Patriot Act

Partying Above National Security

This is a priceless move by several House Republicans yesterday:

When it's a choice between strengthening the Patriot Act, or showing up for the Tea Party Patriots, what's a GOP lawmaker to do? We'll give you one guess...

Several Republican members of Congress yesterday blew off votes on the signature anti-terror legislation of the post 9/11 era to attend Michele Bachmann's Tea Party rally against health-care reform.

Why do Republicans put politics and face time above national security? Why don’t the Democrats start asking this question more and more, especially in the coming months?

The FBI Overstepped Their Boundaries

More very damaging reports coming out. This brings us back to the whole wiretapping issue, and it appears the FBI may have broken the law. That is not some left-wing conspiracy, that is the report from the Justice Department's Inspector General:

The FBI repeatedly failed to follow the strict guidelines of the Patriot Act when its agents took advantage of a new provision allowing the FBI to obtain phone and financial records without a court order, according to a report to be made public Friday by the Justice Department's Inspector General.

The report, in classified and unclassified versions, remains closely held, but Washington officials who have seen it tell ABC News it documents "numerous lapses" and describe it as "scathing" and "not a pretty picture for the FBI."

FBI Director Robert Mueller is scheduled to brief Congress on the report at noon.

This is going to be another huge story. Impeachment time now?