The Bush administration helped derail a Senate bid to investigate a warrantless eavesdropping program yesterday after signaling it also would reject Congress's request to have former attorney general John D. Ashcroft and other officials testify about the program's legality. The actions underscored a dramatic and possibly permanent drop in momentum for a congressional inquiry, which had seemed likely two months ago.

Senate Democrats said the Republican-led Congress was abdicating its obligations to oversee a controversial program in which the National Security Agency has monitored perhaps thousands of phone calls and e-mails involving U.S. residents and foreign parties without obtaining warrants from a secret court that handles such matters.

"It is more than apparent to me that the White House has applied heavy pressure in recent days, in recent weeks, to prevent the committee from doing its job," Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the intelligence committee, said after the panel voted along party lines not to consider his motion for an investigation.

There was one setback, however, to the administration's efforts to keep tight wraps on the NSA operation. Yesterday, a federal judge ordered the Justice Department to turn over its internal documents and legal opinions about the program within 20 days -- or explain its reasons for refusing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/16/AR2006021602155.html?nav=rss_politics

Almost. This will only hurt them in the elections to come.

that it would hurt them in the mid term elections ... but since a gold fish now have a longer memory span than the average American, it most likely won't make a difference.

It's just unbelievable to me, that every day, this crazy's in charge prove more and more that, yes, they are above the law and can do and get away with anything.

they are still waiting for the good fight, still waiting for reason to stand up for our American way of life, no this isn't it, way too scary, let it go, let the people forget - the media might say bad things about them, better to lose everything America stands for than to take a chance by uniting and standing strong....oh how I wished the elected democrats would prove me wrong, band together and stand up to protect our American way of life. I dream of the day when elected democrats will stop crying and complaining and pointing fingers and actually stand up for this great country and refuse to go quietly in the night.

On edit: The American people know the GOP is wrong and taking us down the wrong road, but they will keep following them because they also know the democrats are too scared to take any road. The American people are begging the democrats to stand up and take the lead, yet all they do is shy away...

I like the sound of it.
At least we have a term
for it now.

We need a voice.

Good to see he has his priorities sraight.

What a bunch of wimps.

Rethugs will never keep their fellow Rethugs in check.

They rolled over on PATRIOT extension and they are silent on domestic spying!

...voted for an investigation

Vilsack, Bayh et all.

Most Democrats, including all on the Senate Judicary committee (I believe) are supporting the investigations.

They were joined by independent Jeffords. The rest of them saw nothing wrong with Big Brother!

message out to the public on how damaging this could be to their privicy. It seems our leaders gave up on this one, once the President played his terror card. I just pray we can overcome this powerless party status after the elections before this administrations ruins this country and damages it's citizens for years to come.

in Germany in the early 1930s.

Our Founding Fathers did not trust public opinion which is why they put the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, to prevent a dictatorship of the majority by protecting minority rights.

Many Americans are as clueless about their own history as they are about the world around them.

As the Bible says, my people perish for lack of knowledge!

We are paying for the judgment and expertise, and the will to use them. We are not getting our money's worth. This is what I have against Kerry, Hillary, and other failures to lead.

she's not even running again!

how could she vote along party lines to not investigate this??

The fact that the American public did not immediately perceive this as a direct blow to the very core of our country's values tells us that we're fucked. Either the people are too stupid to see this or being against fascism is not one of our values. Either way, fascism appears to have won.

left and right. This is starting to remind me of something out of Moliere - just ludicrous bourgeois power-grabbing. Our system of democracy is not working, as much as I try to be patient for it to come back around.

FEINGOLD BLASTS FAILURE TO INVESTIGATE DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM

Feingold: “The Intelligence Committee Has Abandoned Its Oversight Role.”

February 16, 2006

Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold released the following statement this afternoon following the Intelligence Committee Meeting.

“The Intelligence Committee’s failure today to begin an investigation of the administration’s illegal domestic surveillance program is inexcusable. The Senate Committee charged with conducting oversight of intelligence matters has a responsibility to look more deeply into the President’s illegal secret wiretapping of Americans. The President has broken the law and Congress needs to hold him accountable.”

http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/06/02/20060216.html

Hardly shocking.

he will make you want to live again!

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/

snip
The NSA scandal grows & other matters

The story in yesterday's Washington Post suggesting that the White House is finding success in its scheme to shut down investigations into the NSA scandal caused great celebrations in some quarters and great despair in others, including here. All of that was quite impetuous and premature. I'm not sure what the source was for that Post article, but multiple events even over the last 24 hours make clear that this scandal is growing tentacles, and that there are numerous fronts on which intense battles are being waged over the Administration's lawlessness.

