From: krueger@galileo.physics.arizona.edu (Ted Krueger)
Newsgroups: alt.rush-limbaugh
Subject: Re: bush should be impeached,for the pardon of the good old boys!!!
Date: 8 Jan 93 22:03:09 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson AZ

In article <1iko67INN655@leela.CS.ORST.EDU> chrisda@atlantis.CS.ORST.EDU (David Christensen) writes:
>In article <1992Dec29.173304.8670@galileo.physics.arizona.edu> krueger@galileo.physics.arizona.edu (Ted Krueger) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec29.080654.29807@gator.use.com> Ted.Schafer@bbs.rn.com (Ted Schafer) writes:
>>>The pardon is the biggest screw job done on the american public in
>>>twenty years.We can only hope bush is the last republican president.
>>>             happy new year to all
>>>             Ted Schafer
>>
>>NO! NO! NO!
>>
>>The biggest screw job done on the american public is the $35 million that 
>>Walsh has spent on the investigation over the last several years, even 
>>though Walsh and all his spies could find no hard evidence.
>>
>>Ted
>
>Sorry, but if you believe there were no laws broken in that whole sordid
>matter, you are engaging in wishful thinking.  Clearly laws were broken,
>first when the various operative parts of Iran/Contra were carried out,
>and again when the resulting electronic and paper trails were destroyed
>and key  figures lied to the Congress.  (Whatever you may think of our
>unbeloved elected Representatives, it *IS* illegal to lie to them.)

Of course, but the more important (to me) question is why did they lie to 
congress?  The answer is simple.  The Boland Amendment, which made the 
Iran-Contra thing illegal, is not only bad law, but unconstitutional.  The 
Constitution clearly says that The President is the Head of State and 
Chief Diplomat.  It gives NO, I repeat NO, diplomatic duties to the 
congress.  The President is Chief Diplomat; he can do whatever the hell 
he wants concerning foreign relations, and the congress has NO say over 
it.  There is no provision for congressional oversight concerning the 
President's foreign relations.  It doesn't matter a lick whether you 
like it or not, it is the Law.

And, while it may be illegal to lie to congress, there is no legal 
punishment for doing so.  If you wanted to lie to congress, and they 
wanted to find you guilty of it, you can thumb your nose at them, 
they have no authority to punish you for lying.  Contempt of congress 
is a punishment-less crime.

>There's also the disputed matter of whether or not the legislative branch
>is entitled to exercise any degree of control over the executive's covert
>operations, but unless and until the Supreme Court changes the oversight
>processes in the Congress, it is still the law.

Unless you want to amend the Constitution, congress clearly has NO 
entitlement to exercise any influence whatsoever over the executives 
covert operations, as long as they pertain to foreign relations.

>That said, I don't really have a problem with the fact Bush pardoned his
>old colleagues, because I think it's time to move on to other things.  I
>do wish some clearer resolution of the consitutional questions had come 
>out of the matter, but that's not likely given the power and stakes involved.
>
>BTW, if you toss off words like "spy" too casually, you make yourself sound
>paranoid and persecuted.  It was, after all, the question of how much
>secrecy the *executive* is allowed that brought this whole thing about.


SPIES! SPIES! SPIES!  They are all SPIES!

Like you needed to wait until I said the word before you believed I 
was paranoid.  Sure.

Ted

-- 
So the Maples formed a union, and demanded equal rights, "The Oaks are just 
too greedy.  We will make them give us light!"  Now there's no more Oak 
oppression, for they passed a noble law.  And the trees are all kept equal, 
by hatchet, axe and saw.     -  Rush, The Trees
Newsgroups: alt.rush-limbaugh,alt.politics.correct