Arlen Specter's Treason Continues

Senator Arlen Specter's treason continues unabated as America moves towards a police state. Unlike President Bush, who openly flaunts his totalitarian proclivities, Specter is attempting to codify this incipient fascism.

ACLU Says New Specter-Cheney NSA Bill Provides Sham Oversight, Says Congress Must Be Independent of the Executive

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, It sounds like this:

Bush Agrees to Review of Domestic Spying Program

President Bush has agreed on a plan to submit the National Security Agency's controversial domestic electronic surveillance program to a secret court for a limited review of its constitutionality, senators and White House officials said Thursday.

Under the plan, Bush would sign legislation allowing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews government requests for wiretaps, to decide whether the administration has the legal authority in terrorism investigations to eavesdrop on American citizens without first obtaining warrants.

Here is what the bill really does:

• Legalization of the president's program of warrantless surveillance on Americans, a program that is illegal under current law and unconstitutional.
• A diminished role for the court that oversees the NSA's warrantless domestic spying, making oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) optional -- and we know that when this administration doesn't believe in getting court warrants even when required; making them "optional" is making them non-existent.
• A new, unconstitutional process for challenging surveillance, via a secret appeals court composed of judges hand-picked solely by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who supports expansive presidential powers.
• An information blackout by the Executive Branch against the Congress or our courts when it comes to the names and number of Americans monitored by the spying program. Without any oversight, countless journalists, lawyers, hotel clerks and others will inevitably be swept into round-the-clock monitoring of their phone conversations, indefinitely.

For those of you who are still free of the National Security Agency, AT&T, the FBI, George W. Bush, and your neighbor who is spying on you, try this link:

ACLU for a letter to the editor of your local newspaper

Comments

[valerius publicola]

hey, at least he voted against the constitutional ban on gay marriage

but I suppose even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while

[Paul]

He seems to be very confused. He talks a good game, sometimes he breaks from the extreme right, and yet there are instances when he is horrible. I think he is trapped between his desire for power and his very weak conscience.