7.2.06

Alberto Gonzales, imbecile?

In defending the Bush administration's argument that a state of [undeclared, perpetual] war gives the President the authority to ignore the laws of the United States [which he has sworn, on a Bible, to uphold] had this to say regarding precedent:

"President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale."

A few pertinent dates:
1789-1797: Presidency of George Washington (no wars)
1792: Invention of "semaphore" signalling code in France
1832: First electromagnetic telegraph
1844: first telegram sent
1861-1865: Presidency of Abraham Lincoln (U.S. Civil War, ended with surrender of Confederacy)
1866: transatlantic telegraph cable completed
1898: first successful wireless telegraph
1906: first radio broadcast of sound
1913-1921: presidency of Woodrow Wilson (World War I, ended with surrender of Central Powers)
1933-1945: presidency of Franklin Roosevelt (World War II, ended with surrender of Axis powers and Japan)
1950s: first direct-dial mobile radiophones
1965: e-mail first used on mainframe computers
1969: first ARPANET link created
1973: first modern mobile phone call
1978: Carter signs the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, requiring a warrant to conduct electronic surveillance of US citizens
1983: first TCP/IP wide area network
1993: first search engine (Lycos)

(Editorial)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Burn!