Despite a Year of Ire and Angst, Little Has Changed on Wiretaps

[cal04]

When President Bush went on national television one Saturday morning last December to acknowledge the existence of a secret wiretapping program outside the courts, the fallout was fierce and immediate.

Mr. Bush’s opponents accused him of breaking the law, with a few even calling for his impeachment. His backers demanded that he be given express legal authority to do what he had done. Law professors talked, civil rights groups sued and a federal judge in Detroit declared the wiretapping program unconstitutional.

But as Democrats prepare to take over on Capitol Hill, not much has really changed. For all the sound and fury in the last year, the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program continues uninterrupted, with no definitive action by either Congress or the courts on what, if anything, to do about it, and little chance of a breakthrough in the lame-duck Congress.

(snip)
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who will take over as House speaker in January, favors an investigation to determine how the security agency’s program actually operated and what its legal framework is under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, a senior aide to Ms. Pelosi said. Administration officials said they were concerned they could have to shut down a program they deemed vital to national security.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/washington/25nsa.html?ei=5094&en=483a23b436399264&hp=&ex=1164430800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1164427247-56j8CtBaljEVDow9+gNl7w

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Don't Worry!!! The Brave Congressional Dems Have Your Back!!!

etc.