House Democrats: Bush has committed a crime in authorizing the spying

[ProSense]

Democrats Scold White House Over Spying

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer
23 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Democratic senators took the Bush administration to task Friday for four years of domestic spying, while the president fought back with a planned embrace of the intelligence agency that is carrying out the effort.


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House Democrats said Bush has committed a crime in authorizing the spying and that House Republicans have abdicated their responsibilities by refusing to hold hearings.


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The NSA's warrantless eavesdropping program is "an intelligence operation in search of a legal rationale," said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.

"What the president ordered in this case was a crime," added Turley, who said House Republicans are establishing a terrible precedent by not holding oversight hearings.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060121/ap_on_go_co/domestic_spying

Analysis: Google Case Raises New Questions About U.S. Spying

By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Jan 20, 2006 — Already on the defensive over its domestic spying program, the Bush administration has alarmed privacy and free-speech advocates by demanding search information about millions of users of Google and other Internet companies.

The moves raise questions about how far the government should be allowed to go to probe into American homes. The administration is pushing back hard, defending its surveillance as helping to protect the nation from terrorism and, to a lesser extent, shield minors from pornography.

Critics see the moves as an unwarranted expansion of presidential authority.


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Google is fighting the Justice Department subpoena that the company has termed "unduly burdensome, vague and intended to harass." Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this week asked a federal judge in California to order Google to comply.

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"You have to be alarmed at the idea that the government can come in and say, 'I want you to give me your statistical data.' This could be the first step on the way for asking for the content of the e-mails," said Shayana Kadidal, an attorney for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1528103&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[emulatorloo]

1. Bush planning PR visit to NSA to "educate" us

DU Thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x197575

AP story here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5559333,00.html