A Few Clear Thoughts on the Law of Wiretapping…

Three Axioms:

1. To wiretap a communication stream in the United States you require a court warrant.
2. The FISA court has legal precedence in the American judicial system
3. There is no actual international court or precedence

Three Questions

1. Do both sides of the wiretapped communication link in the United States require a court warrant?
2. Are all international calls adjudicated by FISA or the United States Courts?
3. Is a FISA ruling binding in a sovereign state other than the United States?

Three Answers:

1. No, only the target of a wiretap within the United States is covered by the warrant. This is obvious because it is unknown who is making contact or being contacted by the individual for whom the warrant is writ.
2. The United States Courts (and thus FISA) have no power outside of the United States.
3. Therefore, FISA court warrants have no judicial power on a communications wiretap of a targeted source outside of the United States.

Three Issues:

1. Did the NSA target new Americans with wiretaps after those Americans (in the United States) communicated with the original target – again without a warrant? Even the New York Times journalist doesn’t make this claim, but it would be problematic legally and morally.
2. Is it morally right to have the ability to wiretap 5.7 Billion people in the world simply because they are not US citizens?
3. If some international court does have some law, is it binding and is it enforced?

Consequently, at least from a non-lawyer's standpoint, the NSA wiretaps are legal - and not even in a grey area. Regretfully, the 5.7 billion people in the world who are not US citizens, and who live outside our borders, are not covered by US law - to include FISA precedence and US Constitutional protections. Thus, a tap on a communications stream with the target residing outside of US judicial boundries does NOT require any court acceptance, nor any Congressional acceptance. The only hold would be an international agreement, but those are not binding.

Newsy Bits...

Note (2006/01/26 1958):

Hamas and the Palestinians

• Who cares about the Palestinians…
• The Israelis have put them behind walls…
• Just get the TV cameras and satellites rolling...
• Next month they run out of Air America style donations…

And, while we are at it, how bout that purveyor of honesty – Air America

The Randi Rhodent told us all today that her market share is growing by 60%, 80%, 2,000,000%. Me thinks she has forgotten to remind her listener(s) that 100% growth from a base of 50,000 listeners results in 100,000 national listeners.

I don’t know the numbers, but I can smell a turd when one rolls by!!!

Air America list of stations: ‘Find a Station’
Check this out: Air America Affiliate ‘Newsradio WTAM 1100’

Kinda looks like the Air America affiliate is a sports talk station with Rush Limbaugh
and the Left’s ‘Voice of Reason’ (Jerry Springer) as political talking heads.
Hhhhmmmmm, that turd sure stunk when I noted the 7.9 listener share. I had
to check it out when the Rhodent ranted about her listener growth…

And who cares about Air America and their listener base. Just like the Palestinians, they have done this to themselves. One nice positive is that big money Lefties are still wasting precious campaign cash on this ‘enterprise’.

Millions spent filling a hole in the ocean – Priceless…

Note (2006/01/26 1958):

I decided I had to review the spreadsheet that bored little me created containing Air America's ratings (culled from their list and www.radioandrecords.com). Air America's highest rated station is:

KLSD in San Diego (uuuggghhhh) with a reasonable 3.1 share in the 17th largest market

Uuuummm, I live in San Diego, and sometimes listen to the Rhodent. But, I also like train wrecks and electoral disasters... The nicest thing about San Diego winning this sweepstakes is that the next highest is Detroit's WDTW with a 2.2 share. Quite the drop off, eh...

Right Wing Radio behemoth KOGO 600 in San Diego has a 5.2 share...

Iran...

Re(1): 'The Road to Tehran...', National Review, Michael Ledeen
Re(2): 'Warriors and Wusses', Left Angeles Times, Joel Stein
Re(3): 'Warriors and Wusses?', BlackFive, Uncle J
Re(4): 'CIA Fact Book', www.cia.gov, Some Spooky Guy

An Important Prediction for 2006!!! Just a month or so late :-(

The United Nations will attempt to impose their normal weak sanctions program on Iran. The problem is that Iran is functionally surrounded by, oh shall we say, fanatically aggressive enforcers of sanction programs targeting Iran. I will not speak for the thirty-something year old captains and majors and SNCOs in the military, but I am guessing that their ‘political’ teeth were cut during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Maybe some of the old geezers remember that year with less than fondness. Just a guess. Take a look at a nice map from the CIA’s factbook.

Hhhhmmmm…


To the west are 130,000 front line American soldiers and Marines. Also to the west are 290,000 increasingly effective American trained Iraqi troops. These half-million soldiers might play a role in enforcing a sanctions regime against Iran.

To the south we have the United States Navy. Every day of the year there is a nearby carrier and a battle group of frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and submarines. There is a reasonable assumption that such a force could effectively blockade Iran’s oil exports. Nothing to see here folks, move along…

To the east is Pakistan. Who knows… But, recent rending of clothing aside, I think it can be demonstrated that Pakistan will be of little or no help to Iran. Apparently, there is little or no trade between Iran and Pakistan anyway. Thus there will be little or no opportunity for George Galloway to make a quick Sterling Pound or so through graft and corruption. With American troops in Pakistan, and our current agreements with Pakistan, I do not think Iran will look east to break an embargo.

