Reid wants full Senate to see wiretapping docs.
By on Dec 17th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Reid wants full Senate to see wiretapping docs.
In a letter to Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) requested that the full Senate be briefed on documents pertaining to the legal justifications for the administration’s warrantless wiretapping progam. With the Senate debating FISA reform, Reid says “it is of critical importance that all Senators…have an opportunity to review these key documents themselves.” Previously, only the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees have had access to the documents.
Read Reid’s full letter here.
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Letters from Reid have been known to strike fear into the heart of BA functionaries.
Time to rebel.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:43 pmOh goody! Another letter! That’ll show ‘em.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:44 pmralph, verbatim, you pilfered my thunder.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:46 pmGood job…
so then WHY is the Senate rushing through the bill today???
December 17th, 2007 at 2:48 pmReid is full of shit.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:49 pmAnd still pushing immunity no less…
When the Whitehouse refuses, He’ll push the Bill anyway, right?
(sigh)
December 17th, 2007 at 2:50 pmAnother disappointment…
What with Reid and his letter writing? He must really enjoy grammar.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:52 pmReid wants to be Bush’s fluffer is more like it.
The senate needs better Democratic leadership NOW.
NOW !
December 17th, 2007 at 2:53 pmWow Senator Reid, how do you have your job again? Why did we work so hard to give you the majority? So you can send letters?
Feingold for Majority Leader!!!!
December 17th, 2007 at 2:56 pmdon’t forget about the House with Nancy “no impeachment for criminal acts” Pelosi, there, overlap.
:_(
December 17th, 2007 at 2:57 pmAdmiral John M. McConnell
Director of National Intelligence
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Washington, DC 20511
Dear Admiral McConnell:
As you know, the Senate will pretend to debate FISA Amendments Act of 2007 this week. Among the issues the Senate will consider is how much we will have to pose for the American people as we rubber stamp grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that illegally assisted the government in its warrantless wiretapping program. You recently wrote in the New York Times that immunity is one of the three most critical issues in this bill.
I know I am not worthy of your spittle and have no right to make any request but I beg your permission to make the documents previously provided to the Intelligence and Judiciary Committee regarding illegal retroactive immunity available in a pretend super secret secure location to any Senator who wishes to review them during the floor debate. Like the Iraq War NIE the lazy Senators will not read it and you can redact 100% of it but I thought if I asked then I can pretend i am working for my constituents.
Your servent in crime,
HARRY REID
December 17th, 2007 at 2:57 pmSenate Majority Fluffer
What good is an opposition party if it doesn’t oppose anything?
We need to tell the Dem leadership we’ll vote for the real Republicans if they can’t take a stand. Who needs a cheap knock-off, when you can have the real thing.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:58 pm.
So Reid thinks WARRANTLESS is somehow LEGAL?
And is asking Michael McConnell to back him up?
.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:00 pmso then WHY is the Senate rushing through the bill today???
Comment by whiteyfresh — December 17, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
Good question!
.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:03 pmAnyone remember this great line from “The Simpsons”??
Monty Burns – “… years of treatment have left me more impotent than a Nevada boxing commissioner…”
Perhaps it’s time to re-write it….
” …more impotent than a Nevada Senator…”
December 17th, 2007 at 3:04 pmI wish Dear Harry was writing a Dear John letter, resigning his position.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:09 pmThe Senate should hold off on voting on the FISA bill until every member of the Senate has looked over all the documents. If the Bush administration refuses to comply, the Senate should not approve the bill. In fact, they shouldn’t approve this version of the bill, period, until telecom immunity is removed from it.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:11 pmForget it Harry, they’re never going to give you the negatives of you and Larry, just keep up the pimping…
December 17th, 2007 at 3:18 pmFck you Reid for ignoring Dodd’s hold on the FISA bill and then doing the President’s bidding voting for closure on Dodd’s filibuster, you lapdog piece of sh!t.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:21 pmrequest? a request? Ask them out on a date later.
demand the documents that would show what they have done and you are okay with bringing such trash to the floor of the senate?
what do these folks value; their telecom endorsement.
sorry, do something before it is too late.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:21 pmI’d really like to see each and every member of the Senate stand up and say
“I’m voting FOR granting unlimited immunity to the telecoms for any act they may have done prior to 9/11 wiretapping the citizens of this country at the request of the Bush administration because
December 17th, 2007 at 3:29 pm_______________________________________…”
Uh, make that FOR/AGAINST… Duh.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:29 pmWe need to tell the Dem leadership we’ll vote for the real Republicans if they can’t take a stand. Who needs a cheap knock-off, when you can have the real thing.
