A Wink, a Blink & a Nod

As a follow up to my lo-o-ong post from the other day, see Spies 'R (On) Us, on the NSA Spying Scandal, I thought that the interview by Keith Olbermann on Countdown with GW Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley was very enlightening.

In a video clip, Above The Law (via OneGoodMove), Olbermann asks Turley about the legal issues related to the NSA data mining program of telephone records. As he said, he there are no laws that would allow the President to authorize this type of operation.

They also discussed the expansive view of executive power asserted by Bush. Turley explained that Bush does not believe that he could be in violation of the law by anything he does when it is in the nation's interest -- not just national security laws, all laws. That is, Bush is a President who thinks he can define what the law is or just ignore it. Also, Turley notes that Bush has created his own judicial system, on the other side of the border, where he can try people by his own rules and execute them. That combines the legislative, judicial and executive powers all in one person. By definition, that's not a democracy.

Jonathan Turley (via Brad Blog) also had been a guest on Countdown the day before, discussing the nomination of General Hayden as CIA Director. In this video, Turley observes that a number of people in Bush's inner-circle have been accused of criminal activities, a lack of legal ethics and a few were even convicted. Hayden's creation and defense of NSA programs that violate civil rights and FISA laws is the latest example of this pattern.

In the more recent video, Turley also gave kudos to Quest, who resisted the pressure to hand over the phone records of their customers. Too bad they are located in the western part of the country. In any event, there is a site where you can go and say thanks: Thank You Qwest dot Org. We need to recognize and reward the few brave companies who actually do the right thing.

Tags: Keith Olbermann, Countdown, Video, NSA Spying, Civil Liberties, Law