[theknife]

some days, things don't look so bleak in this country....like yesterday, for instance:

Patriot Act nixed

WASHINGTON - The White House was handed a sharp rebuke on privacy issues yesterday when the Senate refused to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act and lawmakers demanded an investigation into whether President Bush authorized a spy agency to snoop on Americans' phone calls and E-mails.
Saying it jeopardized constitutional liberties, Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would have renewed key provisions of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act. The 52-47 vote to advance the bill was eight short of the 60 needed to overcome the Democrats' filibuster.

hehe - it's a little tricky to try to close the deal on the Patriot Act on the same day it's revealed that the Prez personally ordered ostensibly illegal eavesdropping on US citizens.

Lawmakers outraged over secret spy program

December 17, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress from both parties expressed outrage Friday over revelations that President George W. Bush launched a secret domestic surveillance program in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The president personally authorized a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States more than three dozen times since October 2001, a senior intelligence official told the Associated Press on Friday.

The disclosure that the National Security Agency has been spying on domestic telephone conversations created a furor that could have far-reaching implications for the Bush presidency. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, promised a thorough investigation into the secret program early next year.

The surveillance operation was disclosed Friday by the New York Times, which reported that the government has been monitoring phone calls and e-mail messages from the United States to foreign destinations without warrants for the past three years.

"There is no doubt that this is inappropriate," Specter said. "It's inexcusable to have spying on people in the United States without court surveillance in violation of our law."

that pesky Constitution just gets in the way of everything the Prez wants to do...Sen. Russ Feingold with the money quote of the day:

"I don't want to hear again from the attorney general or anyone on this Senate floor that this government has shown it can be trusted to use the power we give it with restraint and care."