Posted by zeugma on March 7, 2006, at 17:16:41 [reposted on March 7, 2006, at 23:59:16 | original URL]
In reply to Re: critiques » 838, posted by zeugma on March 7, 2006, at 17:01:15
And in the same vein, I admire Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-Pennsylvania) statements that insist that government activity respect both the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, and a quite specific law passed in 1978, the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act, that was passed specifically to discourage such abuses as former President Nixon's "plumbing" activities, that led to his resignation (those in foreign lands will recognize the name Watergate). I admire Sen. Susan Collins' (R-Maine) determination to investigate the Federal Government's activities in the time that Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf Coast, though regrettably civility rules preclude me from penning words that she said in her beautiful Down East accent which I woke to not many months ago, and which gave me some faith in the system here. By the way, both of these distinguished Senators are from states that are among the Thirteen Colonies (Maine was actually part of Massachusetts at the time of the Revolution and since I often give history lessons its state motto is "Dirigo" ("I Direct.") Maine citizens have a reputation for directness. The words Sen. Collins used were quite direct, far too direct to pass as representative of American speech, but nonetheless there was a time when one could speak more directly, and some Americans long for that time, I long for it on this board.)
I am not in any way a representative American. But I am certainly one who reflects on the lessons of history, as it is said the Founding Fathers of this nation did when they wrote the Constitution, which, Sen. Specter reminded us, it is a good thing for elected officials of this nation to follow.
-z
poster:zeugma
thread:617327
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060304/msgs/617328.html