Would You Buy A Used Car From This Man?
Aug 6th, 2007 at 8:55 am by Susie
Of course you wouldn’t. So why did Congress?
WASHINGTON — President Bush signed a new law yesterday that expands the government’s power to wiretap phone calls and e-mails on American soil without court oversight, capping a sudden victory for the White House despite loud criticism from advocates of civil liberties and privacy rights.
Just before midnight on Saturday, Congress passed the Protect America Act of 2007, which was largely drafted by the White House and received no committee hearing. The bill carves out a broad exemption from a 1978 law that requires the government to obtain a judge’s permission to monitor calls and e-mails on US soil.
The new law allows the National Security Agency to spy freely on foreigners overseas when they communicate with Americans. It enables the NSA to resume a form of the once-secret warrantless wiretapping program that Bush launched after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that ended when it was brought under court oversight last January.
[...] In a statement issued after he signed the bill, Bush praised Congress for giving his administration the extra power he said it needs “to defeat the intentions of our enemies” and “to prevent attacks in the future.”
But privacy rights groups said the new law goes too far by allowing the NSA to evade warrant requirements for calls and e-mails involving Americans. They accused Democratic leaders of “spinelessness” in the face of Republican threats to blame them for any coming terrorist attack if they did not give the president the new power before leaving for their annual August recess.
“We are deeply disappointed that the president’s tactics of fearmongering have once again forced Congress into submission,” said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Dear Susie:
I understand that you were at YearlyKos. I was there, too and heard a wild rumour: Someone big at the DLC had buggared a blogger. Did you hear about this?
No, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I keep telling Booman not to drink with those people.
of all the the things that will be the hardest to change in this country this is the worst.
it really hurts me to think about where we will be in 50 years. We can come back as a country on gay issues, taxes, gunlaws, etc
but the secrets that our government keeps to make us safer are the crushing blow to our independence.
I guess maybe there is something to be said about the Christians that feared science…maybe as Americans we should be share that same fear of technology
Love the name, “Protect America Act of 2007.” How Orwellian.
It’s exactly the same strategy that the Dems
adopted on the war authorization vote.
They fear opening themselves up to
transparently demagogic GOP political
accusations, so they’ll collectively do
the wrong thing to cover their asses.
Now Pelosi says she wants to change the law
after the recess. If she didn’t have the
votes to defeat it, how will she be able to
change it?