TEGWAR
The incomparable Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory is reporting today that Senate Majority Leader, former kitten-torturer and chief White House toady Bill Frist is threatening to re-structure the Senate Intelligence Committee if they vote to authorize hearings into the obvious lawbreaking of the Bush crime family's administration's foray into domestic wiretapping and spying on Americans using the NSA. The committee is scheduled to vote on Sen. Jay Rockefeller's proposal to investigate the matter on Tuesday, March 7, and with all the Democrats and at least one or more Republican (Olympia Snowe; possibly Chuck Hagel and Mike DeWine as well) on the committee lined up to vote in favor of the resolution, Frist is attempting to change the rules of the game in the middle of play. It's a typical Republican tactic -- if you can't lie, stall and stonewall your way our of a scandal, just change the rules to accommodate your side. The White House is deeply afraid of what any investigation might uncover, Karl Rove is threatening and bribing Senators behind the scenes with demonic abandon, and Bush apologists everywhere are insisting that, like Nixon before him, this president is somehow above the law, so Frist, in an effort to keep the Intelligence Committe from performing its duty, is playing Calvinball with Congress.
Here's Glenn:
With the March 7 vote looming on Sen. Rockefeller’s motion for the Committee to finally hold hearings to investigate the scope and nature of the Administration’s NSA warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens -- and with several Committee Republicans indicating their intent to vote for hearings -- Majority Leader Bill Frist threatened the Committee yesterday and warned it not to hold any hearings.
Frist specifically threatened that if the Committee holds NSA hearings, he will fundamentally change the 30-year-old structure and operation of the Senate Intelligence Committee so as to make it like every other Committee, i.e., controlled and dominated by Republicans to advance and rubber-stamp the White House’s agenda rather than exercise meaningful and nonpartisan oversight.
Yet again, Republicans are threatening to radically change long-standing rules for how our government operates all because they cannot manipulate the result they want. From redistricting games to changing the filibuster rules, when Republicans are incapable (even with their majorities) of manipulating the political result they want, they use their majority status to change how our government works in order to ensure the desired political outcome.
While Frist’s threat here is, in one sense, of a piece with those tactics, it is actually quite extraordinary and motivated by a particularly corrupt objective. The whole purpose of the Senate Intelligence Committee – the only reason why it exists – is to exercise oversight over controversial intelligence activities. Whatever else one might want to say about the NSA warrantless eavesdropping program, it is controversial on every front. There is no conceivable rationale for the Intelligence Committee not to hold hearings.
Why this is not a major story in America's corporate press is anybody's guess (and Glenn touches on that oversight in his post as well). This is an issue that should, by all rights, be front-page news from now until it is resolved. (That I believe the resolution of the issue should include impeachment and jail to the Chief should not be news to anyone who has ever read this blog, however.) But for some reason, this extraordinary move by Frist is getting little to no play in the media. Apparently it's up to those of us in the blogosphere and the activist community to get the word out. So consider yourselves alerted, and wherever possible, try to do something to call attention to this disgraceful, desperate measure about to be undertaken. Post something on your own blog, write a letter to the editor, call or write your representative in Congress, do something!
As with all of Glenn's essays, this post is on the long side, but eminently readable, cogent and well-referenced. Not to mention updated whenever he receives new information or wants to clarify a point. I urge all of you to take a look, and then take action.
*TEGWAR: The Excellent Game Without Any Rules, from the movie Brian's Song.
Here's Glenn:
With the March 7 vote looming on Sen. Rockefeller’s motion for the Committee to finally hold hearings to investigate the scope and nature of the Administration’s NSA warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens -- and with several Committee Republicans indicating their intent to vote for hearings -- Majority Leader Bill Frist threatened the Committee yesterday and warned it not to hold any hearings.
Frist specifically threatened that if the Committee holds NSA hearings, he will fundamentally change the 30-year-old structure and operation of the Senate Intelligence Committee so as to make it like every other Committee, i.e., controlled and dominated by Republicans to advance and rubber-stamp the White House’s agenda rather than exercise meaningful and nonpartisan oversight.
Yet again, Republicans are threatening to radically change long-standing rules for how our government operates all because they cannot manipulate the result they want. From redistricting games to changing the filibuster rules, when Republicans are incapable (even with their majorities) of manipulating the political result they want, they use their majority status to change how our government works in order to ensure the desired political outcome.
While Frist’s threat here is, in one sense, of a piece with those tactics, it is actually quite extraordinary and motivated by a particularly corrupt objective. The whole purpose of the Senate Intelligence Committee – the only reason why it exists – is to exercise oversight over controversial intelligence activities. Whatever else one might want to say about the NSA warrantless eavesdropping program, it is controversial on every front. There is no conceivable rationale for the Intelligence Committee not to hold hearings.
Why this is not a major story in America's corporate press is anybody's guess (and Glenn touches on that oversight in his post as well). This is an issue that should, by all rights, be front-page news from now until it is resolved. (That I believe the resolution of the issue should include impeachment and jail to the Chief should not be news to anyone who has ever read this blog, however.) But for some reason, this extraordinary move by Frist is getting little to no play in the media. Apparently it's up to those of us in the blogosphere and the activist community to get the word out. So consider yourselves alerted, and wherever possible, try to do something to call attention to this disgraceful, desperate measure about to be undertaken. Post something on your own blog, write a letter to the editor, call or write your representative in Congress, do something!
As with all of Glenn's essays, this post is on the long side, but eminently readable, cogent and well-referenced. Not to mention updated whenever he receives new information or wants to clarify a point. I urge all of you to take a look, and then take action.
*TEGWAR: The Excellent Game Without Any Rules, from the movie Brian's Song.
posted by Generik at 11:55 AM
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