I don't have the time this morning to post extensively on the issues I want to post about -- I will post more later today -- but there are multiple items along this line, and others, worth noting for the moment:

(1) This article from today's The Washington Post demonstrates just how vibrant and growing this scandal is. The article reports that additional witnesses will be called by the Senate Judiciary Committee, including John Ashcroft, James Comey, and other high-level DoJ officials who alerted the Administration to the fact that their warrantless eavesdropping program was illegal. The Administration is, of course, attempting to block their testimony through the invocation of every "privilege" it can find, and they are also attempting to conceal relevant documents reflecting the fact that they were advised of the program's illegality by their own high-level lawyers.

more

PERMALINK to the piece you recommend:
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/02/nsa-scandal-grows-other-matters.html
Thursday, February 16, 2006
The NSA scandal grows & other matters

Two other good pieces in the same blog:

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/02/nsa-scandal-and-public-opinion-myths.html
Wednesday, February 15, 2006 (with updates)
The NSA Scandal and public opinion myths

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/02/federal-court-orders-justice-dept-to.html
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Federal court orders Justice Dept. to release NSA documents

I think Glenn Greenwald has a little more faith in the system than I do at this point, but it was still an encouraging read.

why would this be any different?

They were interviewed this past week on, I think, Larry King. We see actors, portraying these victims of 9-11 telling their family's good-buy via cell phones. It is just incomprehensible how America will not finish it's investigation of 9-11.

really happened so they seal up documents not to be opened until everyone involved is dead from old age. It really is disgusting how politicans have become so self-serving. Guess we will never know what really happened on 911.

.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x444676
thread title (2-16-06 GD): CNN breaking! Sen. Roberts says no NSA investigation!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x342591
thread title (2-6-06 GD): Rove Threatens Republican Senators...
Comment/excerpt: WH going all-out on blocking investigation of the NSA spying. “Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November.”
Keith Olbermann covers Rove’s “enemies list” on Countdown. VIDEO:
http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=16329

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2109517
thread title (2-14-06 LBN): WP: Congressional Probe of NSA Spying Is in Doubt (WH sways GOP Lawmakers)
Comment/excerpt: Washington Post. Rove’s blackmailing of the GOPs is working. “Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday.”

And I strongly suspect that there is also old-fashioned blackmail going on to force obedience, and I'm not the only one:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x338735
thread title (2-6-06 GD): Ex-Reagan official- Dubya uses spying to blackmail media & Dems
Comment/excerpt: About the author:?Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2460473
thread title (2-14-06 GD-P): Dewine (R Ohio) to introduce NSA whitewash bill. Hearings to be canceled?
Comment/excerpt: “Dewine's bill will:
1.Maintain the curtain of secrecy over the NSA Domestic spying program as it has operated since Feb 2001;
2. Set up a fig leaf of congressional ‘authorization’ for Bush's current program;
3. Eliminate any input from the Judicial Branch of government by exempting Bush from the 1978 FISA Act
4. (And most important) Kill the currently scheduled bipartisan Senate inquiry, allowing the Rove to craft the 2006 campaign around their so-called ‘Terrorist Surveillance Program’ ".

]Rove has spearheaded blackmail of the GOP Senators to block the NSA investigation:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x342591
thread title (2-6-06 GD): Rove Threatens Republican Senators...
Comment/excerpt: WH going all-out on blocking investigation of the NSA spying. “Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November.”
Keith Olbermann covers Rove’s “enemies list” on Countdown. VIDEO:
http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=16329

...and this has looked to be all too effective:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2109517
thread title (2-14-06 LBN): WP: Congressional Probe of NSA Spying Is in Doubt (WH sways GOP Lawmakers)
Comment/excerpt: Washington Post. Rove’s blackmailing of the GOPs is working. “Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday.”

DeWine (R-OH) has proposed a blatant whitewash bill:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2460473
thread title (2-14-06 GD-P): Dewine (R Ohio) to introduce NSA whitewash bill. Hearings to be canceled?
Comment/excerpt: “Dewine's bill will:
1.Maintain the curtain of secrecy over the NSA Domestic spying program as it has operated since Feb 2001;
2. Set up a fig leaf of congressional ‘authorization’ for Bush's current program;
3. Eliminate any input from the Judicial Branch of government by exempting Bush from the 1978 FISA Act
4. (And most important) Kill the currently scheduled bipartisan Senate inquiry, allowing the Rove to craft the 2006 campaign around their so-called ‘Terrorist Surveillance Program’ ".