Comment by Marcus Aurelius — December 17, 2007 @ 2:58 pm
Yeah 6 years of a Republican majority did sooo much for our country….. not!
Vote for independents or vote against your rep in the primaries if they are a Bush lapdog.
Vote Republican? you are nucking futz. Thats how we got into this fscking mess in the first place, sheesh =P
December 17th, 2007 at 3:29 pmHow can they objectively vote on something which they know nothing about. They need full disclosure of precisely what’s been done, for how long, to whom, and why the FISA laws were violated. Anything short of this amounts to overt negligence on the part of Congress. If they won’t provide the requested documents, then there needs to be absolutely NO CHANGE to the existing laws – which means that Bush, Cheney, and the spineless, lockstep telecons have broken the laws of this country. They need to be brought to justice for so doing.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:32 pmBesides, since we now know that Bush began illegally spying on americans upon taking office and pre-911, then it makes the impeachment case against him for disregarding the intel he received which resulted in 911. He’s getting himself painted into a very tight little corner right now. I don’t think he’ll be getting out scott-free either.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:33 pmNow that bush is in a corner expect him to be acting out left and right. He’s seeing his entire administration abandon him; he’s seeing GOP candidates NEVER refer to him with respect; he’s seeing the majority of americans calling for his ouster via impeachment, who does poor Georgie have left? Miss Beasley, Barney, and Laura??
December 17th, 2007 at 3:35 pmCareful mates, the Government (Bush) is monitoring your comments!
December 17th, 2007 at 3:36 pmThe CDC has pinpointed “Think Progress” as the epicenter of Bush Derangement Syndrome. You and your comments will soon be “quarantined.” Permanently. BOOOO!
Bush is being hoist on his own pitard right now – either way, he’s finished. If they release the spy info and find those documents warning about 911 which he ignored, he’s out. If they fail to cooperate with congress and not release the documents, then Congress will simply enforce the existing FISA laws, without defacto immunity, and he and his rich little telecons will swirl merrily down the drain.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:37 pm#28 The blade is double sided and yours are being monitored as well. Ever hear of the Constitution and the right to free speech? Or maybe you’re from some other planet…..I’m guessing here…Uranus??
December 17th, 2007 at 3:38 pmConseRvative And Proud ~
December 17th, 2007 at 3:38 pmWe know he’s been monitoring us, did you know your phone conversations are also being listened to?
Besides C & S or more aptly it should be CS?? You won’t frighten any of the bloggers here with your ridiculous fear mongering. (swat, swat….was that some gnat on this thread??).
December 17th, 2007 at 3:39 pmHi RU: Nice try to squelch the thread by the conservatice neonazi, eh? He’s got another thought coming if he thinks for one moment that any of us are not cognizant of our civil liberties and constitutional rights. He can take his fear and keep it all to himself. He’s showing his own level of paranoia and psychological compromise by making such a comment.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:40 pmTooty ~ these neocon bushlikers are pretty much reading from their scripts. Unka Karly still hard at work.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:41 pmRu: When I said “trying to squelch the thread” I was referring to Mr. Conman Reptard Neofascist above. I prefer to refer to him as CS for the obvious reasons.
As for you, nice smackdown af another irrelevant fascist repuke! Kudos, my friend!
December 17th, 2007 at 3:42 pmWindow dressing and whitewash
December 17th, 2007 at 3:44 pmYeah 6 years of a Republican majority did sooo much for our country….. not!
Plus 4 years of a feckless Republican-wannabee Dem Congress.
Vote for independents or vote against your rep in the primaries if they are a Bush lapdog.
It would be a wasted vote. I want the Dems existing power structure – I want them to represent their constituents.
