A blog poster named Rooh made an interesting observation in his Salon Letters' commentary.
He asked...if Comey was the Acting AG, what were Gonzalez and Card going to do (to make his signature legal if obtained)...backdate it?
A clear exposition about the legal status between Comey and Ashcroft might be quite interesting and meaningful.

The House passed a bill Friday that would provide congressional authorization for President Bush's warrantless domestic spying program.

Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, charged: "Hidden in the fine print are provisions which grant the administration authority to maintain permanent records on innocent U.S. citizens, granting the administration new authority to demand personal records without court review, and terminating any and all legal challenges to unlawful wiretapping."
Link

Today a staggering amount of personal information is being collected by the government on millions of Americans. This information is being used to compile a massive social network of American citizens that we are told is for the purpose of identifying terrorist cells. But others say it is easy for terrorists to avoid being caught up into this type of data-mining. I find it curious that what may be of little value in uncloaking terrorist cells is precisely the type of data-mining you would dream about for political election microtargeting.

When The New York Times first reported on Bush administration efforts to spy on Americans without warrants, the White House generally responded in two ways. One, blaming the press for disclosing the programs. And two, claiming that the programs were necessary to protect the country so that another 9/11 doesn't happen. But a report this weekend by Bloomberg's Andrew Harris thoroughly undercuts the President's spin.

The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.

``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.'' [emphasis added]

At this stage, it is important to note that there are only allegations that the Bush administration began spying on Americans before 9/11. But should these allegations pan out -- or even if the White House is in some way able to convince the courts to throw out this lawsuit -- it's not clear to me that the President will ever be able to win back the trust and faith of the American people. The recent revelations out of California -- that the state's Office of Homeland Security was spying on political dissenters -- only underscore this.

No matter how much Republicans try to rattle their saber on the issue of Iraq in an attempt to pummel the Democrats into submission on all issues of national security, the Democrats cannot give in whatsoever. The Dems must stand up to President Bush and the Republican Congress and voice their disapprobation with the warrantless domestic program -- particularly if it began prior to September 11, 2001 -- and hold the Republicans responsible for their dishonest and reckless surveillance of countless Americans.

Have you all seen this?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060521/pl_n m/security_leaks_gonzalez_dc_1

 Valerie... who?  Oh but they.. someone... outed OUR uber secret DOMESTIC Spying!  How dare they!   1984 here we come!  Oh how I long to be like the old Soviet Empire!

GGGRRRR!!!!

   Sun May 21, 1:20 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal government appears to have the authority to prosecute journalists or newspapers for publishing classified information, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Sunday. The Justice Department is investigating who disclosed the government's secret domestic surveillance program to The New York Times, which broke the story in December.

More here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060521/pl_n m/security_leaks_gonzalez_dc_1

I wrote a brief email to Verizon expressing disgust at my phone records being given to the NSA, and this is what I am assuming is their form response (despite the personal touch from "Terry"). I guess I should just trust they're doing the right thing, since Terry says they have followed all the "statutes":

Dear A. Johnson,

Thank you for contacting the Verizon eCenter. My name is Terry, and I will be handling your request today. This message is in response to your email dated May 12, 2006. You inquired about the NSA news article . I will be happy to assist you.

We appreciate that the USA Today article and other reports about the possibility that the NSA is able to analyze local call data records is causing concern. Please be assured that Verizon places the highest value on protecting the privacy of our customers.

Anything to do with the NSA is of course highly classified, so we can not comment on whether or not the news article causing concern is even accurate. But we can say that, to the extent that we cooperate with government authorities, we are confident that we are complying with all applicable statutes. We appreciate the continuing opportunity to provide you with service. Thank you for using Verizon. We appreciate your business. Sincerely, Terry Verizon eCenter

Late last night I posted a diary on a note I had received from a lawyer involved in a local "terrorism" (entrapment) case. I am reposting it here along with additional information from today's New York Times article.

Information are part of the argument that was denied can be found here.

Background information on the case can be found here.

The original diary and additional commentary below the fold....

A note from a friend involved in a local case challenging NSA spying was waiting for me when I got home tonight:

When I got back to my office after lunch today, I found out the government had submitted their "response" to our wiretap motion - it said, in its entirety:  "classified." Their entire legal memo was classified! I got a call from the NYCLU immediately, and spoke to [snip], who said this is completely unprecedented and wrong and illegal. So then we were talking about objecting to it, etc, and THEN the order came in from Judge McAvoy summarily denying the whole motion! No hearing, no amicus, no reply, NOTHING! AND the actual order was classified!! [snip] wasn't there and then I had to leave, but I just spoke to him on the phone. He said the NYT already called him and he told them what happened. He definitely wants to fight this very strongly - it's just so insane that it's hard to know exactly what to do next. But we want to let people know. At this point any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, [snip]"

More information on the case can be found in some of my old posts here and at The 10,000 Things.

More to come....

Peace,

Andrew

Right before the Holidays I submitted a resolution (H. Res. 644) of inquiry in the House requesting the President and directing the Attorney General to turn over to the House of Representatives documents relating to the authorization of this secret spying program on American citizens. Well today the House Judiciary Committee rejected that resolution and once again abdicated its responsibility to oversee the Bush Administration's potentially illegal domestic spying on American citizens.

Congress is rejecting its Constitutionally mandated responsibility to oversee the actions of the President, and is choosing instead to make itself irrelevant. The Bush Administration has provided us with a false choice. The notion that we have to choose between our national security and our civil liberties is an indefensible and dangerous precedent to set for this nation. We can, and must, have both.