Facilitating fascism

Funny, it seems like just last month, the only thing standing between us and fascim was Arlen Spector. Oh wait, that was last month, before Cheney and his minions browbeat Arl into submission. You can forget about that now. Guess we're on our own. Arlen has his own little NSA bill in the works.

Mr. Specter says his bill would impose judicial review on domestic spying by giving the special court created by FISA power to rule on the constitutionality of the one program that Mr. Bush has acknowledged. But the review would be optional. Mr. Specter's bill would eliminate the vital principle that FISA's rules are the only legal way to eavesdrop on Americans' telephone calls and e-mail. It would give the president power to conduct surveillance under FISA "or under the constitutional authority of the executive." That merely reinforces Mr. Bush's claim that he is the sole judge of what powers he has, and how he exercises them.

What's really infuriating is that we're footing the bill for these guys to waste time fooling around with this political theater of the absurd. They should be investigating the alleged legality of the program, not trying to legalize unconstitutional conduct after the fact and pave the way for greater transgressions in the future.