Murray Waas On Bush And Gonzales

From What Did Bush Tell Gonzales? by Murray Waas:

In March 2004, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales made a now-famous late-night visit to the hospital room of Attorney General John Ashcroft, seeking to get Ashcroft to sign a certification stating that the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program was legal. According to people familiar with statements recently made by Gonzales to federal investigators, Gonzales is now saying that George Bush personally directed him to make that hospital visit.

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From The Case of the Gonzales Notes by Murray Waas:

The Justice Department is investigating whether former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales created a set of fictitious notes so that President Bush would have a rationale for reauthorizing his warrantless eavesdropping program, according to sources close to the investigation.

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Freedom Of The Press?

From FBI Apologizes to Post, Times by Carrie Johnson:

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III apologized to two newspaper editors yesterday for what he said was a recently uncovered breach of their reporters' phone records in the course of a national security investigation nearly four years ago.

Mueller called the top editors at The Washington Post and the New York Times to express regret that agents had not followed proper procedures when they sought telephone records under a process that allowed them to bypass grand jury review in emergency cases.

The Justice Department's inspector general, who is reviewing the bureau's procedures in such cases, uncovered lapses that allowed FBI agents in 2004 to obtain telephone records of Post staff writer Ellen Nakashima, who was based in Jakarta, Indonesia, at the time. The FBI also obtained telephone records of an Indonesian researcher in the paper's Jakarta bureau, Natasha Tampubolon.

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I Am Glad I Am Not A Member Of Congress

After reading Dems Play FISA Right (Again?!) by Mike the Mad Biologist, my head hurts.

Unreasonable Searches And Seizures

Does Dick Cheney have more than one expression? If he does, I’ve never seen it. I think he has purposely had nerve surgery on his face so that he can say thinks like: “…wise decisions by the President of the United States…” without smiling or laughing. How else can you explain it?

Will Bush's illegal wiretapping be made legal?

Thanks to The Real News Network.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Amendment IV of The United States Constitution

The Bungling Bush Government At Work

Maybe those of us concerned with the government illegally tapping our phones and spying on us don’t need to worry so much. The buck doesn't stop at Bush's desk and it doesn't pay the phone bill. It's just on a fast track to Iraq.