GWB reverses course on warrantless wiretapping?!!

[OperaTenor]

Bush reverses course on warrantless surveillance

Under the new plan, Gonzales said, the secret court that administers the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, would oversee eavesdropping on telephone calls and e-mails to and from the United States when “there is probable cause to believe” that one of the targets is a member of al-Qaeda or related groups.

Resolute in the face of public and political pressure. A man of principle. Unwavering.

[Shapley]

FISA Modified Wiretap Requests

According to Yesterday's report, FISA has backed down on some of the criteria upon which those modifications were based, so there's less here than the headlines are reporting.

V/R
Shapley

[Shapley]

Secret Court To Oversee Wiretaps

This isn't the article I was looking for, but it does provide what I was looking for - the program will continue as before, except with a FISA 'stamp of approval'.

Basically it allows Congress to pretend to be doing something to 'reign in the President', it allows the President to appear to be making concessions, while at the same time allowing the program to continue unabated. Those who only read the headlines will be fooled into thinking the President has backed down.

V/R
Shapley

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

... 'reign in the President'...

Did you mean 'rein in the President'?

Reign is what a monarch does. A rein is the strap attached to the bit of a horse's bridle. (The third homonym, rain, is liquid precipitation. I add it only to complete the set.)

I hope you're not suggesting that the President eats hay.

[Haggis@wk]

They told me if I voted for John McCain, we’d have a White House claiming the FBI could eavesdrop without any oversight. And they were right!

“The Obama administration’s Justice Department has asserted that the FBI can obtain telephone records of international calls made from the U.S. without any formal legal process or court oversight, according to a document obtained by McClatchy.”

[dai bread]

... 'reign in the President'...

Did you mean 'rein in the President'?

Reign is what a monarch does. A rein is the strap attached to the bit of a horse's bridle. (The third homonym, rain, is liquid precipitation. I add it only to complete the set.)

I hope you're not suggesting that the President eats hay.

According to what I've read over the last few years, including posts on this board, he probably does.