Well it would be interesting to know WHO gave him permission. It pretty much would have had to have been Bush or Condi Rice.

Funny story,

I asked a Tennessee Supreme Court Justice if I went to Syria, held a press conference and gave Hamas a $10,000,000 check, could I be arrested for supporting a terrorist organization. He said yes, I could if the state dept had designated them as a terrorist organization like Hamas.

I said, and that's because the Executive Branch sets foreign policy and thus I'd be running afoul of them.
He said yes

Then I said, well what if I was a former president. He recognized the allusion to Carter, chuckled, and then changed his answer saying he didn't think there was a law against it.

One thing wilthrill has learned is it is not a good idea to embarrass a Supreme Court Justice, especially if you plan to ever practice law in his state so Wilthrill SHUT THE HELL UP.

But I laughed my ass all the way to the car because I KNOW DAMN WELL that there is a law against supporting terrorist organization and in fact we have people in jail in this country for doing just that.

So my question remains, If Carter can not show that he was given permission by the Executive Branch then why isn't he be arrested for supporting a terrorist organization?

Wilthrill's theory - the repubs are too PUSSY to actually prosecute Carter. It might make the Democrats/drive-by media "offended" and the Repubs still labor under the delusion that if they are "nice enough" to the drive-bys then the drive-bys might like them.