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Some other reports of the blocked Senate NSA spying inquiry:

CNN broadcast:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x444676
thread title (2-16-06 GD): CNN breaking! Sen. Roberts says no NSA investigation!

Washington Post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2114527
thread title (2-16-06 LBN): Senate rejects wiretapping probe
Comment/excerpt: Washington Post. “’It is more than apparent to me that the White House has applied heavy pressure in recent days, in recent weeks, to prevent the committee from doing its job,’ Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the intelligence committee, said after the panel voted along party lines not to consider his motion for an investigation.

Meanwhile, the House will go ahead with its own inquiry, with the main question on its scope:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2115135
thread title (2-17-06 LBN): NYT: "Accord in House to Hold Inquiry on Surveillance" (Senate NO, HR YES)
Comment/excerpt: “Leaders of the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday that they had agreed to open a Congressional inquiry prompted by the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. But a dispute immediately broke out among committee Republicans over the scope of the inquiry.”

Contact your representatives and Senators to hold the Bush Administration accountable for the NSA spying and reject whitewashing like the DeWine bill!

The major question at this point is the scope that will be allowed for it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2115135
thread title (2-17-06 LBN): NYT: "Accord in House to Hold Inquiry on Surveillance" (Senate NO, HR YES)
Comment/excerpt: “Leaders of the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday that they had agreed to open a Congressional inquiry prompted by the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. But a dispute immediately broke out among committee Republicans over the scope of the inquiry.”

goldmine of disturbing information!

our representatives in the Senate and House and to the media. We CANNOT allow them to skate over this while calculating that the short attention span of Fox viewers will let them off the hook.

The New York Times, we know, is under investigation for the NSA leak that
caused no damage. Cheney's did cause damage.

This investigation of Cheney is not within the scope of federal prosecutor
Pat Fitzgerald investigating Plamegate.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060216/cm_huffpost/015822;_ylt=A86.I1RCdvVD1h4B6hj9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

then tell me where the fuck they are

:banghead:

:eyes:

Not surprising, but still, un-fucking-believable...

Can you imagine the shit-storm if President Clinton had done this? :grr:

Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts has done nothing for 5 years but lead the Senate lapdog brigade in their perpetual whitewashing of every single thing the Bush cartel does. They can be reliably expected to do exactly the same thing every single time something like this comes up.

Should make good material for the elections, ya think?

they aren't doing their job

Just trust us.

they've had plenty of practice with the ACLU's FOIA request

Torture, wiretaps, disregard for citizens lives(Katrina), war profiteering en masse, shall I go on and on and on. AND NOT A SHRED OF CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT.

Transfer money into gold and out of the country, buy property out of the country if you can, liquidate your assets and prepare....

I'm not shitting any of you...If you don't see the signs or realize the severity and meaning behind all this and are seriously thinking that Fitzmas or the '06 elections are going to stop this juggernaut, then just remember you were warned.

I'm sick to my stomach this morning...even Pachapapa acknowledged that its time to start implementing plan B....and he's the most calm, rational and clear-thinking person I've ever known....

This country's darkest days are coming....and I've also been watching some of the economic indicators and I'm worried....I don't buy any of the "hype" around how well things are going....

About 6-9 months ago CJ was saying something along the lines of "get out now, while you still can; buy that condo in Vancouver or villa in Costa Rica; apply for dual citizenship" -- because once the gates close we become unfree serfs to a pervasive military-industrial monster, some of us breeders of cannon fodder, some of us useless eaters left to die a slow death, while a thin sliver of well-off managers and magistrates serving the owning class enjoy their few crumbs.

John Negroponte, arch fiend in Honduras during the American Holocaust in Central America of the Reagan-Bush years, possible author of the Salvadorean solution in Iraq, now serves as Director of National Intelligence!! How soon will it be before our mothers have to march in protest of our "disappeared"?

Elliott Abrams, of Iran-Contra fame, testified to the Senate that reports of the now factual El Mozote massacre in El Salvador in late '81 were not credible, that they were just FMLN propaganda; this man who, according to some press, was the co-author along with Otto Reich of the USG's failed coup in Venezuela in 2002 is now Deputy National Security Adviser!

