Looks like CONGRESS has got off the hook over the over-surveillance?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

We all know that Congress established the FISA court in 1978 and it has been allowed to act like a loose cannon. Controlled by Justice Roberts and ALL republican court members. It was Congress that passed the Patriot Act and under the cheney/bush junta things got worse. There have been a few Democrats who have voiced opinions but largely ignored by the majority of Congress. I notice that people here hardly mention Congress as the perpetrator.


"One of the points that this summer’s events have driven home is how much FISA has expanded since its 1978 enactment—from a model based upon individualized suspicion and probable cause to one based upon wholesale communications interception and systematic data-mining,"

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/01/its-time-to-fix-the-fisa-court-the-way-congress-intended/


Where has Congress been? We haven't heard much from them. So much for checks and balances?

[davidpdx]

1. They've been claiming to know nothing about it

before just recently. The Chief Justice of the United States appoints the judges so that certainly is important as well. Since its inception we have had a Conservative in that position contentiously. Looks like that will be the case for another 20-25 years.

The blame seems to really fall on only one person.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. People are unaware of what has gone on behind the scenes

Democrats are trying to operate within a hard line junta. Look at the set up for the FISA court and the post-Cheney gang. I would not want to be president. Obama is doing the best that he can under the circumstances.

[Jamaal510]

3. Co-sign.

"I would not want to be president."

That job has got to be the most thankless in the world. In addition to all the assassination attempts against you, and all of the smears from the other side of the spectrum, too many bystanders seem to not be fully aware of what goes on behind the scenes in government. So they sometimes latch onto weird conspiracy theories. Even despite the hefty salary of a U.S. president, I would never want to be one, either. I wouldn't even last one year in office with my sanity in tact.