Hey, DU'ers whats up with the Wire Tap Case??

[MissWaverly]

Remember when Judge Ann Taylor Diggs found wiretapping illegal, didn't the govt. ask for a stay
so they could sort things out, I thought that stay was for the beginning of September, so what
is going on now, is this just another thing Bush will push down the memory hole?

[babylonsister]

1. Nothing that I've heard, yet.

There was this little nugget released today:

Reid: Specter NSA Bill Dead Updated at 8:45 PM


mcjoan(Daily Kos)
Senator Reid held a conference call with a number of bloggers today to catch us up to speed on Senate action in the waning days of the session. The first question out of the gates was Glenn Greenwald on Specter's warrantless wiretapping legislation:

I asked him about the Specter bill -- specifically, what the Democrats' strategy was for preventing its enactment (I wanted to wait until the second question but I couldn't contain myself).

Sen. Reid stated flatly and unequivocally -- and I'm paraphrasing -- that the Specter bill was not going anywhere, that it would not be enacted. When I asked him how he could be so certain about that -- I asked where the 51 votes against the Specter bill would come from in light of the support it enjoys the support of both the White House and at least some of the ostensibly "independent" Republicans, along with the fact that all 10 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted for it (at least voted to send it to the Senate floor) -- Sen. Reid explained that our system does not allow every bill to be enacted simply because a majority supports it, that Senate rules allow minority rights to be protected, clearly alluding to a filibuster.

I will confirm Reid's assurance that the Specter bill was not going to be passed. He said "we're not going to let that happen." When Glenn pressed him further about the possibility of a filibuster, he said that he didn't think it would be necessary, but again, they would not let the bill become law.

Given the already expressed bipartisan opposition to the Specter legisation in the Senate, it seems that a filibuster will be unnecessary. Today's Armed Services Committee rebuke of Bush on the detainee bill is further indication that some GOP Senators are finally ready to break ranks. On the House side, some Judiciary Committee GOP members have rebelled agains the White House position:

more
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/9/14/184331/715

Sen. Reid: The Specter bill will NOT be enacted. Period.
Glenn Greenwald
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/09/sen-reid-spe...

[MissWaverly]

2. Thanks Babylon Sister, looks like Bush wants to get ahead

of the curve, if this is ruled illegal, he wants Congress to give him permission to flaunt the
law by saying he is above the law.

[babylonsister]

3. HE's been scrambling today. HIS senate shut him down on

torture issues today, Colin Powell agreed with them, and he's trying to get the War Crimes Act amended ( think he sees the Dem writing on the wall):

Bush confesses to war crimes

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1185.sh ...

George W. Bush's speech on September 6 amounted to a public confession to criminal violations of the 1996 War Crimes Act. He implicitly admitted authorizing disappearances, extrajudicial imprisonment, torture, transporting prisoners between countries and denying the International Committee of the Red Cross access to prisoners.

These are all serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. The War Crimes Act makes grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and all violations of Common Article 3 punishable by fines, imprisonment or, if death results to the victim, the death penalty.

At the same time, Bush asked Congress to amend the War Crimes Act in order to retroactively protect him and other U.S. officials from prosecution for these crimes, and from civil lawsuits arising from them. He justified this on the basis that "our military and intelligence personnel involved in capturing and questioning terrorists could now be at risk of prosecution under the War Crimes Act . . . ," and insisted that “passing this legislation ought to be the top priority” for Congress between now and the election in November.

His profession of concern for military and intelligence personnel was utterly misleading. Military personnel charged with war crimes have always been, and continue to be, prosecuted under the Universal Code of Military Justice rather than the War Crimes Act; and the likelihood of CIA interrogators being identified and prosecuted under the act is remote -- they are protected by the secrecy that surrounds all CIA operations.

more...

[MissWaverly]

4. I think that Congress needs to objectively look at this

we can't give blanket support for these actions because they are against everything America stands
for. If he had gone to congress and asked for their input; they would have told him that. Instead, he went around Congress, did whatever he pleased and now wants no accountability.