I just read the NY Times article that Paul Daniel Ash found (thanks). It's not only government incompetency we have to worry about - we also have to worry about the idiot providers who cooperate unquestioningly:

F.B.I. officials blamed an “apparent miscommunication” with the unnamed Internet provider, which mistakenly turned over all the e-mail from a small e-mail domain for which it served as host.

n/t

As public opinion about the Iraq War turned south, the show's depiction of torture came to be seen as glorifying the practice in the wake of real-world reports of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques used on detainees....

As President Bush's approval ratings began to sink so did ratings for season six, which ran from January to May 2007, dropping steadily month by month....Undoubtedly "24" was showing its age, as all TV shows do, but the producers believed the public mood was quickening the decline.

It was a painful time. As allegations surfaced of prisoners being tortured by members of the U.S. military, producers felt themselves on the defensive. Mr. Gordon says he wasn't prepared for how strong the associations had grown between "24" and the growing political maelstrom....

The new season would introduce a female character, someone like Jack but at an earlier point in her career. Jack's made certain choices and is willing to pay the price, but this character's soul is still in play.

The writers decided to scrap the Counter Terrorist Unit, the government agency for which Jack worked for the first six seasons of the show. Instead Jack would go to Washington to address head-on the accusations that his tactics were out of line....

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120189888101136151.html

All quiet on Eastern (EST) front. DHS threat level remains at yellow. Standing down. Will proceed to supermarket. Over and out.

http://podcast.rbn.com/airam/airam/download/archive/2008/02/aass021708.mp3

~19 MB, FISA segment starts at ~37:00

via How Appealing

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court rejected a challenge Tuesday to the Bush administration's domestic spying program.

The justices' decision, issued without comment, is the latest setback to legal efforts to force disclosure of details of the warrantless wiretapping that began after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The American Civil Liberties Union wanted the court to allow a lawsuit by the group and individuals over the wiretapping program. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit, saying the plaintiffs could not prove their communications had been monitored.

The government has refused to turn over information about the closely guarded program that could reveal who has been under surveillance.

ACLU legal director Steven R. Shapiro has said his group is in a "Catch-22" because the government says the identities of people whose communications have been intercepted is secret. But only people who know they have been wiretapped can sue over the program, Shapiro has said....The case is ACLU v. NSA, 07-468.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SCOTUS_DOMESTIC_SPYING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

I can't despair yet (probably stupid, I know). There's still Al-Haramain v. Bush (Judge Walker has to decide whether or not FISA trumps state secrets privilege).

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco decided an important issue in the administration's favor Nov. 16 when it ruled that an accidentally released government document, purportedly showing wiretaps of an Islamic charity on the government's terrorist list, was so sensitive that even a lawyer's recollection of it couldn't be used in court....

But rather than dismissing the suit, the court returned the case to U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco and said he should decide whether Congress created an alternate route to challenge secret surveillance - a 1978 law regulating wiretapping of suspected foreign terrorists and spies.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/24/MN9GTGV7U.DTL

Legal documents here: http://www.eff.org/cases/al-haramain

Aren't jokes, parodies, etc. considered fair use?

Why aren't the Democrats pounding this? Aside from Reyes on NPR's Morning Edition today (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19226004), I haven't seen anything lately.

February 21, 2008

Hoyer Statement on Important FISA Meeting

WASHINGTON, DC - House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today after Republicans did not join a bicameral meeting on modernizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act:

“I am disappointed that House and Senate Republicans apparently instructed their staffs not to participate in today’s bicameral meeting on modernizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The decision to not participate, coupled with their vote against an extension of their bill - the Protect America Act - only serves to reinforce the perception that Republicans prefer to have a political issue rather than a strong new FISA bill in place as quickly as possible. Certainly Republicans do not really believe that the role of the House is to simply rubberstamp whatever bills the Senate passes.

“I am hopeful that Republicans will reconsider and join us in crafting a bipartisan FISA bill that protects our nation and our civil liberties. It is time to come together and work in the best interests of our nation’s security.”

http://democraticleader.house.gov/media/press.cfm?pressReleaseID=2224

I have not seen this reported in the MSM.

The Bush administration said yesterday that the government "lost intelligence information" because House Democrats allowed a surveillance law to expire last week, causing some telecommunications companies to refuse to cooperate with terrorism-related wiretapping orders.

But hours later, administration officials told lawmakers that the final holdout among the companies had relented and agreed to fully participate in the surveillance program, according to an official familiar with the issue.

The assertions and revisions marked the latest developments in the battle over the Protect America Act, a temporary surveillance law broadening the government's spying powers that expired last Saturday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/22/AR2008022202859.html