Vote Republican? you are nucking futz. Thats how we got into this fscking mess in the first place, sheesh =P
At this point, a vote for the Dems is a vote for the Republicans – they have the same agenda.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:44 pmAren’t they all beginning to sound rather pathetic, RU? What have they left to spin? Every day of the week, there’s some new news of their leader lying, covering his ass, lying to cover up the last lie, etc., etc. It’s beginning to resemble a bad soap opera.
Yes, things are caving in on the GOP and the Bush Cabal. It doesn’t look like they’re going to get out of any of this anytime soon. That’s just what’s being planned for them in this country; the Hague has much, much more in mind.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:44 pmMarcus: I’m an unaffiliated voter and as much as I’d like to see these Dems show more muscle, there’s NO WAY any of them on a bad day could possibly resemble any Repuke. No way!
December 17th, 2007 at 3:46 pmit is time for reid to go – we need someone much more confrontational.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:46 pmCan any of you scary people imagine a little NEOCON sitting in some basement office with no windows, ear phones attached to his head and his little copmposition writing book, #2 pencil and eraser writing yours and mine inane comments? How silly guys! Why in the world would the government or anyone for that matter care to monitior the drivel that is produced at this web site? To what end?
December 17th, 2007 at 3:47 pmHmmmm,
Bush lied to America about not being briefed on Bin Laden on 8-29-01, via PDB.
Bush lied to America about Telcom immunity, knowing they put it in place prior to 9/11.
Bush lied to America about WMD, aluminum tubes & Joe Wilson.
Bush lied to America about the ‘missing’ White House e-mails.
Bush lied to America about Jeff Gannon & Jack Abramoff.
Bush lied to America about being a ‘Uniter’, not a ‘Divider’.
Bush lied to America about the FISA Court & warrants.
HOW MANY MORE LIES, AMERICA? HOW MANY??
December 17th, 2007 at 3:48 pmComment by Conservative and proud — December 17, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Thats why I email myself a copy of the Constitution, in the hope that they read it and see what the phuck it actually says…..
December 17th, 2007 at 3:48 pmThe long-range plan is this: Remain affiliated to vote in the primary if you’re a dem who is disgusted. Then change to unaffiliated immediately following the primaries. The number of I’s currently is 36% and rising daily. This is a huge bloc right now of people whose voice will be heard by the sheer numbers of us. Just wait till after the primaries and we’re expecting our numbers to increase substantially. This is the ONLY WAY to get the power shifted back to the people.
There are grass roots movements as we type for qualified I’s to unseat the easily-unseatable Republicans in 08 and 12 – and, if the dems aren’t careful, their seats will be in jeopardy as well.
Of course, if someone with the stature of Al Gore runs as an Independent, then the game is over. He’d win by a landslide.
(36% I’s plus 38% Dems equals 74% of the vote! Power in numbers!).
December 17th, 2007 at 3:49 pmZimzone: I’m sure someone is keeping track of the Bush lies for the impeachment movement directed against him once the Cheney impeachment reveals events that were co-conspired. Does anyone here have the updated list of “Bush Lies” by any chance?
December 17th, 2007 at 3:50 pmComment by Conservative and proud — December 17, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
This is kind of like saying you’re proud of crapping your pants, isn’t it?
December 17th, 2007 at 3:52 pmWhy in the world would the government or anyone for that matter care to monitior the drivel that is produced at this web site? To what end?
Comment by Conservative and proud — December 17, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
You mean “drivel” like your post?
December 17th, 2007 at 3:53 pmIndeed, Shayne! The pure drivel and blustering bull$hit spews forth from the mouths of herr trolls.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:55 pmComment by Conservative and proud — December 17, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Thats why I email myself a copy of the Constitution, in the hope that they read it and see what the phuck it actually says…..
Comment by Wayne — December 17, 2007 @ 3:48 pm
Conservative and Proud (poor bastard) wouldn’t understand the Constitution if he tried to read it. That’s why his ilk thinks “it’s just a piece of paper.”
December 17th, 2007 at 3:55 pmConservative and proud,
“Can any of you scary people imagine a little NEOCON sitting in some basement office with no windows, ear phones attached to his head and his little copmposition writing book, #2 pencil and eraser writing yours and mine inane comments? How silly guys! Why in the world would the government or anyone for that matter care to monitior the drivel that is produced at this web site? To what end?”
I’ll re-write this so that maybe you get the point.
