...today during his unsworn testimony in the senate judiciary committee on illegal NSA wiretaps.

here's one of many examples. Arlen Specter (R-PA, Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee) said to Attorney General Gonzales:

"So after 4 years of secret, warrantless wiretapping, you finally came to us last year because you knew the press was getting ready to report it. well its a good thing we have the press to report what's going on, because otherwise we wouldn't have a clue as to what you guys are doing."

it got even crazier. Arlen Specter was after him the whole time like a freaking pit bull terrier

why the fuck isnt the press reporting this? all the major press is saying is how Gonzales "defended bush's program to tap phone and email conversations" as being crucial to combatting Al-Qaeda in our country. What bullshit.

its a goddamned vast right wing media conspiracy is what it is.

somebody find me a transcript.



[Edited on February 6, 2006 at 11:02 PM. Reason : teh conspiracy]

2/6/2006 10:59:39 PM

no, what it is is what it's always been. it's easier to read copy provided by the government than to hire people to write it

2/6/2006 11:02:49 PM

Quote :

"it's easier to read copy provided by the government than to hire people to write it"

Don't sweat it. This will just be the story in a few days after the bloggers get a hold of it.

2/6/2006 11:05:22 PM

well then it's true. sloppy, poorly researched journalism is proof that the right wing has finally taken over teh media.

thanks, FOX

2/6/2006 11:05:23 PM

Alberto: President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/02/06.html#a7043

EXCUSE ME, but since when does ex-presidents doing something make it magically legal? Furthermore PRESIDENT WASHINGTON? PRESIDENT LINCOLN? WHAT DID WASHINGTON DO, HAVE THOMAS JEFFERSON AND BEN FRANKLIN ZAP A GUY WHILE ALEXANDER BELL SHOWED OFF A PROTOTYPE CELL PHONE?

[Edited on February 6, 2006 at 11:19 PM. Reason : m]

2/6/2006 11:18:55 PM

bahhhhahahahahhahahahahah

*sniff*

ahhahahahhahahahah

2/6/2006 11:25:26 PM

Quote :

"its a goddamned vast right wing media conspiracy is what it is."

you sound like a whiny little bitch.

And I'm no fan of the wiretapping.

2/6/2006 11:30:29 PM

I love Arlen Specter....man says whats on his mind and DAMN does he know the Judiciary Comittee back and front. Nothing is better than when he hands Kennedy his ass (since he's always speaking through it).

2/6/2006 11:30:38 PM

Prawn Star, so its almost time for your balls to drop, isn't it?

2/6/2006 11:35:57 PM

Quote :

"I love Arlen Specter....man says whats on his mind and DAMN does he know the Judiciary Comittee back and front. Nothing is better than when he hands Kennedy his ass (since he's always speaking through it)."

I'm not a big fan of most Republican senators (I hate John Cornyn). However, I have a lot of respect for Specter. And yeah, it is fun watching him and Kennedy go at it.

2/6/2006 11:41:18 PM

Quote :

"BIDEN: Thank you very much. General, how has this revelation damaged the program? I'm almost confused by it but, I mean, it seems to presuppose that these very sophisticated Al Qaida folks didn't think we were intercepting their phone calls. I mean, I'm a little confused. How did it damage this? GONZALES: Well, Senator, I would first refer to the experts in the Intel Committee who are making that statement, first of all. I'm just the lawyer. And so, when the director of the CIA says this should really damage our intel capabilities, I would defer to that statement. I think, based on my experience, it is true -- you would assume that the enemy is presuming that we are engaged in some kind of surveillance. But if they're not reminded about it all the time in the newspapers and in stories, they sometimes forget. (LAUGHTER)"

Al Qaeda forgets that they're being monitored??????

Remind me not to be afraid of terrorists ever.

2/7/2006 1:49:34 AM

I've said it for years and I'll continue to say it. Specter just gives lip service to moderate causes, but is actually a fucktard republican.

2/7/2006 3:08:14 AM

Well, yeah. He was involved in the Warren Commission. Doesn't get much more "lip service" than that.

2/7/2006 3:10:08 AM

Listen Gamecat, you are from North Carolina. Your experience with Specter is limited entirely to what you read in the national news. I, being from Pennsylvania, have been exposed to this loser more than I should. Can the soap box get past the glib comments?

2/7/2006 3:13:35 AM

Whatever you say, Maverick.

2/7/2006 3:49:04 AM

it could be that, being from NC, and so having experienced Jesse Helms, we all think you're a whiny little bitch for complaining about Specter.

2/7/2006 7:40:01 AM

Nutsmackr being a whiny bitch? That's not news.

