Please help me out. I'm at work so I don't have time to do much research, but I'm listening to the podcast of last night's Randi Rhodes Show (on Nova M) She had Jonathan Alter on to talk about FISA. Johnathan's take on the current FISA bill was that it is re-instating the 4th Amendment. That while the Congress was on break last August, the administration issued a warning that a terrorist attack was imminent and emergency legislation was needed to allow them to spy domestically without ANY restrictions, including the meager ones in place from FISA & the Patriot Act.
If this is true, then the current round of FISA is actually restoring protections, as eroded as they are.
Some Places to start:
- As I said above, it was the 06/26/08 episode of the Randi Rhodes Show on Nova M (subscription required)
- Randi has a bulletin board where she posts info about subjects on her show and people discus show topics and more.
Questions To Be Answered
- Were previous FISA restrictions actually lifted during the August break?
- Who was presiding during the break?
I'm sorry there isn't much yet. I'm hoping you can help me develop this, I'll check back when I can & hopefully update with more.