Where Are You Headed To Watch The FISA Ball Drop?

Via Greenwald, the wingnut welfare operation known as the Heritage Foundation put up a FISA Countdown clock to mark the sunset of the extension to the Protect America Act.



Why are they broadcasting this to our enemies? Do they hate freedom so much that they are letting Osama know when he can start going into AOL chat rooms with impunity?

The truth about this is somewhat, er, less dramatic.

Many intelligence scholars and analysts outside the government say that today's expiration of certain temporary domestic wiretapping laws will have little effect on national security, despite warnings to the contrary by the White House and Capitol Hill Republican leaders.

With the Protect America Act expiring this weekend, domestic wiretapping rules will revert to the 30-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which requires the government to obtain a warrant from a special court to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance in the United States.

The original FISA law, these experts say, provides the necessary tools for the intelligence community to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists.

Why do I quote articles that hate America? And from that noted America-hating organization, the Washington Times, no less?

Meanwhile, if you want to know why this fight is taking place, simply direct your eyes to this article which shows how the FBI mistakenly picked up all the email messages from an entire computer network, including hundreds or even thousands from innocent Americans. After this was caught, the records from those emails that weren't supposed to be captured were all destroyed. It's a technique called minimization.

The President wanted minimization procedures taken out of this FISA bill.

Just a reminder. This isn't about terrorism, or defending the country, this is about a group in the White House that wants near-dictatorial powers for themselves. And they want to humiliate their opponents as they get them. It's all about creating a culture of fear to push a radical far-right agenda.