It's a matter of public vigilance. I guess it's upto the investigative media to keep on top of these morons. I don't what else say. There is so little confidence in this president and administration and while most agree the illegal programs they have used to date don't really accomplish anything except a lot of 'traceable' information that no one has time to trace; any self respecting legislator doesn't want the responsiblity of 'thwarting' what might work to protect Americans.
The Executive Offices are responsible for maintaining the Cabinet authority of Homeland Security including the NSA, FBI and CIA. It is the role of a currently incompetent president to oversee the nation's security. Everyone knows Bush is overreaching but what is one to do when the Executive Branch is corrupt and dead set on having things their way or no way.
Look what they have done? They ignored intelligence from the CIA and FBI, PRE-911 attacks even when the Senate Intelligence Committee members were 'onto' the issue of a threat against our country.
YOU CAN'T TRUST BUSH AND CHENEY to protect the USA. They have no capacity for measured competency UNLESS they have everything their way which includes invasion of privacy that definately serves political purposes.
These men have lead a war into a sovereign country for the sake of oil, when the 'real war' to defeat al Qaeda and bin Laden's network was in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have made a complete and absolute mess of the powers of the Executive Branch by 'power playing' authority. In other words, if they have to 'do things' in a way that honors privacy and they can't cheat and manically control whatever level of information they desire for whatever reason they desire it, they WILL SABOTAGE the country. They have done that before. The Republicans are corrupt to the core and there isn't a darn thing anyone can do about it so long as they have capacity to out vote the Democrats. And quite frankly at this point, the Democrats don't trust the current administration's competency to change the rules and have them OBEY those rules.
It isn't a matter of doing what's best by the Democrats at this point. It is what the country can survive until Bush and Cheney are out of office. They need to be impeached, but, there aren't enough House and Senate votes to impeach and try because of 'image' issues for Republicans.
It's a mess. Completely.
...A former senior Justice Department lawyer, Jack Goldsmith, seemed to bolster their case last week when he told Congress that the program was a “legal mess” and strongly suggested that it was illegal....
It isn't just about the immunity for the utilities, it is also about immunity for Bush. Bush authorized illegal activity against the citizens of this country. If he can get the program he authorized illegally passed into law, it exonerates him from legal proceedings now and in the future.
....Wendy Morigi, a spokeswoman for Mr. Rockefeller, said that retroactive immunity for the utilities was “under discussion” but that no final proposal had been developed.
The immunity issue may prove to be the crucial sticking point between whatever proposals the House and Senate ultimately pass. Representative Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat who was among the harshest critics of the temporary bill, said in an interview he would vigorously oppose any effort to grant retroactive legal protection to telecommunications utilities....
The legislation should not have been brought forward for a vote. It should receive temporary authority now and until Bush and Cheney are out of office and then it should be looked at again when a more competent administration is in the White House.
Besides the technology is highly invasive and while a corrupt administration sits in the Executive Branch there will be widespread misuse of it. Find an administration that is corruption free and/or find a way to monitor them so they remain corruption free by public surveillance OF THEM.
In the long run, it will be up to the public to keep themselves free of government encumbrances until the USA gets turned around and we are finally defeating terrorist networks, something that even today evades the Bush White House from accomplishing. Even WITH their illegal programs, a clear demonstration the eavesdropping no matter what form it takes, DOESN'T WORK, but, they won't give it up. They can't. They would suffer consequences. It is far better for Republicans to state, "Bush was right the entire time" and pass lousy legislation, then for them to actually do something that would matter to the people of the USA.
Surveillance System Lets FBI Play Back Recordings as They Are Captured, Like TiVo (click here)
By Ryan Singel
Aug. 28
The FBI has quietly built a sophisticated, point-and-click surveillance system that performs instant wiretaps on almost any communications device, according to nearly a thousand pages of restricted documents newly released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The surveillance system, called DCSNet, for Digital Collection System Network, connects FBI wiretapping rooms to switches controlled by traditional land-line operators, internet-telephony providers and cellular companies. It is far more intricately woven into the nation's telecom infrastructure than observers suspected.
It's a "comprehensive wiretap system that intercepts wire-line phones, cellular phones, SMS and push-to-talk systems," says Steven Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science professor and longtime surveillance expert....
The United States of America is COMPROMISED and under Republican rule until it can dig itself out again!
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