Tell Me The Truth In Plain English

I am forever and a day amazed at how 'intellectuals' can muddy the waters of common sense. As I read some news accounts on domestic spying ordered by President Bush I must just shake my head at the muddling language and discussion. I have always thought that newspapers and the main stream news media in general were meant to inform the average American and intended to just tell us what is going on in the world so that we can make informed decisions. I no longer believe that. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. Here are a couple of quotes from President Bush on the issue of wiretapping.

Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires—a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.

—President Bush, Buffalo, N.Y., April 20, 2004.


Now here is another quote from the president.

Q: Why did you skip the basic safeguards of asking courts for permission for the intercepts?
A: First of all, I—right after September the 11th, I knew we were fighting a different kind of war. And so I asked people in my administration to analyze how best for me and our government to do the job people expect us to do, which is to detect and prevent a possible attack. That's what the American people want. We looked at the possible scenarios. And the people responsible for helping us protect and defend came forth with the current program, because it enables us to move faster and quicker. And that's important. We've got to be fast on our feet, quick to detect and prevent.
We use [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] still—you're referring to the FISA court in your question—of course, we use FISAs. But FISA is for long-term monitoring. What is needed in order to protect the American people is the ability to move quickly to detect.
—President Bush, at a press conference Dec. 19, 2005
I discovered these quotes on Slate and did a subsequent search of the president's speeches to verify the accuracy for those of you concerned about my sources.

Now some folks might call these quotes misleading the American people. I call it lying. Let me repeat myself. Lying! That's what it is because we now know beyond the shadow of a doubt that he had already ordered and continues to order wiretaps without warrants period. There is no ambiguity here what so ever. We could dissect his words and discuss them all day but in plain English, American English any English you choose it is called lying. Let me do a quick play by play in slow mo. In the first quote he says "any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires—a wiretap requires a court order." The president is the government right? That hasn't changed has it? And he says "a wiretap requires a court order" right. That's what his speech says. No ambiguity there is there?

Now in the second quote the president says that "FISA is for long-term monitoring" . You know what? I read the entire act and I just couldn't find the term "long-term" any where in that act. I couldn't find it in English, or German, or French, or Italian. Really I couldn't. I just don't think it's there. Do I sound sarcastic here? I am……because you know what? It's pure BS!

Now some of you may not care that the President of the United States lied to you but I do. I care very much. I cared when Bill Clinton lied about his 'internal' relationship and I cared when the George W. Bush lied about violating the civil liberties of American citizens. And you know something else. I think lying about spying is worse than lying about sex. Yep, I really do because I don't care who the president 'sleeps' with but I do care who he spies on because one violates my rights under the constitution and the other violates hmmmmmm….his marriage vows.

Now back to the press. Why can't they just print the facts in plain English so that the average American can understand it? It was easy for me in this post. I take quotes directly from the president's lips and print them in plain English and that's it. I did add my commentary to it. It's simple. He lied to the American people.

Those Are The Sergeant Majors Thoughts On That.