From this article:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/20/congress.terrorism.ap/index.html

"Nevertheless, a bill by Rep. Heather Wilson, R-New Mexico, gained steam Wednesday after she rewrote it to allow warrantless wiretapping when an attack is imminent, as Bush has demanded."

...

"He (Frist) spoke as House Republicans moved closer to the administration's position on domestic wiretapping.

Wilson's bill initially would have given legal status to Bush's domestic surveillance program only after an attack. Instead, her bill now would grant the administration's plea to allow wiretapping against Americans without warrants when it is believed ( ? ! - Pete) a terrorist attack is imminent."

...

"The bill also would prevent the president or his designee from authorizing the surveillance of a person unless they have "a reasonable belief" (What is that supposed to mean? - Pete) that the subject is communicating with a group responsible for the imminent threat, and that the information obtained "may be foreign intelligence information."

(They're killin' me here - you could drive a train through a definition that loose! - Pete)

People, this proposed "bill" isn't any kind of a law - it's a hunting license (and it's open season on whoever gets in their sights). The thrust of every bill now being considered has only two aims:

(1) to totally excuse the Presidents' existing violations of law (illegal actions) in regard to illegal wiretapping and

(2) to expand those already excessive powers.

Call your legislators before it's too late. Pete

I haven't seen this hard a push - and so many various bills - all aimed at

(a) totally excusing the illegal actions of a President and

(b) so totally focused on allowing even more privacy-and-freedom-destroying programs to be either initiated in the future or to bless existing secret programs that they've been able to keep a lid on

since the re-authorization of the 'patriot' act.

My today's E.F.F newsletter states the situation starkly and distinctly:

" EFFector 19.36: URGENT Action Alert - Last Chance to Stop the Surveillance Bills Before the Election!

For the last two months, your phone calls and letters have
helped hold back the dangerous surveillance bills in
Congress. These bills threaten vigorous judicial oversight
of the illegal NSA spying program and let the government off
the hook for breaking the law.

Without exaggeration, these bills represent the greatest
expansion of government surveillance power ever considered
by Congress.

Now various Senators are trying to rush these bills through
at the last minute, prior to Congress' October recess. Even
if you have called your Senator about these bills before, it
is critical that you do so again now and help stop the
illegal surveillance:
http://action.eff.org/fisa "

And that, my friends, is the truth. Pete

If you can read this digest of the facets of the various bills:

http://www.cdt.org/publications/policyposts/2006/17

and not reach for the phone to call both of your Senators, at least you'll get to see what you're implicitly approving of by your silence. Pete

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/28/congress.eavesdropping.ap/index.html

"House approves wiretap law before hitting campaign trail

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House approved a bill Thursday that would grant legal status to President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program with new restrictions.

....

the bill passed 232-191.

....

For its part, the White House announced it strongly supported passage of the House version but wasn't satisfied with it, adding that the administration "looks forward to working with Congress to strengthen the bill as it moves through the legislative process."

....

A federal judge in Detroit who struck down the warrantless surveillance program turned aside a government request for an indefinite stay Thursday. U.S. Judge Anna Diggs Taylor said the government could have a week to appeal."

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Well, enough Reps in the House caved to party-line pressure to pass Wilson's bill (or they simply didn't care or take the time to actually read the changes made to it).

Hopefully, the Senate will stall on even bringing it to a vote, or be unable to reconcile the vast differences between the House bill and the Senate bills until after November - it'll give them more time to actually hear from their constituents, maybe even realize what it is they're actually voting on.

Notice how even Wilson's bill isn't good enough for the White House? How it has to be "strengthened'? Perhaps it doesn't CYA the current Administration enough quite yet? Still a little too much "oversight" and "accountability" left in to suit the Pres? Wording not quite loose enough to sail the Queen Mary through?

And how is the Administration going to re-act to Judge Taylor's one-week deadline for appeal of her decision?

Want to see the true nature of your government?

Stay tuned. Pete

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,216367,00.html

Saturday, September 30, 2006
Congress Has Left the Building!
The president won't get a blank check on illegal spying today.

The Senate just adjourned and now both houses are in recess until 11/9--they'll come in that day for bills to be introduced, but there will be no votes that day. The Senate returns for votes starting at 2 p.m. on 11/13 for the "lame duck" session.

The Senate did NOT vote on the NSA bill (Frist or Wilson). They passed several conference reports which we believe did not include any bad warrantless wiretapping authorization or immunization provisions. Thanks to you!! Thanks to all of your efforts!!

This is a major victory, especially with the election so close and so much political pressure to push these bad ideas into law. Together, we've managed to hold off passage of legislation that would give the administration a blank check and a free pass on warrantless NSA spying on Americans.

The president's illegal wiretapping continues, but the law has not been changed to legalize warrantless spying on ordinary Americans. The country is indeed better off with the status quo than with legislation that would whitewash and ratify this spying. As you know, the president already has ample legal authorities to track and wiretap suspected terrorists--what he and no president should have is the power to unilaterally, secretly, and indefinitely wiretap Americans without court oversight of individual warrants to safeguard our fundamental rights to privacy, liberty and due process of law.

It has been a pitched battle, but today we have prevailed! And Congress has left town without gutting the statutory protections that preserve our Fourth Amendment rights. The vote on the Wilson bill was closer than on the Patriot Act reauthorization, and friends of the Fourth Amendment in Congress have resisted efforts to make these NSA bills into law this week. We're seeing a growing recognition of the need for checks and balances, and now we must build on that.

We have work to do later next week and in October before Congress's lame duck session to make sure people understand what blank checks the White House-Wilson and Frist bills are.

But for now we should savor this. And rest.

With deepest gratitude,

Lisa

Posted by Lisa Graves, ACLU Legislative Counsel in Illegal Spying at 03:27 |

=================================================

A temporary respite - I'll enjoy that. I thank every single one of you who contacted your Reps (either way). Pete

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/04/domestic.spying.ap/index.html

"Court allows NSA surveillance program during appeal"

=======================================================

While we can't do anything about the course this will take through the Judiciary system, we can do everything in our power to make sure that the current Administration does not get a free pass due to any laws getting passed that will allow them to claim retroactive immunity from past, present or future legal actions.

That part's still all up to us. Pete