The Ongoing NSA Program Saga

So inquiries into the NSA program are going to happen, but just not about any of the aspects of it which people are legitimately curious about. For the record, there is still a program that was authorized by the President that allows the NSA to eavesdrop on American citizens' international communications without a warrant. But now, instead of looking into whether the program infringes harshly on civil rights and civil liberties, the Republican led Congress wants to change the FISA law that the Republican president broke so that it can no longer be considered broken.

Now, I don't claim to know many details about this program, as no one really does, but apparently the deal is that Congress will change the law in order to protect a program they don't know much about other than the fact that they apparently have no oversight over it. I think Senator Wyden brings up a good point here:

Mr. Roberts and other Republicans say they are wary of an investigation into the secret program because providing information to Congress might result in leaks. But Democrats say there is no way to pass legislation involving the program until they have more information about it.

"I don't think it's possible for Congress to produce responsible bipartisan legislation dealing with a program that Congress knows very little about," Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said.

And I agree with Senator Specter here:

"Unless they're prepared to have a determination on constitutionality as to their programs, window dressing oversight will not be sufficient."

If anyone is curious about how the White House is putting pressure on Congressional Republicans to cover for them, perhaps this will be enlightening.

Glenn Greenwald has a more optimistic take on the latest developments in the inquiries into the warrantless eavedropping program. Consider it a pep talk after the first quarter of a basketball game when the opposing team just scored a flurry of points right before the bell. These recent developments aren't good for morale, but they don't necessarily speak of the outcome of the story that is unfolding.

The Times has an outraged editorial about Senator Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Commitee, continued obstruction of investigations into the administration.

Oh, and somewhat unrelated, but kinda sorta fucked up.

- Glitter