Carter Appointed Federal Judge Pulls Plug on NSA Wiretaps.

You know Jimmy Carter hasn't been president for over 25 years now but we are still paying the price for his administration.

Friday Jimmy Carter appointed US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled the NSA wiretaps illegal and ordered that they be stopped.

This really is amazing... almost unbelievable really.

Last week we watch the British uncover a terrorist plot that would have been as big as 9-11 and then we get a ruling like this.

Here is a scenario that I have used before lets use it again.

U.S. Intelligence agencies overseas have found the phone number of a well known terrorist's satellite phone. This terrorist makes a satellite phone call to a U.S. citizen living in a large metropolitan area like Chicago or New York. At the time of the call nobody is home. Intelligence operatives are certain that the terrorists will try to place this call again, but it will probably be from a different phone. They are aware that terrorist changes phones frequently to avoid being tracked down. So there is little time to waste. Their best chance to intercept the next phone call is to place a wire tap on the U.S. citizen's phone. The next phone call may be in a matter of minutes, or hours. There is no time to go before a court to get a wiretap order.

Imagine that this might have been a phone call from Bin Laden to Mohammed Atta an hour before Atta was to board that American Airlines flight in Boston.

The call was Bin Ladin giving Atta the final go-ahead for the attacks of 9/11. With a wiretap you intercept the call, discover the plot, and save 3000 lives.

Without a wiretap the call is not intercepted, the 9/11 attacks go forward. OK there's the scenario.

Oh well, when we get hit again at least we will know our civil rights were not violated and no one listened to our phone calls. That is what will matter most when bodies are laying at room temperature because we were unable to gather intelligence to stop the next terrorist attack.

Folks your most important civil right is the right to life... without that one the rest doesn't really mean a hill of beans.