Ongoing fallout from this colossal absence of fortitude -
(Democracy Now - moderated by Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild and author of "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law.")
This may stress attention spans, but it's available in print, mp3, various flow-rates of rivers/streams, for the multitasking folk. Sample:
Monday, August 6th, 2007Resolved: "Whether or not effete Gutlessness is a curable affliction."
Democrats Capitulate to President Bush as Congress Gives Government Broad New Powers to Conduct Warrantless Surveillance on American Citizens
Attorneys and writers Glenn Greenwald and Marjorie Cohn join Democracy Now! for the hour to discuss warrantless spying, torture, the Iraq war and the future of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Greenwald is a blogger at Salon.com and author of "A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency." Marjorie Cohn is president of the National Lawyers Guild and author of "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law." [includes rush transcript] "Warrantless Surrender" \ufffd that's what the Washington Post called the Democrat-led Congress handing President Bush a major legislative victory this weekend when it voted to broadly expand the government's authority to eavesdrop without warrants on the international telephone calls and email messages of American citizens.
After weeks of pressure from President Bush, both the House and Senate approved rewriting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The New York Times reports that the new law sharply alters the legal limits on the government's ability to monitor millions of phone calls and email messages going in and out of the United States. No protections exist for Americans whose calls or emails are vacuumed up.
The new legislation moves the power to approve the international surveillance from a special intelligence court to the attorney general and the director of national intelligence.
The legislation was rushed through both the House and Senate in the last days before the August recess began. On Friday President Bush pressured Democrats to support the bill
* President Bush
Democrats quickly responded. Hours after Bush spoke, the Senate passed the so-called Protect America Act of 2007 by a sixty-to-twenty-eight vote with sixteen Democratic Senators supporting the Republicans. Then, on Saturday, forty-one Democrats joined Republicans to pass the bill in the House.
The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the votes. Anthony Romero of the ACLU said "This congress may prove to be as spineless in standing up to the Bush Administration as the one that enacted the PATRIOT Act or the Military Commissions Act.\ufffd
Critics of the legislation say it gives the Bush administration the power to order the nation's communication services providers to create permanent spying outposts for the federal government.
According to Wired.com this could affect traditional phone companies, internet service providers, internet backbone providers, Federal Express, instant messaging sites and online phone companies.
The law also grants immunity from liability to any company that cooperates with the government's spying operations.
Today we are joined by two attorneys and commentators who have been closely monitoring the Bush administration for years.
* Glenn Greenwald, political and legal blogger for Salon.com. He is a constitutional attorney and author of the new book "A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency."
* Marjorie Cohn, professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president of the National Lawyers Guild. She is the author of the new book "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law."
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: \ufffdWarrantless Surrender" -- that's what the Washington Post called the Democrat-led Congress handing President Bush a major legislative victory this weekend when it voted to broadly expand the government's authority to eavesdrop without warrants on the international telephone calls and email messages of American citizens.
After weeks of pressure from President Bush, both the House and Senate approved rewriting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. The New York Times reports the new law sharply alters the legal limits on the government's ability to monitor millions of phone calls and email messages going in and out of the United States. No protections exist for Americans whose calls or emails are vacuumed up.
The new legislation moves the power to approve the international surveillance from a special intelligence court to the attorney general and the director of national intelligence.
The legislation was rushed through both the House and Senate in the last days before the August recess. On Friday, President Bush pressured Democrats to support the bill.
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: We work hard and in good faith with the Democrats to find a solution, but we are not going to put our national security at risk. Time is short. I ask Congress to stay in session until they pass a bill that will give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: Democrats quickly responded. Hours after Bush spoke, the Senate passed the so-called Protect America Act of 2007 by a sixty-to-twenty-eight vote with its sixteen Democratic Senators supporting the Republicans. Then, on Saturday, forty-one Democrats joined Republicans to pass the bill in the House.
The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the votes. Anthony Romero of the ACLU said, "This congress may prove to be as spineless in standing up to the Bush administration as the one that enacted the PATRIOT Act or the Military Commissions Act.\ufffd
Critics of the legislation say it gives the Bush administration the power to order the nation's communication services providers to create permanent spying outposts for the federal government.
[...]
AMY GOODMAN: Glenn, how much of this conversation was taking place this weekend? I mean, the YearlyKos convention of thousands of bloggers drew in the major Democratic forces in this country, though I understand Nancy Pelosi didn't show up as they were casting these votes, though was supposed to -- the major Democratic presidential candidates, like Obama, like Hillary Rodham Clinton, like John Edwards. What was the climate there? What kind of questioning was going on?
GLENN GREENWALD: Right. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were scheduled to appear, but they were ordered by George Bush to stay in Washington, and so they were unable to make it.
But the mood was furious, particularly once the Senate on Friday night passed FISA and it was clear that the House would. I did a panel with ACLU Director Anthony Romero on Saturday morning to talk about his new book, and the room was filled with furious people who only wanted to talk about why it was that the Democrats capitulated to the President. And I think there\ufffds an increasing sense that while it is a positive development that the Republicans were removed from power in the Congress, that the political movement represented by the YearlyKos faction understands that that will only be a meaningful development if the Democratic Party is materially different and is changed. And the influence has to be exerted not just to remove Republicans from power, but to change how Democratic congressional leaders approach these issues, as well. And that was very much the mood. It was not a celebration of Democratic party politics. It was an affirmation of these principles and a demand that Democrats abide by them
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(aka: "Did we just elect another bunch of feckless fops?")
Could that topic eclipse, supersede the Dog/Pony Presidential blather - when these congresscritters get within strangulation range of their constituents?
(Could it possibly prove to be less substantive than the faux Way-too-early 2-minute flounderings to date?)