Puppet theatre

Welcome to Constitution-trashing 101.

Our instructors for the day are the Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who have decided to toe the party line and allow Georgie to continue wiretapping for up to 45 days without a warrant. Then he has to go to FISA, OR convince members of congress that it's necessary. And since FISA was pretty darn compliant to begin with, and, well, Congress is Congress, AND no one is explicitly saying that Georgie was wrong and supporting what are, constitutionally illegal actions, or threatening action if Georgie doesn't comply, we're.... pretty much where we've been since the story broke.

What kills me is that this "accommodation" has no teeth whatsoever. While the members of Congress who voted down the Dem-led push for an investigation are claiming oversight privileges, the White House has yet to acknowledge them. Through the press office, Georgie is still claiming the authority for the wiretaps, with or without permission. What's an oversight committee going to do- call a press conference and say how disappointed they are? Been there, done that.

So, basically Congress is offering Georgie the ultimate out. If he acts like he's asking permission every 45 days or so, we're just going to let him continue on his merry way. No investigation into previous acts, and likely only a cursory investigation into any future requests. After all, we all know what a great job Congressional Oversight and Intelligence did in looking at pre-war intelligence.

And while Arlen Specter threatening to hold up funding until the Judiciary Committee gets some answers looks good on paper- we all saw/read the last round of Gonzales' testimony. There are no teeth there, either. Funding will come where it will come. They don't call them discresionary funds for nothing.

It's called the Bill of RIGHTS, folks.
Not the Bill of Perks-you-get-for-being-like-us-but-only-when-we're-not-looking-for-a-scapegoat.