If the courts are deciding this then it hasn't been determined to be illegal yet.

-Rudey

Doesn't mean it isn't either.

Then there's Congress, where even some Republicans are backing away.

We'll see.

All the "Hoo hah" from congress means nothing.

All the "Hoo hah" from the White House in 2004 also meant nothing.

What do they have in common? A bunch of people running for re-election.

Also from AP:

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday supported government eavesdropping to prevent terrorism, but said a major controversy over presidential powers could have been avoided by obtaining court warrants.

Powell said that when he was in the Cabinet, he was not told that President George W. Bush authorized a warrantless National Security Agency surveillance operation after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Appearing on ABC's "This Week" Powell said he sees "absolutely nothing wrong with the president authorizing these kinds of actions" to protect the nation.

The New York Times reported on its Internet site Friday that the NSA has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States. The program bypassed the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Powell said Congress will need to judge whether Bush is correct in his assertion that he could approve eavesdropping without first obtaining court orders.

Powell, who also is a former chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, had no reservations when asked whether eavesdropping should continue.

-Rudey

Powell is a former Army officer.

Is he also a Constitutional scholar?

Constitutional scholars didn't stop 9/11.

-Rudey

No they didnt, but is this still the right to take away Constitunional Privileges of Citizens?

Wait till there are people walking down Your Street wanting to know what Your Thinkings art and do You have Weapons?


Do You really think that The US Govt. is really going to stop Terriosts?

Hell someone said they monitored Osams CP, so He quit using it to transmit information!

So much for secret shit! DAH!

US Govt. has more leaks than a seive!

Do You really think Our Govt. is on the side of Us the Private Citizens?

I read this morning that the reason for most of this domestic surveilance is so "W" can find out in advance who will be the next American Idol.

Hey, I read it on the web, so it must be true.

You are actually Correct and do not ever forget it!:D

Kinky is as Kinky Does!:)

I heard it was the fault of FoxNews. They're responsible for everything bad in this country.

American Idol is on the FOX Network (the entertainment one, but still...)

Think about it.

I'm visiting the trophy store today to buy you an award for the corniest joke on Greekchat.com.

-Rudey

Just don't send it "postage due" like the last time...

Cock-a-Doodle-Doo
The chickens are coming home to roost on West 43rd Street, Reuters reports from Washington:

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating who disclosed a secret domestic eavesdropping operation approved by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks, officials said on Friday.

"We are opening an investigation into the unauthorised disclosure of classified materials related to the NSA," an official said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier this month, Bush acknowledged the program and called its disclosure to The New York Times "a shameful act." He said he presumed the Justice Department would investigate who leaked the National Security Agency eavesdropping operation to the newspaper.

The Times, as we noted in February, has of late been a strong proponent of such investigations. When Joe Wilson charged that someone in the administration had "leaked" the name of his wife, CIA analyst Valerie Plame, who he falsely implied was a covert agent, the Times urged the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate what it called an "abuse of power."

The Times got its wish, and more than it bargained for. The paper somehow expected prosecutors not to compel testimony from the recipients of the "leak," the beneficiaries of the purported "abuse of power"--that is, journalists. But it's hard to see how you can investigate a crime (or, in the case of the Plame kerfuffle, a "crime") that consists of giving information to journalists, without questioning journalists.

One of the Times' own reporters, Judith Miller, went to jail rather than reveal her source. No, scratch that. She went to jail, spent three months there, then revealed her source. As Mickey Kaus noted in October:

The message sent to every prosecutor in the country is "Don't believe journalists who say they will never testify. A bit of hard time and they just might find a reason to change their minds. Judy Miller did."

If we were James Risen or Erich Lichtblau, who broke the NSA story for the Times, we'd be nervous.

"Used with permission from OpinionJournal.com, a web site from Dow Jones & Company, Inc."

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - The National Security Agency acted on its own authority, without a formal directive from President Bush, to expand its domestic surveillance operations in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to declassified documents released Tuesday.

Those who knew at that time were: Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia.

DeltAlum, are you angry at them?

I still don't see how this is different from past NSA activities. Their Echelon program was designed to collect all communications info so I don't understand how they got around the warrants issue. It was this reliance on technology that many blame Tenet, Clinton, Bush and the CIA for overlooking all the clues for 9/11.

-Rudey

You bet!