Hot off the press: renewal of the PATRIOT Act is still up for debate, thanks to a bipartisan effort in the Senate.
Then again, who needs authorization? The New York Times has a chilling story about the NSA spying on citizens. This is so out of control even the spooks are getting spooked.
Author: Barbara Fister
I'm an academic librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Like all librarians at our small, liberal arts institution I am involved in reference, collection development, and shared management of the library. My area of specialization is instruction, with research interests also in media literacy, popular literacy, publishing, and assessment.
View all posts by Barbara Fister
Bush said congressional leaders had been briefed on the operation more than a dozen times. That included Democrats as well as Republicans in the House and Senate. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she had been told on several occasions that Bush had authorized unspecified activities by the National Security Agency, the nation’s largest spy agency. Don’t ask, don’t tell is her motto. As is her usual behavior, she claims to be deaf and dumb when it comes to anything she’s supposed to know. How does that woman get elected. Wasn’t it last week she admitted to having only read the summary instead of some 90 page document that had to do with WMD? Or was that the PA.
That’s sad. But then again, I’m sure given the speed with which it was passed quite a few in Congress didn’t read the PATRIOT Act.
I don’t care if you choose some Congressional leaders and tell them you’re going to break the law. It’s still breaking the law. (And informing a few carefully-chosen people isn’t “Congressional oversight” either.) The excuse that it’s okay because Congress said he could go to war is bizarre – we didn’t think he meant war against us!