for Guest - Thu, 06/19/2008 - 20:15
Breaking: 'The lawsuits will be dismissed.'
Deal reached in Congress: Expand govt powers on wiretapping, grant immunity to telecoms 20 Jun 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/washington/20fisacnd.html?_r=1&oref=sl...
Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress struck a deal on Thursday to overhaul the rules on the government’s wiretapping powers and provide what amounts to legal immunity to the phone companies that took part in President [sic] Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The deal, expanding the government's powers in some key respects, would allow intelligence officials to use broad warrants to eavesdrop on foreign targets and conduct emergency wiretaps without court orders on American targets for a week if it is determined important national security information would be lost otherwise...
Senator Russ Feingold, the Wisconsin Democrat who pushed unsuccessfully for more civil liberties safeguards in the plan, called the deal "a capitulation" by his fellow DemocRATs.
