Yet Again, The Democrats Roll Over by Helen Thomas

[Joanne98]

Yet Again, The Democrats Roll Over
by Helen Thomas
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/10/3098/

WASHINGTON — President Bush has the Democrats’ number on Capitol Hill. All he has to do is play the fear card and invoke the war on terror and they will cave.What’s more, the president has found out that he can break the law and the rubber stamp

Democratic Congress will give him a pass every time.

The fear of being branded “soft on terrorism” was enough to make the Democrats capitulate once again to the Bush administration’s demands. Or was it simply a looming vacation and beckoning campaign travel that led them to desert the nation’s capital after giving the National Security Agency the power to expand its eavesdropping program without a warrant.

The Orwellian measure allows the federal government — without a court order or oversight — to intercept electronic communications between people in the U.S. and people outside the U.S.

The old rule required that a special court give its approval for that kind of surveillance. The new law bypasses the court and empowers the director of national intelligence and the attorney general to authorize the surveillance.

Oversight by the special foreign intelligence surveillance court is now severely limited to examining whether the government’s guidelines for targeting overseas suspects are appropriate.

The administration said the new law is designed to bring the Foreign Surveillance Act of 1978 “in step with advances in technology by restoring the government’s power to gather information without a warrant on foreign intelligence on targets located overseas.”

Mike McConnell, the director of National Intelligence, asserted that he needed the expanded spying authority because “the government is significantly burdened in capturing overseas communications of foreign terrorists planning to conduct attacks inside the United States.”

McConnell — who is pushing for more spy power — and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — who has huge credibility problems — will decide on the targets. Both will also have charge of oversight of the program. Figure that!

In recent weeks, administration officials have warned that the United States is under a heightened terrorist threat.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid denounced the new legislation, saying it authorizes warrantless searches and surveillance of American phone calls, e-mails, homes, offices and personal records.

Civil liberties advocates and most Democrats warned
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/10/3098/

[msongs]

1. harry reid denounced......so why did you let it pass? nt

[AndyTiedye]

2. Maybe He Woke Up to Find a Horse's Head On His Bed

[tom_paine]

3. K & R for Helen Thomas

The comments are pretty good, too.

[Lugnut]

4. K&R for Helen

"McConnell — who is pushing for more spy power — and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — who has huge credibility problems — will decide on the targets. Both will also have charge of oversight of the program. Figure that!" Indeed! It's mind boggling.

[Sam Ervin jret]

5. If it's legal for Bush to Spy for 6 months then its legal for the congress to spy for 6 months

Wouldn't you like six month's to take a look at Bush's email and the email of all his family and friends and the people who give him money and the people who gave his father money and the people who got him out of his financial trouble when he was younger,I think they were from Saudi Arabia, weren't they? That was a terrible run on sentence! Anyway it's all just gossip unless you get something legal on him. Right?

[snot]

6. K & R, and

I'm thinking of writing checks to Kucinich and maybe Conyers, and sending photocopies to the Hillaries of the Dem leadership world.

Sign me, Interested in Ideas for Getting Our Fearless Leaders to Do Our Bidding.