The plan by Senate Republicans to step up oversight of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program would also give legislative sanction for the first time to long-term eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant, legal experts said on Wednesday. Civil liberties advocates called the proposed oversight inadequate and the licensing of eavesdropping without warrants […]
Remember how the right got all up in arms when Harry Reid proclaimed “we killed the Patriot Act” a couple months back? Well the L.A. Times has a headline that mimics that line but on the other side of the aisle. The headline reads “Republicans Kill Request for Spy Program Inquiry”. Republican members of the […]
E.J. Dionne Jr. has a very interesting piece in today’s Washington Post: It is now an ingrained journalistic habit: After a period of bad news for President Bush, media outlets invariably devote time and space to “balancing” stories that all say more or less: “Yes, the Republicans are in trouble, but the Democrats have no […]
According to a new CBS poll, Bush has hit an all time low. Cheney is at 18% approval rating and Bush’s handling of Iraq is at a mere 30%. Some other interesting numbers: 70% oppose the port deal. 62% think things are going badly in Iraq 43% approve Bush’s handling of terrorism. Down 9 points […]
Today we learn that some of the high profile “terrorists” our country has captured are now seeking defenses based upon the use of illegal wiretaps. WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 – Defense lawyers in some of the country’s biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal […]
Senate leaders have reached an agreement to extend the Patriot Act for 6 months so it can be examined more and possible have further protections of civil liberties added in. The extension is twice as long as Democrats were asking for but it is a Democrat victory none the less. It is also a victory […]
During his press conference on Monday, President Bush said the leaking of the classified eavesdropping program was a serious matter and that the Justice Department has protocols for leaks and should be investigating it. For those of us who follow politics this sounds very familiar. When asked about investigation of the leak, President Bush responded […]
To give my readers a better example of how the Republicans feel about your civil liberties, you just need to look at what was said in Senate today: “None of your civil liberties matter much after you’re dead,†said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former judge and close ally of the president who sits on […]
The President made his speech and it was pretty much same old, same old. He did admit some miscalculations in the process but kind of blew them off as learning experiences. I am sure the families of fallen soldiers are proud to know their loved ones gave their lives for a learning experience on behalf […]
The story of Bush authorizing spying on citizens has really snow balled into the story of the day. This just came out on theAP: Bush Approved Eavesdropping, Official Says By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer President Bush has personally authorized a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States more than three dozen times since October […]