SENATE AIDS BUSH'S VIOLATIONS OF 4th AMENDMENT!!!

The information in the following article is an absolute outrage! The Senate Repubs are actually allowing Bush to continue violating the EXPRESS provision of the 4th Amendment which prohibits warrantless searches.

Why would they do this? I can only imagine that the Repubs are all so "beholden" to Bush/Rove for their very jobs, that their own self (preservation) interests outweigh their sworn obligations to uphold the laws of the United States of America. It is a dark time in our country, where basic freedoms, espressly set forth in the 4th Amendment are being whittled away by a despotic ruler. (Who would have thought that this could happen in the allegedly most free country in the world?) I am more than extremely saddened at this development.

How does the Federalist Society square this violation of our right to privacy with the express provisions of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Why do they ignore the very first line in the Constitution, which states; "We the people . . ."? Because they are not true Federalists. They are a front for the extreme Right Wing fascist elements who control the GOP. A travesty, to be sure. Read on

-Zel

Senate panel rejects spy probe

White House's assurances take air out of effort to investigate warrantless wiretaps

Charles Babington, Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post (Friday, February 17, 2006)

Summary

The Bush administration helped derail a Senate bid to investigate a warrantless eavesdropping program yesterday after signaling it would reject Congress's request to have former attorney general John D. Ashcroft and other officials testify about the program's legality. The actions underscored a dramatic and possibly permanent drop in momentum for a congressional inquiry, which had seemed likely two months ago.

Senate Democrats said the Republican-led Congress was abdicating its obligations to oversee a controversial program in which the National Security Agency has monitored perhaps thousands of phone calls and e-mails involving U.S. residents and foreign parties without obtaining warrants from a secret court that handles such matters.

"It is more than apparent to me that the White House has applied heavy pressure in recent days, in recent weeks, to prevent the committee from doing its job," Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the intelligence committee, said after the panel voted along party lines not to consider his motion for an investigation. "For the past three years, the Senate intelligence committee has avoided carrying out its oversight of our nation's intelligence programs whenever the White House becomes uncomfortable with the questions being asked," Rockefeller told reporters. "The very independence of this committee is called into question."

In December, two Republicans on the committee -- Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.) -- called for a congressional investigation of the NSA program. Yesterday, they supported the move that adjourned the meeting without voting on Rockefeller's motion.