A 10.0 on the Kinski-meter.

I'm simply going to toss this out, and I'm not the only one to be thinking along these lines.

There were eavesdropping and surveillance Programs established by a Secret Executive Order, written (at least in part) by John Yoo, in early 2002. We don't know the full scope of its activities.

The Programs were to be approved by the Attorney General *every 45 days* as being in compliance with law -- but the Programs did not fall under any review from the FISA Court.

Over March 11-12th, 2004, acting AG James Comey refused to approve the Programs as legal (Note:This was something John Ashcroft had done, like clockwork, for two years without demur).

Some aspect(s) of the Programs were in Comey's determination not lawful, and his feelings were strong enough to make him, and FBI Director Mueller, and other senior DoJ personnel, threaten to resign if the Programs were approved without some, unknown modification(s).

After the Keystone Kops routine between Ashcroft, Card, Comey and Gonzales at the hospital, and with Card and Bush at the White House, some changes were made in the Programs -- Bush, however, had already signed off and approved them without the Attorney General's signature. All this was kept in the family, without any word to Congress.

[Note: The New York Times had gotten wind of aspects of the surveillance Programs during 2004, but when the White House invoked needs of National Security, the Times sat on the story for a year or more.]

In December, 2005, The NYT -- when it appeared they were about to be scooped by another media agency -- printed a story which revealed (1)The existence of the secret 2002 Executive Order establishing the Programs; (2)The cooperation of nearly all U.S. telecomm, data-switching and hosting providers in harvesting data and voice communications, including the existence of specially-constructed facilities at the offices of these vendors, utilized by unidentified government personnel (in all probability from the NSA).

Due to the public revelations of the Programs, Bush admitted their existance -- however, he only admitted to inteception of communication between foreign nationals in communication with persons in the U.S., or with American citizens.

These specific items he referred to as the Terrorist Surveillance Program, or TSP -- and even though Bush finally agreed to place these activities under review of the FISA Court, they were only aspects of the large Programs.

And even these aspects were potentially illegal -- in January, 2007, an FISA Court judge refuse to approve a warrant or warrants which the government had applied for. This was apparently not revealed to the new Congress.

Bush did not reveal any other aspects of the wiretapping and surveillance Programs. That there are other aspects has been suspected -- buy Comey's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in MAy or 2007, and Gonzales' dissembling in July, gave even larger hints. Admiral McConnell's letter to Senator Specter of July 29th stated so, absolutely.

What, exactly, could be even more explosive that the Bush White House would fight so desperately to protect it?

The main question I'd like to raise is this: Does the administration's 'Programs' include large-scale data mining, on a scale that might capture nearly all digital (email) and voice traffic in or traveling through the United States?

And, here's the $64,000 question: Has that raw data, harvested from vendors and pass-through services, been processed or handled by private companies under contract to the government? Who in the administration, in the GOP, would have access to information that was being handled by a... private business?

Given the government's propensity to use contractors -- and this administration's use of 'private' intelligence networks organized by the OVP and at the DoD -- I would bet the answers are, yes, and, just about anyone Dick Cheney wanted to provide certain 'helpful' information to.

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The administration's eavesdropping and surveillance programs are the one area where there shouldn't be any question as to the absolute need for 4th Amendment guarantees.

From the beginning, Bush / Cheney haven't wanted the People, or the Congress who represent us, to know the full extent of the wiretap efforts.

The initial secret Executive Order of 2002, which set them in motion and was authored in part by John Yoo, asserted (according to the New York Times December 2005 article which revealed some of them -- and for which attorney Tamm is now being targeted) that presidential authority could create these programs... even if they violated the law, because what the president wanted had the force of law that trumped all others.

Mr Bush asserts Executive Privilege regarding the program, his right to be the sole defining authority for what is legal and what is not -- as he asserts that privilege over anything which threatens his grip, and Cheney's, on power.

If the Congress had stood firm on this latest FISA issue -- and said that the president is not the law, not a king, and that his notion if privilege is just the excuse of a criminal... if they would resist, if they would simply stand up for what was right, then it could be the beginning of the end of the rule of these people.

I'm deeply ashamed of the political party I've supported, since before I could vote (I was walking precincts for Robert Kennedy as a teenager). The Senate and House votes were despicable.

I'll do all I can -- raise money, walk door to door, and work -- to see the sixteen Senators who rolled over for this travesty thrown out on their ears, including my own -- that person hasn't just lost my trust; they've lost my vote.

I'm disgusted, dispirited, and angry.