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I'm not even going to say anything about this because it wouldn't be fit for print, even by me. I will say that these fucking cowards in our Democratic Party have got to be replaced with some real Americans!
FISA Fight: Capitulation watch
by mcjoan Mon Mar 03, 2008
It's developed from speculation to obliquely sourced possibility to pretty likely that the House is going to cave and give Bush his Protect AT&T Act. For no good reason at all.
The House Intelligence Committee chairman expects a compromise soon on renewal of an eavesdropping law that could provide legal protections for telecommunications companies as President Bush has insisted....
Bush wants the House to agree to the Senate bill.
Reyes, D-Texas, said he was open to that possibility after receiving documents from the Bush administration and speaking to the companies about the industry's role in the government spy program.
"We are talking to the representatives from the communications companies because if we're going to give them blanket immunity, we want to know and we want to understand what it is that we're giving immunity for," he said. "I have an open mind about that."
Regarding a compromise deal, Reyes said: "We think we're very close, probably within the next week we'll be able to hopefully bring it to a vote."
Bully for you, Congressman Reyes, for being able to talk to the telcos about their illegal activities. How about the rest of us? How about the American citizens who were spied on illegally and want to know why? Perhaps Congressman Reyes should consider calling those telco CEOs into a public hearing so that we could all learn about their role in the spying program before sealing that deal, before ensuring that those activities will never be examined by a court of law. And all due respect to the Congressman, his judgment on this matter shouldn't be substituted for that of a federal court.
While we're talking about hearings that should happen before any further action is taken on telco amnesty, or indeed any intelligence matter before the Congress, maybe Reyes would want to spend some time looking into Bush's Friday massacre of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, now to be known as the Intelligence Advisory Board. Along with the "foreign" being excised, so was any oversight capacity by that Board of any intelligence activity. Congressman Reyes could start his investigation by comparing the statements of policy from the old board vs. Bush's version:
Old EO: "By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to enhance the security of the United States by improving the quality and effectiveness of intelligence available to the United States, and to assure the legality of activities of the Intelligence Community, it is ordered as follows:
New EO: "Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to ensure that the President and other officers of the United States with responsibility for the security of the Nation and the advancement of its interests have access to accurate, insightful, objective, and timely information concerning the capabilities, intentions, and activities of foreign powers."
What's missing? That's right: "assure the legality of the activities of the Intelligence Community." This administration is attempting to make all intelligence activities--foreign and domestic--by the government extra-legal, outside of the jurisdiction of the courts and completely under the purview of his office. Telco amnesty is just one part of that effort. Seems like something the Congress's Intelligence Committees, as well as Judiciary, would want to look into a bit.
Just because the executive no longer believes in the rule of law and is doing its damnedest to cut the judiciary out of any oversight of intelligence, it doesn't mean the legislative branch should follow suit.
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