2/7/2006 8:06:31 AM

2/7/2006 9:18:34 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/politics/08nsa.html?ex=1297054800&en=75300e06759a2737&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Quote :

"Republican Who Oversees N.S.A. Calls for Wiretap Inquiry WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 — A House Republican whose subcommittee oversees the National Security Agency broke ranks with the White House on Tuesday and called for a full Congressional inquiry into the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program. The lawmaker, Representative Heather A. Wilson of New Mexico, chairwoman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, said in an interview that she had "serious concerns" about the surveillance program. By withholding information about its operations from many lawmakers, she said, the administration has deepened her apprehension about whom the agency is monitoring and why. Ms. Wilson, who was a National Security Council aide in the administration of President Bush's father, is the first Republican on either the House's Intelligence Committee or the Senate's to call for a full Congressional investigation into the program, in which the N.S.A. has been eavesdropping without warrants on the international communications of people inside the United States believed to have links with terrorists. The congresswoman's discomfort with the operation appears to reflect deepening fissures among Republicans over the program's legal basis and political liabilities. Many Republicans have strongly backed President Bush's power to use every tool at his disposal to fight terrorism, but 4 of the 10 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voiced concerns about the program at a hearing where Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified on Monday. A growing number of Republicans have called in recent days for Congress to consider amending federal wiretap law to address the constitutional issues raised by the N.S.A. operation. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, for one, said he considered some of the administration's legal justifications for the program "dangerous" in their implications, and he told Mr. Gonzales that he wanted to work on new legislation that would help those tracking terrorism "know what they can and can't do." But the administration has said repeatedly since the program was disclosed in December that it considers further legislation unnecessary, believing that the president already has the legal authority to authorize the operation. Vice President Dick Cheney reasserted that position Tuesday in an interview on "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer." Members of Congress "have the right and the responsibility to suggest whatever they want to suggest" about changing wiretap law, Mr. Cheney said. But "we have all the legal authority we need" already, he said, and a public debate over changes in the law could alert Al Qaeda to tactics used by American intelligence officials. "It's important for us, if we're going to proceed legislatively, to keep in mind there's a price to be paid for that, and it might well in fact do irreparable damage to our capacity to collect information," Mr. Cheney said. The administration, backed by Republican leaders in both houses, has also resisted calls for inquiries by either Congress or an independent investigator. As for the politics, some Republicans say they are concerned that prolonged public scrutiny of the surveillance program could prove a distraction in this year's midterm Congressional elections, and the administration has worked to contain any damage by aggressively defending the legality of the operation. It has also limited its Congressional briefings on the program's operational details to the so-called Gang of Eight — each party's leaders in the Senate and the House and on the two intelligence committees — and has agreed to full committee briefings only on the legal justifications for the operation, without discussing in detail how the N.S.A. conducts it. Ms. Wilson said in the interview Tuesday that she considered the limited Congressional briefings to be "increasingly untenable" because they left most lawmakers knowing little about the program. She said the House Intelligence Committee needed to conduct a "painstaking" review, including not only classified briefings but also access to internal documents and staff interviews with N.S.A. aides and intelligence officials. Ms. Wilson, a former Air Force officer who is the only female veteran currently in Congress, has butted up against the administration previously over controversial policy issues, including Medicare and troop strength in Iraq. She said she realized that publicizing her concerns over the surveillance program could harm her relations with the administration. "The president has his duty to do, but I have mine too, and I feel strongly about that," she said. Asked whether the White House was concerned about support for the program among Republicans, Dana Perino, a presidential spokeswoman, said: "The terrorist surveillance program is critical to the safety and protection of all Americans, and we will continue to work with Congress. The attorney general testified at length yesterday, and he will return to Capitol Hill twice more before the week ends." Aides to Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, who as chairman of the full House Intelligence Committee is one of the eight lawmakers briefed on the operations of the program, said he could not be reached for comment on whether he would be open to a full inquiry. Mr. Hoekstra has been a strong defender of the program and has expressed no intention thus far to initiate a full review. In two recent letters to the Congressional Research Service, he criticized reports by the agency that raised questions about the legal foundations of the N.S.A. program and the limited briefings given to Congress. He said in one letter that it was "unwise at best and reckless at worst" for the agency to prepare a report on classified matters that it knew little about. But two leading Democratic members of the intelligence committees, Representative Jane Harman and Senator Dianne Feinstein, both of California, wrote a letter of their own Tuesday defending the nonpartisan research service's reports on the surveillance program and other issues, saying its work had been "very helpful" in view of what they deemed the minimal information provided by the administration."

...another traitor.

2/8/2006 4:45:56 AM