If President Bush were really abusing power, he would pay a price

OpinionJournal - The Western Front

Was unable to get around to this one yesterday, it's either figure out how html works or post, I went with the latter.

Three of four points made by Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Secretary, in this piece by Brendan Miniter says it all:

1.) The very language of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution invites using a "reasonable" standard in deciding when to conduct searches.

2.) The FISA court itself has found that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act does not curtail the president's constitutional ability to conduct warrantless searches.

3.) The government is not listening to phone conversations that take place entirely within the United States. Each one of the calls monitored involves someone either calling from or calling to a foreign number (in addition to involving at least one suspected al Qaeda operative). It's long been accepted that the federal government has a wide latitude to conduct searches at the nation's borders, which is why passenger luggage, container ships and other things can be searched as they cross into the country without first getting a warrant.

We don't hear these types of arguments often enough (if at all), in the MSM as it's too busy stoking any sparks that it might whip up into the type of firestorm those inside it dream of.

The points are worthy of mention and contemplation as they are a very real part of the argument whether one likes them or not.