I've been trying to figure out why the Bush administration would be so reckless in disregarding even the most pliable of laws in pursuing their eavesdropping schemes, when it's clear that the FISA court would have given them whatever warrants they needed to conduct domestic or international surveillance.
One explanation is sheer arrogance: they did it because they felt that they were unstoppable, and to hell with Congress and the Courts. Another explanation, which works given who this crowd is (everything is political) is that while they were motivated partly by a genuine search for improved national security, they were mostly engaged in a full-stop attempt to cover the president politically and win reelection.
In short, the Bush administration couldn't afford to allow another attack on American soil -- they were running for reelection specifically on being the ones best able to protect the American people from terrorism. And with the fig leaf quickly coming off Iraq, they were willing to do anything -- break any law -- to ensure that Bush didn't have a second "My Pet Goat" moment. They were so focused on preventing another 9/11 on Bush's watch that they neglected everything else: disaster preparedness, immigration reform, the economy and the housing bubble -- because they paid little or no attention to the process of actually governing. They even neglected the critical details of getting Iraq right. Instead, they threw everything they had at preventing another attack, including casting aside Congress and the FISA court to create a broad, total surveillance society where they knew, heard and saw all they could -- and this is the key -- before Congress or anyone else who might put the Democrats on even ground.
It's just a theory, but it's as good an explanation as any...
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
