FOIA request on Bush-authorized domestic spying

The Democratic Party is making a Freedom Of Information Act request for documents related to the presidential order Bush issued to the NSA to allow spying on US citizens. They’ve opened it up for others to sign on. I’ve already done so.

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        <p>It&#8217;s not a surprise to me that the administration authorized the NSA to spy domestically. It doesn&#8217;t surprise me, either, that Gonzales is engaging his great skill in stretching the letter of the law to provide the greatest possible impunity for the administration, claiming that the authorization was within the law. (It&#8217;s pretty clear to me&mdash;and a lot of people, regardless of party affiliation&mdash;that it <em>wasn&#8217;t</em>.)</p>

The fact that it doesn’t surprise me, though, doesn’t make it any less important not to let it slide. COINTELPRO has returned, but this time from the NSA and CIA instead of the FBI.

On the other hand, it *is* surprising—pleasantly so—that the Senate has been voting down some extremely bad ideas (renewing the USA PATRIOT Act, drilling in ANWR) and reauthorizing useful programs (e.g. the Violence Against Women Act, VAWA).

I should note that I won’t ordinarily be posting such online actions aside from the ones I consider of high importance. If you want to see the action messages I get, look to MoveOn, Planned Parenthood, and the Democratic Party.

This is also my first attempt at using TrackBacks. We’ll see how it works…