The Senate Coverup Committee.
By on Feb 20th, 2006 at 9:30 am
The Senate Coverup Committee.
“That the United States Senate has a body called the Intelligence Committee is an irony George Orwell would have truly appreciated. In a world without Doublespeak, the panel, chaired by GOP Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, would be known by a more appropriate name — the Senate Coverup Committee.”
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Yes, you Americans truly do have a government that’s “by the people and for the people”.
HAHAHA!
Come look me up in a google search sometime.
February 20th, 2006 at 9:37 amEver hear of court-packing? Expand the Supreme Court to 11 and appoint a couple more conservative judges in the Scalia/Thomas vein. What then of American’s last hope?
February 20th, 2006 at 9:47 am“Meanwhile, a Kentucky man is preparing a civil-rights suit over the wiretapping. If Congress continues to dither, the courts will be Americans’ last hope for an honest appraisal of the spy program”
This is what I’ve been saying for a while now. It’ll take a court case by a private citizen challenging this to actually get anything done.
Congress is just giving GW a rubber stamp on everything. They must be content with getting their paychecks and pork handouts instead of actually doing their job.
Master Bush: “Good doggy, Congress. Sit. Good boy. Here’s a chicken bone. Now go away and leave me alone. Or I’ll smack you on the nose and take away your campaign funding.”
February 20th, 2006 at 9:54 am2)
FDR tried that and his own party rejected it… I doubt the republicans have enough independance to do the same with Bush however.
February 20th, 2006 at 9:58 amYes but the funny part is, it wont work. I highly suspect this scandal will stick.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:10 amSarah, what makes you think THIS scandal will stick? Look at what they’ve gotten away with so far–and nothing has stuck up to this point.
Remember, everything changed after 9/11.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:13 amThe Congress is acquiescent, and final determinations will be in the courts, but Bush has packed the court with his cronies, so there is not much hope is there.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:15 amWe are watching the dismantling of America as we know it; not enough people are aware of what is happening before their eyes, some of us are jumping up and down, waving our arms and shouting, but we are not given recognition by the press.
The LATimes, is a twin to the Chgo. Tribune, so it is a bit encouraging that they would speak against the admin., but that doesn’t mean it is any more than lip service either.
I’m not sure it even would rise to the level of a Coverup Committee. That implies that they actually ask questions that elicit a response from the intelligence agencies. They would then have to coverup those responses.
No, the policy of the committee is to ‘do nothing’. They ask real softball questions in public and I would imagine in private that they ask real general questions and try to avoid asking a question that would get an answer they don’t want to hear.
Honestly, I doubt the private, classified briefings are any more informative than the public extravaganzas they put on. If anything, it’s probably more dull – you aren’t inclined to ask difficult questions BECAUSE THERE ARE NO CAMERAS OR QUOTES TO BE USED. That specific reason is why I’m pretty sure I’d fall asleep if I ever got the privelage to go to one.
On a related note, remember the ‘Kennedy Strategy’ that came out? Namely, to say how much he enjoyed working with the past Prezs to ‘fix’ FISA and such? Yah, that was stupid. We’re seeing the ‘fix’ coming along right now.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:25 amLet’s just fix FISA like Sen. Roberts and the Republicans suggest.. I also support Sen. Roberts’ proposed “Blowjob amendment” to the constitution so we can criminally indict Clinton.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:28 amThe scandal would only stick if the real scale was announced.
Even people are confused on the one program that we do not about, a bit. Some, umm, less informed souls are buying into that the number of individuals looked at were the number of times bush reauthorized the program. Yah, repubs are linking to some of those early stories that are confusing.
Not to the ones that show it to be in the low thousands. And that’s before they used their sifter on the crap they brought in with their ‘vacuum’.
The biggest ’scandal’ is that all our phone companies are installing these taps willingly. Just like all the search engines, save google, are willingly giving up private info.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:29 am#5 & 6
This is another reason the Republicans are going to start losing seats in both the House and the Senate.
NO party has a lock on the majority, and the ‘Phants are going to wake up to this reality in November of this year. The Democrats may not send the Republicans back to the minority this year, but the trend is in their favor. So-called ’solid Republican’ districts are returning less and less percentages of the votes for Republicans, and most of the special elections have gone Democratic.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:31 am11 –
You’re right on target, again (I seem to agree with you almost all of the time).
Put it this way, I’ve met more people who have said “I used to be a Republican, but I’m sick of them and will be voting Democrat” than I have people saying, “Man, those Republicans are doing such a great job that forget being a Democrat, I’m GOP all the way, baby!”
February 20th, 2006 at 10:44 amRemember, the NSA scandal is only two months old!
Of course the Intelligence Committee is going to stonewall, just like the administration is going lie, the House Intel Committee is going to stonewall, and every GOP kult member is going to lie, stonewall, shred, and bait/switch. It is what they have been brought up to do from their early college republican days.
Our job is to viciously bitch slap them everytime they try it.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:57 amWish there was as much zeal behind investigating the NSA scandal (which potentially affects MILLIONS of citizens) as there was behind the investigation of Clinton’s zipper (which affected a few individuals).
