Pruning Shears

The President and his allies did their best to scare the country to help pass the FISA law:

Republicans and the Bush administration used a ‘bogus’ terror threat that raised specific fears of an attack on the Capitol to scare lawmakers into adopting a dramatic temporary expansion of the government’s spy powers last month, a former top intelligence committee Democrat said Wednesday.

 I barely knew who Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell was a month ago but he’s quickly established his political hack credentials:

The top U.S. intelligence official is telling Congress it shouldn’t succumb to pressure to roll back a new law that enhances the government’s eavesdropping capability on terrorists as well as more traditional potential adversaries.
Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, says China and Russia are aggressively spying on sensitive U.S. facilities, intelligence systems and development projects, and their efforts are approaching Cold War levels.

 Vermont Public Radio gave a none-too-surprising report on why the telecom companies want amnesty for their rampant lawbreaking:

More than a year ago, the Public Service Board launched an investigation into whether phone companies have improperly turned over customer information to the government as part of a massive surveillance program.

The companies want the board to put its investigation on hold. But the state and the American Civil Liberties Union want to know if consumer protection laws were violated.

At a hearing Tuesday, ACLU lawyer Richard Saudek says the question may no longer be an abstract one.

(Saudek) “We now have a person, an attorney, who has come to the ACLU and said he believes that his phone has been tapped. And I can tell you who it is. It’s Bob Gensburg, who has taken on the defense of a prisoner at Guantanamo.”
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And a Verizon spokeswoman told VPR it doesn’t comment on national security issues.

 This also explains their secret lobbying campaign.  You’ll be pleased to know that in addition to the lobbyists they’re well represented at the Justice Department as well.