Posted On: July 13, 2007, 10:41 am CDT

Posted By: DG

observation...I'm not 100% sure about the Ayatollah comment. The whole purpose of having a court / appeal system with judges is that you avoid too much power in the hands of one person. In order to perform a search or tap a phone, you have to show cause. In addition, FISA warrants are virtually never declined. I can't remember the exact number, but it's something like 9 out of 20,000.

With regards to the comment about countries run by religious dictators...well as a born again christian, our current president has funded religious groups with public funds and been highly influenced by evangelical movements. The political power and influence of the fundamentalist christian movement has never been stronger, and quite frankly, the rhetoric and message of some of the christian fundamentalist leaders mirrors the messages put out by Terrorists.