The Non-story of the Week

"Illegal" wiretapping. Warrantless searches are "illegal". George Bush isn't "above the law".

*sigh*

Apparently Republicans ARE the only ones that can actually read and deduce. The only ones that can see a set of facts and say "hm. Well, that makes sense, but let me see what others have to say". "What is this REALLY about?"

Democrats not only lack powers of deductive reasoning, they lack the ability to even remember things that happened as recently as 8-10 years ago. (or two weeks - thank you Powerline) 'Course selective remembrace could be a nice skill to have in some situations. Can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure it could come in handy. Oh, well there's the situation in which you find yourself hating the current Republican administration so darn much that you "selectively forget" that your golden boys, Carter and Clinton, did the same thing and you thought it was really cool.

Anyhoo. Drudge has one of his "flashback" posts up, which is very helpful for the selectively forgetful.

Powerline, as usual, is all over it. Please go there and scroll around. There is a veritible wealth of information, links and other useful tidbits.

For example, they analyze the New York Times' "coverage" of this "scandal":

I have scoured the Times' reporting for any argument as to why the NSA program would be illegal, and so far haven't found one, beyond the false insinuation that warrantless searches must be illegal. What the Times has mostly done is quote anonymous sources who express "doubts" and "concerns" about the legality of the program. But doubts and concerns may or may not be well-founded, and a doubt is not an argument. Today's reporting continues to be argument-free.

Yes. "Argument Free", indeed. Because...that's all they can come up with. Why? Because this is (say it with me, now) a NON-STORY.

Again, for the selectively forgetful, Michelle Malkin hauls another one out into the light.

Also "Selective Uproars" from Michelle Malkin - and her new column this week entitled "Privacy Hypocrisy".

Blogs for Bush links to something kicky and fun: MSM Manufactured Controversies of 2005. Which is, of course, related to this current Manufactured Controversy.

Just for the sake of argument, lets say that the wiretaps were done outside the law; that there was a clear and definitive prohibition against the President doing what he did: even so, to bring it up and hammer on it is stupid. We're at war - the MSM and the left don't recognise this, but the American people do. If the Democrats really want to go into 2006 arguing that we shouldn't monitor phone calls from Colorado Springs to Pakistan's Tribal Areas, then that is fine by me...we'll happily take the 30 extra House seats it will give us.

It really is as if Karl Rove has a mind-control ray....

Heh. Good ol' Karl Rove at it again.

More from the Chicago Tribune.

In the most recent judicial statement on the issue, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, composed of three federal appellate court judges, said in 2002 that "All the ... courts to have decided the issue held that the president did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence ... We take for granted that the president does have that authority."

The passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978 did not alter the constitutional situation. That law created the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that can authorize surveillance directed at an "agent of a foreign power," which includes a foreign terrorist group. Thus, Congress put its weight behind the constitutionality of such surveillance in compliance with the law's procedures.

But as the 2002 Court of Review noted, if the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches, "FISA could not encroach on the president's constitutional power."

Every president since FISA's passage has asserted that he retained inherent power to go beyond the act's terms. Under President Clinton, deputy Atty. Gen. Jamie Gorelick testified that "the Department of Justice believes, and the case law supports, that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes."

And yet we still get comments and e-mails from liberals squawking about how Bush did a bad thing and he's a criminal and how dare we and we're just taking Bush's side because he can do no wrong in our eyes and blah blah blah. Brings me back to my earlier paragraph about liberals lacking any powers of deductive reasoning whatsoever. As someone once said, "Being that stupid should hurt".

Okay, that's all for now. I have to be a good capitalist and do some work.

Cheers - and Happy First Day of Winter!

This photo is totally unrelated to...well...anything, but it makes me smile, so there.