pelosi, saying her stature gave the visit an imprimatur it didn’t deserve.
“It’s one thing for other members to go,†Boehner said, “but you have to ask yourself, ‘Why is Pelosi going?’ She’s going for one reason and that is to embarrass the president. She is the speaker of the House. She’s giving (the Syrian) government more credit than they deserve. They sponsor terrorism. They have not been at all helpful. I wish she wasn’t there.â€
There you got it - the old Republican double standard. Boehner showed his true colors. He believes that Republicans should have the only say in our government and Democrats shouldn't. John Boehner has once again proven his hatred for democracy.
A point needs to be brought up here.
Crooks and Liars
has an audio clip up of Sean Hannity and his lying about the FISA stature.
Hannity: If Osama Bin Laden calls the United States, they're saying we
need to go spend 76 hours and get a court order before we can record that
phone conversation-that's how asinine their logic is.
As John
points out that is false, the wiretap can be started then after that they have
72 hours to get the warrant. It is a retroactive system to help insure that
valuable information is not missed while awaiting bureaucracy.
With that said there is another lie in that statement which needs to be
addressed. This is something hat even the mainstream media overlooks. Bush does
not have 72 hours under FISA to get the warrant. We are in a state of war and
with that comes some remarkable exceptions. One of those exceptions is in the
FISA code, most noteably title 50, chapter 36, subchapter 1, section 1118 of the
United States Code which reads:
Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney
General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under
this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for a period not
to exceed fifteen calendar days following a declaration of war by the
Congress.
That gives Bush a period 5 times greater than at peace time to obtain the
warrants. It also makes what Hannity said that much more of a lie.
What was it that Bush couldn't find out in 15 days?
