Long Story Made Short

The warrantless wiretapping that the annual Human Rights Report issued by the US Department of State blasts when it occurs in Russia or Zimbabwe has been going on under the Bush Administration, and the Democratic Congress is about to ratify that and retroactively immunize the Bush Administration and the telecom companies from any real examination of their actions.

The fig leaf of judicial review that they're putting in the bill they're trying to pass is as follows - if the Administration made a claim that warrantless wiretapping is legal, then that settles the question; i.e., the only question before the courts would be - had the Administration made such a claim? The courts would not be able to render a judgement as to whether any law was broken by the warrantless wiretapping program.

To add insult to injury - the way they're going to get this bill passed is to not use all the procedural methods that the majority can use to stop such a bill; for instance the Majority Whip will not issue a whip. What the Democratic leadership will do is allow just enough Democrats to join with Republicans to pass the bill; the rest of them will vote against, and then represent to the voters that they opposed the bill. They really think we're stupid!

The attempted antidote is here. Contribute if you can.

For the story in detail, see Glenn Greenwald, here, here and here.