What others say...

Last week the Democrats in Congress folded like origami and approved the White House-backed version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that gives the Bush(whacked) Administration expansive spying authority to do what they please and ignore the word of the Constitution and the law.

In the days that have followed, a few newspapers across the country have come out in favor of the plan, but they were conservative-minded piles of claptrap like the Chicago Tribune and WSJ, who apparently are readying themselves to kiss new owner Rupert Murdoch’s ass…

But for every one or so that comes down in favor of the bill, four or five come out against it…

USA Today: “A skittish Congress allowed itself to be stampeded last week into granting the president unfettered surveillance power. When it returns to Washington, it should do what it can to make sure that the sun goes down on this flawed measure.”

WaPo: “To call this legislation ill-considered is to give it too much credit: It was scarcely considered at all. Instead, it was strong-armed through both chambers by an administration that seized the opportunity to write its warrantless wiretapping program into law — or, more precisely, to write it out from under any real legal restrictions.”

NY Times: “While serving little purpose, the new law has real dangers. It would allow the government to intercept, without a warrant, every communication into or out of any country, including the United States. Instead of explaining all this to American voters — the minimal benefits and the enormous risks — the Democrats have allowed Mr. Bush and his fear-mongering to dominate all discussions on terrorism and national security.”

Boston Globe: “The administration maintains that technological changes have created problems with the 1978 law. But never has Bush demonstrated why the terms of that law, which permitted officials to get warrant approvals up to 72 hours after they started a wiretap, are no longer workable. This and other questions could have been answered if Congress had demanded an open debate on the administration’s bill. Its failure to do so is a shameful abdication of its own responsibility. It’s difficult to maintain a system of checks and balances when one branch simply checks out.”

LA Times: “You know something’s wrong with this Congress when a Democratic champion of privacy rights feels compelled to vote for Republican legislation that compromises those rights. That’s what California Sen. Dianne Feinstein did last week when she joined a stampede to approve a temporary “fix” sought by the Bush administration in a law governing electronic surveillance.”

Why is it that Bush and his White House full of cronies can’t see what the majority of the country sees???