Can any of you scary people imagine a couple thieves breaking into some hotel room which so happened to be the campaign headquarters of the opposition party? Why do that when you could just use your top secret wiretapping program to do it? How silly guys!
We aren’t worried necessarily about ourselves being wiretapped. It’s the abuses of power like this which are scary. Rights aren’t taken away overnight. They are slowly eroded.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:56 pmConservative and proud doesn’t worry about “rights” because he believes he is one of the Reich that will be in control when rights are taken away from the little people. Isn’t that right brown shirt?
December 17th, 2007 at 3:59 pmLast post guys…….
Couple of things…….
December 17th, 2007 at 4:01 pm1) Come off the ledge, you guys are really, really scary
2) you will be rid of Bush in Jan 2009, no earlier. Nobody is impeaching Bush with 13 months left to his term. You missed your chance.
3) You rail against the Dems you put in power. Why don’t they do your bidding? There is one answer. They can’t. They don’t have the votes.
You scary people are a minority even in your own party. They’ll take your money but they won’t listen to you. You have nowhere to go and they now it. Thank-you for your kindness.
Here it is Conpro, nobody is impeaching Bush or starting any other legal action against him because they don’t want Cheney, heaven forbid, or any other rethug pardoning him. We can just wait until you guys are out of the White House to start the trials for treason, war crimes and all the other offenses committed. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it. And if you want to climb out on that ledge, we won’t stop you.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:06 pmfor #55…….
Your parents must be very proud.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:09 pmYour parents must be very proud.
Comment by Conservative and proud — December 17, 2007 @ 4:09 pm
Then again he’s not the one proud to have shit for brains, that would be you.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:11 pmAs I listen to senators vociferously argue that the cooperation (collusion) of Telecom companies is necessary for the US government to gather intelligence, I can not help but wonder if they feel these companies should also cooperate with other sovereign governments (Iran, Venezuala, Russia, etc.) in their intelligence gathering efforts…
December 17th, 2007 at 4:35 pmPlus 4 years of a feckless Republican-wannabee Dem Congress.
Comment by Marcus Aurelius — December 17, 2007 @ 3:44 pm
umm…. november 2006 was 4 years ago?
December 17th, 2007 at 4:49 pmstrange calendar you use….
Reid is dork. He tries to do the right thing, but in the end, just a dork.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:54 pmReid is dork. He tries to do the right thing, but in the end, just a dork.
Comment by ForTruth — December 17, 2007 @ 4:54 pm
Violating Senate rules to ignore the hold Dodd placed on the FISA Bill is not the “right thing” in any definition. He phucked a member of his own party in the a$$ on this one.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:57 pmNothing right about that at all….
Billy Hill is hitting on the crack pipe again.
December 17th, 2007 at 5:06 pmI never trust a letter that starts with the words: “As you know…â€
Comment by cold_hard_left — December 17, 2007 @ 3:35 pm
And I never trust a post from an idiot whose moniker is cold_hard_left.
Did you actually have a point?
December 17th, 2007 at 5:09 pmMarcus Arelius: “At this point, a vote for the Dems is a vote for the Republicans – they have the same agenda.”
Nonsense. Repubs and Dems are at odds on healthcare, tax policy, the war in Iraq, the environment and a host of other issues. In addition, a majority of Dems want to re-evaluate the various “free-trade” initiatives whereas only one or two Repubs are in favor of that. Could your analysis be any more simple minded?
December 17th, 2007 at 5:37 pmThe Fourth Amendment doesn’t include any exceptions to the need to show “probable cause” and warrants to justify removing the people’s right to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and siezures”. Unless the executive branch is sitting on documentation that proves this particular amendment was lawfully repealed, by a vote of 2/3 of the Congress & ratified by 3/4 of the States, there can’t be anything justifying spying on the American people without complying with that particular provision.
What possible “Probable Cause” could they possible have to suspect every American citizen of being a threat to national security? It should be imperative that the evidence be shown, and warrants issued – not circumvented…
December 17th, 2007 at 5:46 pmI wonder if Mr. “conservative and proud” can explain why the Bush administration was looking into spying on Americans’ phone calls barely two weeks into their first term.
December 17th, 2007 at 5:51 pm