Also east is Afghanistan. There are thousands of American ground forces sitting around taking their GED for the eighth time (or whatever Joel Stein thinks they do – such the expert). They might, just might, get annoyed at anyone trying to break a UN embargo in their part of town. Those GED tests are expensive, and our gullible underclass need all the study time they can get.
Now to the weak point – the north. There are no pipelines for Iran’s major export – unlike that which traversed Syria to the Mediterranean. Syria’s pipeline was used by Saddam to continuously pump the oily sludge Galloway was slopping up – years before his recent fine television appearances!!!

Thus, we have an effective blockade – even though the UN is wary of anything effective against their club of corrupt kleptocracies.

Concerns:
Today, foreign nations purchased significantly less American debt than expected. Is it because the interest rate wasn’t competitive – or because they want to hit us using our debt load as a weapon? Regardless, it is time to reduce our debt creation by at least 20%. Now, right now… Hey Libs, be happy. We will have to sacrifice something to win this war against Islamic Terror.

May Libs and Buchaninites seem to think Israel shares a border with Iran. That Israel can deal with this problem without waking us from our nice nap. Guess what, any Israeli attack on Iran would require American acquiescence. See above. Can you think of any way Israel can strike Iran without American support? Eh…

Interesting Times…

Faster Please…

Where is the Outrage???

Re(1): 'Uneasy dreams and monstrous vermin', The Belmont Club, Wretchard TC
Re(2): 'Psychology of Suicide Bombers', Discovery Channel

We are in the midst of a spurt of ‘kidnappings’ taking place throughout the barbaric Islamic world. The kidnappings taking place in Gaza, the West Bank, Iraq, and Afghanistan are becoming a weekly affair.

Where is the Outrage in the American public?

Are we Americans that apathetic, that inured to tragedy, that obsessed in our goal of destroying terrorist organizations.

Or are we starting to see a very odd pattern emerging – one that we subconsciously expected.

We know small groups can radicalize around ideas. The ‘Discovery Channel’ aired a documentary last night titled ‘Psychology of Suicide Bombers’ that postulated on the formation of terrorist organizations. First a small group independently radicalizes – using material and ideas from the ‘corporate’ entity, oftentimes without direct support from mainline terrorist organizations. Trust relationships form into radicalized bonds that start reinforcing themselves. They see the target of their hate as objects. Hence, the truly dangerous elements of international terror are not those wayward individuals who seek membership in the organizations – but those radicalized and dynamic small groups that already have a defined mission which then desire umbrella membership in a global terrorist organization. Khalil Sheikh Mohammed formed one such mini terrorist organization, built on an idea that was grafted into al Qaeda quite effectively. The end result was 9/11.

So terrorist groups are built by incorporating sub-entities that are self-radicalized.

Cannot the same be said of small groups of independent leftists and haters of western civilization? Cannot such groups form out of a radicalized distrust of capitalism, western power, western culture, etc? How would such radicalized groups interact with international organized entities such as al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas? Can a misguided youth who rioted against WTO in Seattle find common cause with Osama bin Laden? What would the interaction look like? Could it be that such groups have formed, made contact with terror organizations, and set up planned kidnappings in an effort to ‘get their message out’? How else can the relationships be defined and presented?

In the end, the message is the same.
We hate western civilization.
We hate capitalism.
We hate power
We hate you

Watch out France!!!

Don't Invite Terror Turds to Your Wedding Party...

Re(1): 'Leadership of al Qaeda targeted in Damadola', www.SecurityWatchTower.com, C.S. Scott
Re(2): 'Hit: al Qaeda's Bomb Maker', www.MichelleMalkin.com, Michelle Malkin

Millions well spent…

To those overspending Republicans in Congress a hearty Thank You…

Thank you for buying the 10 Hellfire missiles we needed to splat Midhat Mursi, al Qaeda’s Chemical Weapon Terror Turd.

And would President Clinton have pulled the trigger? Let's see:

Nope!!!
Never Could Pull the Trigger
There are always ‘civilians’ in the area...
Let's count the dead Terror Turds of the Clinton Legacy

To the rest of the Terror Turds out there 'Watch Your Six'. And don't forget to gaze skyward every tenth of a second or so. Looks like you can’t find sanctuary anywhere. We seem to know who you are. We seem to know how to find you. We don't care much about diplomatic niceties when squishing turds in soverign nations. Too bad…

America is a very different nation from the one that ran out of Tomahawk missiles during the mighty Clinton Presidency. More like Rome doggedly tracking Hannibal after Zama than Carter telling us to wear sweaters or Clinton biting his upper lip.