February 20th, 2006 at 11:00 amGuys, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Nor was Watergate exposed overnight. In fact, Watergate was first brought public during the height of Nixon’s popularity. But through patient persistence and careful design, both Rome and Watergate were eventually built up despite overwhelming initial adversities.
Like Citizen80203 in #13 said, we must expect stonewalling, fact bending, information hiding and also expect that to create truly negative consequences for this scandal it will take some time.
February 20th, 2006 at 11:11 amthis may help – i know it helped me…i was pretty depressed by the negative news of late last week, then happend on this, again via crooksandliars:
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/02/long-hard-slog_17.html
The Long Hard Slog
February 20th, 2006 at 11:19 amThere are lots of people who appear to be morbidly depressed — to the point of conceding defeat — as a result of yesterday’s unilateral obstruction by the incomparable White House shill Sen. Pat Roberts of the long-planned and long-promised investigation into the operational aspects of the NSA program by the Senate Intelligence Committee. That defeatist reaction and the borderline-self-pitying sentiments which accompany it are, for literally countless reasons, completely unwarranted…
HOW MUCH BLOODY LONGER IS THIS WAR ON TERROR GOING ON THERS ABSOLUTELY NO NEED FOR IT..
February 20th, 2006 at 11:20 amrelease Gauntamamo inmates
get out of Iraq
STAY AT HOME AND LEAVE THE WORLD TO GET ON WITHOUT YOU ARSEHOLES
The courts will protect us? Hold on a minute here folks, the court is already well to the right with 5 of the justices taking their orders from the Vatican.
Law suits against the Bushlandia people will see nothing except the bottom of the trash can.
February 20th, 2006 at 12:03 pmOne major difference between the Nixon era and today, the GOP did not have a lock on both the white house and congress during the Nixon era. Also the press was not consolidated into large conglomerates which are run for profit and routinely ignore stories of national significance for the latest blond or child tragedy, thus keeping this and other stories out of the general publics consciuoses. Also the AEI, Cato, Heratige, etc media spin machine did not exist in the early 70’s. This time the battle to expose the Administration and congressional leaders for the criminals they are is going to be much harder but I get the impression from some of the conservative rural people who live around me they are begining to smell the stink even if it is not right in front of them. So I have more hope than I did last fall.
February 20th, 2006 at 2:27 pmWell, ol’ Pat Roberts doesn’t have the strangle hold on the Intelligence committee he thinks he does. Snowe and Hagel said they would vote for Rockefellers motion for inquiry into the warrantless wiretapping program if he puts it forward. The two Senators told Roberts that in a conferrence call.
Rockefeller Wiretap Inquiry Motion May Pass
February 20th, 2006 at 2:51 pmFrom the beginning, the administration’s amen corner has aggressive claimed that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the wartime Commander-in-Chief powers give President Bush the statutory and constitutional basis for sidestepping the FISA process for domestic electronic surveillance. But most in the GOP are downright sheepish when it comes to the third argument that logically flows from their first two: FISA itself is unconstitutional.
For the full story, see:
February 20th, 2006 at 4:37 pm“The Republicans’ Constitutional Crisis.”
Why the Idea of an Onwership society doesnt appeal to Yall?
I cant wait until George is King think about it. no more minimum wage since that sucked anyway I can just go into debt at say home depot and like im their DOG. George has to feed me and pet me, and when he gets tired of me, why he can just put me out of my misery and send me to the Gallows without all that time wasting Court stuff about rights to live and all that, no sir, If I am gonna be a serf I want to have no rights whatsoever so George can just kill me right then.Maybe he’ll even start putting us slaves unto poles, Kinda Like Vlad the Impaler did while us slaves served his dinner.
no more skoolin neither, us serfs never liked skool noways and the poor farms man have they got some hot anorexic slave chicks over there I really hope i get to be a serf for Pat Robertson and fly arounf to diamond mines and make fun of the really poor serfs.
getting stoned is gonna be great as well, with rocks I mean cause serfs only roll the doobies for the Neo-cons ya know?
February 20th, 2006 at 5:28 pmanyway its like the best Diet you have ever been on! WOOOO!
you never have to worry about your weight being serf inKing Georges Kingdom! I hear they are gonna brand us like horse oooohhh the anticipation is killing me! -The Neo-Serf
I have yet to see any newsperson confront Pat Roberts in his coverup on this issue. Even the most blatent act of commision and omission are soon forgotten in todays news cycle. The Republicans keep saying wheres the Democratic plan. Of course they need one but someone needs to pay for the mess we’re in now.
February 20th, 2006 at 6:32 pmThe issue that no one talks about is that this spying has been ongoing for long enough that we should realize that EACH AND EVERY politico, ‘journalist’, judge, congresspersons, senators HAVE ALREADY BEEN SPYED ON AND ARE BEING BLACKMAILED BY THIS MIS-ADMINISTRATION, and THAT IS WHY THEY ARE ALL IMPOTENT. They are the first people to experience Fascism in their own lives. A repuk politico, Tiley, I think his name is, is sueing the king and Chicken Cheney, for not only the wire taps, but the survalience he and his family have also had to endure.
February 21st, 2006 at 8:08 am