Conyers

He's filed an amicus brief in two cases challenging the illegal NSA domestic spying. 71 Democratic Congressmen co-signed it. He cites the former NSA Director Bobby Ray Inman who has said this:

"This activity is not authorized," Inman said, as part of a panel discussion on eavesdropping that was sponsored by The New York Public Library. The Bush administration "need(s) to get away from the idea that they can continue doing it."

The Right is trying to make Conyers into a boogeyman because he actually understands his job description, a large part of which is providing oversight.

... and, here's Matthew Yglesias:

It's important to link this up to the broader chain. One thing the Bush administration says it can do with this meta-data is to start tapping your calls and listening in, without getting a warrant from anyone. Having listened in on your calls, the administration asserts that if it doesn't like what it hears, it has the authority to detain you indefinitely without trial or charges, torture you until you confess or implicate others, extradite you to a Third World country to be tortured, ship you to a secret prison facility in Eastern Europe, or all of the above. If, having kidnapped and tortured you, the administration determines you were innocent after all, you'll be dumped without papers somewhere in Albania left to fend for yourself.

Pre-9/11 mindset!