Some quick sound clips from this morning’s hearings on the NSA spying
conducted by house Democrats. First it should be noted that the Republicans have
once again forced the Democrats to hold the hearings in the basement. They said
no committee rooms were available and as John Conyers pointed out, “it is odd
for them to all be in use when the House is in recess.”

Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland brought up some interesting points
in his opening arguments. First he said this action raises serious questions
about the seperation of powers. He then addressed the DOJ argument they released
last night. “Making it longer does not make it better” was his opening argument
of the newly released report. He said that “any first year law student would
find this wrong” and that “if any attorney gave this advice to a client they
would be sued for malpractice”.

The first witness to speak has been Bruce Fein who was a deputy Attorney
General under Reagan. He started off by saying this issue is so critical because
we are “in a permanent state of hostilities in regards to terrorism”. This means
that the wiretapping, if proven legal, will most likely occur for the rest of
our lives and even the lives of our children. Another issue was the fact that
the program does not distinguish who is being spied on. It does not say if they
are tapping calls from the U.S. to foreign countries or from the U.S. to the
U.S. As he said the 9/11 hijackers were already in the country so to use the
argument of using this power to tap on them would mean tapping calls solely in
the country.

Fein clearly stated that Bush is violating FISA. He argued that during the
time of war the President has a 15 day window to get the wiretaps and that was
added because of the fact that Congress realized the importance of intercepting
calls at a time of war. He said that the Presidents assumption of power could
also be extended to suspend Habeas Corpus, authorize breaking and entering of
homes, start concentration camps, declare any amendment such as the Graham or
McCain amendment illegal. He closed with the presidential powers have gone
unchecked and there are clear and legal ways to fight terrorism and he is ignore
them.