Too bad for you…

Idiotarian, Moonbat, Darwin Award Contestant...

Updated (2006/01/01 1104)

2006 will be a difficult year for nominatation committees.

For example:

One would be hard pressed to determine the correct category for the first family of anti-western 'peace' activists who get their heads chopped off by some overambitious jihadist.

1. Should they be Idiotarians
2. Should they be Moonbats
3. Should they be Darwin Award contestants

I am glad I am not responsible for running end-of-year contests.


Update (2006/01/01 1104)
A friend has emailed with at least a partial solution for this quandary!!!

This enlightened individual has reminded me that Iraq will be getting safe enough to entice the vaunted media to spin their story from throughout the region. These self-same media mavens will no doubt think that the entire Middle East would benefit from their spin skills. So here goes...

If a Lefty Media Slug is killed after being kidnapped than simply look at his/her status on the various annual awards. For example, if Robert Fisk has his head removed than we are talking about an Idiotarian. George Monbiot and family would be Moonbats. And since Cindy Sheehan wrote a book nobody read, and because even the Moonbats and Idiotarians ignore her now, she may be relegated to the status of Darwin Award Contestant.

Now, if the ‘insurgent’ or ‘freedom fighter’ in question accidentally chops the cerebrum off some unknown person of peace than we can scan the articles written by award winners of various categories. If the casualty is written about more by an Idiotarian, than that individual, and those associates facing the same demise at the same event, is an Idiotarian. Likewise with Moonbats. However, one can be either an Idiotarian or a Moonbat and still be eligible for a Darwin Award.

The most conclusive evidence, however, will be the inevitable tape of the event in question. If the activists seem to believe that it is all an act to the very end, than they are Idiotarians. Conversely, if the martyr either yells ‘Alah Akbar’, ‘Go Stalin’, ‘Death to Corporatism’, ‘This is Halliburton’s doing’, or some other such nonsense than we are watching the demise of a Moonbat. A true Darwin Award Contestant would not know why she/he is tied up while a cutlass wielding fascist screams and chants Islamic slogans.

Any other illustrative help in this discussion should be incorporated in the comments. Such support would be much appreciated.

LGF: 'Robert Fisk Idiotarian of the Year 2005' balloting...

Re(1): 'Robert Fisk Idiotarian of the Year 2005', www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog, Charles Johnson

Here are my three selections in LittleGreenFootballs coveted ‘Robert Fisk Idiotarian of the Year 2005’ award. Like they say, ‘get out the vote’!!!

New York Times...

As stated above, it is a bit difficult to name it Idiotarian of the Year, but the fact that it is the Robert Fisk Idiotarian of the Year award aces it. Maybe some of the writers are actual Moonbats rather than Idiotarians because they have knowledge of, and aggressively drive toward, the cliff.

However, as a whole, I am completely satisfied that the writers and the editors of the NYT are generally ignorant of the topics of war and terrorism.

Too bad you did not include the uncritical readers of the NYT on your list of Idiotarians. They are the definition of Useful Idiots. Oh, never mind - just read the list (MSNBC, CBS, The Guardian, Actors, UN, and Democratic Party). It is, of course, the paper of record for Idiotarians!

Cindy Sheehan...

She started reading the New York Times after 9/11. She was especially impressed with the discussion of America's complicity in blowing itself up. Maybe some of the facts that prove President Bush destroyed the buildings with well placed barrels of Halliburton oil drums.

Her favorite writer was Jayson Blair. She can't believe that the 'Paper of Record' would allow him to leave for greener pastures without offering a significant pay raise. She can't figure out how to get online to view Englands Paper of Record - The Guardian.

In her sleep she remembers NYT articles - and other major media presentations based on 'Paper of Record' scoops - that had her son tortured in Abu Gharib, shot by Halliburton employees, forced into the military by Cheney press gangs, etc.

She is the definition of an Idiotarian. All others are shades of grey...

Rep. Jack Murtha...

He defines the Mawkish Democrat.

The NYT, MSNBC, LA Times, CBS, and the rest that follow the lead of the NYT termed him a 'Hawkish' Democrat.

He is 'Hawkish' only regarding pension benefits, weapons built in his district, clothing allowances, food allowances, social reengineering, and short conflicts executed with stand-off weapons.

After taking 18 casualties in 'Blackhawk Down' he 'convinced' President Clinton to bail ignominiously from the region. That Mawkish moment is forever eulogized in Osama bin Laden's FATWA about weak horses and paper tigers and such.

Representative Murtha is just a normal conflicted Democrat of the Vietnam era. He wants a military for the social engineering that can be accomplished through such large and influential organization. He doen't want the military to be included in combat. He wants to move our military to where the action is – Kansas. Just over the horizon, and over again, and over again, and then over again. Maybe Syria will allow us to post some troops – Iran?

He was a sleeper Idiotarian – and was activated by some droning speech John Kerry made to some progressive think tank deriding combat for anything, anything at all.

He is my final pick!