Other architects of repression and violence, like Jon Poindextor and Otto Reich and Richard Perl, have come and gone, but how far? Will these men do for us what they did in Central America and Iraq?

Jackals, all!

The Bush Regime has been building the tools for a repressive, U.S.-internal security state for some time, which has been operating in spurts and starts for awhile now (think the US Patriot Act, of course, and NSA wiretapping, or the long detention without hearing of two U.S. citizens accused of terrorist complicity).

There's wars to fight, social security trust funds to loot. Ars longa, vita brevis est, thinks the cabal that fronts GWB. What repressive steps will they take as November 2006 approaches? Or worse, 2008? May you live in interesting times, goes the Confuscian curse. Unfortunately, we live in very interesting times indeed!

Unfortunately, pachamama, I have no where else to go, no money for that villa in Costa Rica Chalmers Johnson recommends, just enough awareness to watch fascism rise and the police state unfold. 2006 is key. I personally think the elections will be an illusion, the decisions have already been made, and Republicans will hold both houses, but it will be such needed relief to be wrong. So here's hoping!

I called my senators and they are both outraged at this decision. I am preaching to the choir here in NJ. We need our DU members in republican states to call, write and call again. You may be outnumbered, but don't be drowned out! Let us know how we can help you!

Roberts is my senator, and I'm outraged.

Please Sign Sen. Feingold's petition to INVESTIGATE NSA and to HOLD BUSH ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ILLEGAL ACTIONS AGAINST THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Sign his petition And make a contribution

http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/

Sen. Feingold also has a petition at the above URL to BRING OUR TROOPS HOME before December 2006.

FEINGOLD BLASTS FAILURE TO INVESTIGATE DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM
Feingold: “The Intelligence Committee Has Abandoned Its Oversight Role.”
February 16, 2006

Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold released the following statement this afternoon following the Intelligence Committee Meeting.

“The Intelligence Committee’s failure today to begin an investigation of the administration’s illegal domestic surveillance program is inexcusable. The Senate Committee charged with conducting oversight of intelligence matters has a responsibility to look more deeply into the President’s illegal secret wiretapping of Americans. The President has broken the law and Congress needs to hold him accountable.”

Statement of Senator Russ Feingold On the Latest on the Patriot Act
February 16, 2006

"The Majority Leader's concession to put off final votes on the Patriot Act deal for almost two weeks gives the Senate time to consider whether this deal is good for the country, and allows the American people their chance to be heard. Contrary to an erroneous news report, I will continue to oppose this flawed deal, insist that the Senate jump through every procedural hoop, and demand the right to offer amendments to improve it. As Chairman Specter noted, the deal makes only "cosmetic" changes to the Patriot Act. No amount of cosmetics can disguise the fact that it fails to protect the rights and freedoms of law-abiding Americans."

***What explanation do the Democrats have for voting in favor of the Patriot Act?***

You probably alreade called him and to tell him. May be wasted effort, may not be. But calling him does more than me calling Lautenberg who already agrees with us. And you calling does more than me calling from NJ.
Seriously, when he's up for re-election, let us know what we can do to help. Which candidate is most likely to beat, or at least scare him, etc.

And thanks for your courage and efforts!!!

Not just any guy, but a rich Republican donor. Accident or not, we'll never know. But think about it. It's now been established that Cheney can personally blow anyone's head off and get away with it without being any investigated or there being any repercussions.

And not only that, but the victim actually apologized to Cheney today.

I wonder if he was able to persuade some Republicans that maybe they had a lot to fear from him and he'd never be held accountable for any crime whatsoever and therefore, they should just do what he says?

I'm not suggesting a conspiracy here related to the shooting incident, I'm just questioning whether it served to emphasize how untouchable he is.

everything is pointing to their really being untouchable. I find that deeply disturbing.

is a traitor
Here is some info
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=700005

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) announced yesterday that he reached an agreement with the White House to "fix" the National Security Agency (NSA) wiretapping program. This fix conveniently arrives at a time when members of both parties are pushing for full congressional investigations into Bush’s illegal domestic spying program. Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV) noted that fixes to the program cannot be voted upon if lawmakers "fundamentally do not know what they are authorizing or restricting." In the House, Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) is pushing for a limited inquiry. All this comes after a series of closed door meetings with Vice President Dick Cheney. And while some senators say they need more time to think about what actions to take, Sen. Rockefeller believes “this is another stalling tactic.”

I wonder if Heartless Dick invited Roberts to go hunting.