Specter Won't Subpoena Telecom Executives

[Eugene]

Specter Won't Subpoena Telecom Executives

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

(06-06) 15:20 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

Phone company executives won't be grilled by a Senate panel anytime soon about their roles
in the Bush administration's eavesdropping program.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Tuesday he will hold off
subpoenaing the telecommunications chiefs while he works with the White House on his
legislation that would ask a secretive federal court to review the constitutionality of Bush's
surveillance operations.

Democrats accused Specter of abdicating Congress' oversight responsibilities.

"Why don't we just recess for the rest of the year?" the committee's top Democrat, Sen.
Pat Leahy of Vermont, asked sarcastically. "Vice President Cheney will just tell the nation
what laws we'll have."

<snip>

Full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/06/national/w152043D54.DTL

[stepnw1f]

1. Of Course Not... He's a Wussy GOP Tool

just like the rest of them. They have the power and yet, they allow corporations to rape our own country and steal tax payers' money. I fucking hate the GOP and their conservatives. They make me sick.

[Dr Fate]

2. And Democrats wont go on TV and accuse him of "covering up crimes" either

Will they?

[AnOhioan]

3. Big surprise there

Specter is GOP...No intention of reigning in the administration.

[hedda_foil]

4. "Vice President Cheney will just tell the nation what laws we'll have."

Or more likely he won't tell the nation what laws we'll have.

[Paulie]

9. It was a good line though

Would look great on a TV ad against Specter. :)

[Virginia Dare]

5. Why would we make the corporate overlords answer to anything?

that's like calling your boss in for a meeting.

:eyes:

[Ilsa]

6. Yeah, CNN's Cafferty called him a "Gutless Republican Worm"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1367906&mesg_id=1367906

Great commentary! Cafferty reflected on how, with so much bravado, Spectre said some time ago that he was going to subpoena the execs to explain their participation in usurping Americans' civil liberties. At that time, Cafferty said that Spectre was the only thing standing between the American citizens and dictatorship. Well, that didn't last long.

[Joe Bacon]

7. Arlen, you're just a rock of Jell-O

On second thought, I don't want to insult Jell-O :-(

[Rex]

8. Arlen might not like the BFEE, but he DOES work for the

Establishment and will work against We the People if needed, every time. This is like when they didn't swear in oil tycoons; just another Establishment slave.

[jaysunb]

10. Pa. voters almost got rid of this scum

in 02. Of course his "win" came after he promised Rove he'd obey. :evilfrown:

[Just Me]

11. LMFAO!!! He's gonna ask a "secretive federal court" to do oversight?

Appointed by whom?

What a weak mo-fo!!! Hell, why doesn't he just openly declare the three branches of government no longer exist under this administration, that "the people" no longer have ANY fucking redress against executive tyranny and just get it the hell over with!!!! He's obviously SAFE, having caved to whathefuckever, and that's all he's concerned about. Why not just let the secret out, Specter.

The Democratic Republic has been KILLED!!! It's dead!!! We're gonna' RULE THE WORLD, OUR WAY. Burn the Constitution out in public rather than in a closest along with this administration.

Weak!!! WEAK, WEAK, WEAK human beings, these Republicans in charge. I just wish ONCE I'd see evidence of the operation of karma on these people!!!! JUST ONCE!!!!

On edit: oops cleaned up.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. Disgraceful! Specter likes to pretend he's independent --

but then he falls in line just like the rest of them.

[Lugnut]

13. Specter is useless

Secretive federal court indeed, Arlen.

[gratuitous]

14. How did I know Sen. Jello-spine would cave again?

What a surprise this is. Tough talk when the cameras roll, no action when it's time for subpoenas. Sure hope the corrupt Bush administration never comes after the rights of Jewish cancer patients, Arlen. But I guess that Magic Bullet Theory is still paying dividends, huh?

[Supersedeas]

15. Senator Unreliable--the go to guy if Cheney needs a YES man.

Is this an admission that Dimson is not calling the shots?

[Gunit_Sangh]

16. Senators won't grill phone companies

The fix is in.

WASHINGTON — A last-minute deal Tuesday with Vice President Cheney averted a possible confrontation between the Senate Judiciary Committee and U.S. telephone companies about the National Security Agency's database of customer calling records.

The deal was announced by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the committee chairman, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. They said Cheney, who plays a key role supervising NSA counterterrorism efforts, promised that the Bush administration would consider legislation proposed by Specter that would place a domestic surveillance program under scrutiny of a special federal court.

In return, Specter agreed to postpone indefinitely asking executives from the nation's telecommunication companies to testify about another program in which the NSA collects records of domestic calls.

<snip>
The deal prompted protests from Democratic lawmakers, who said the Republican-controlled Congress had refused to challenge the administration's expansion of presidential authority. "Why don't we just recess for the rest of the year, and the vice president will just tell the nation what laws we'll have?" said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, ranking Democrat on the committee.

Rest of story
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-06-06-senate-phone-companies_x.htm

[Norquist Nemesis]

17. Hell! They didn't "Grill" the oil execs either

let alone put them under oath! Why am I not suprised. *sigh*

[meegbear]

18. Now they can get back to more pressing issues ...

like the Justice Department trampling on THEIR rights by raiding Jefferson's office

[lovuian]

19. Republicans are USELESS and have shown that Cheney is the

dictator of the US so what good is Congress???

[Roland99]

20. Rubber Stamp Congress!

[Moderator]

21. K

[Veronica.Franco]

22. Senator slams Cheney for lobbying Congress on wiretaps

Senator slams Cheney for lobbying Congress on wiretaps

RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday June 7, 2006


Print This | Email This

In a terse and highly unusual letter to Vice President Cheney, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today rejected the Bush administration’s insistence that a secret wire tapping program being conducted on U.S. civilians by the National Security Agency is legal, complaining that efforts by the White House to stonewall Congressional inquiries into the program “denigrates the constitutional authority and responsibility of the Congress and specifically the Judiciary Committee to conduct oversight on constitutional issues," ROLL CALL reports Wednesday.

#
Specter’s anger peaked Tuesday after he learned that Cheney had been lobbying Republican members of the committee to “oppose any Judiciary Committee hearing, even a closed one” that involved telephone companies that have cooperated with the NSA. “I was surprised, to the say the least, that you sought to influence, really determine, the action of the Committee without calling me first, or at least calling me at some point,” Specter wrote in the letter, adding that “this was especially perplexing since we both attended the Republicans Senators caucus lunch yesterday and I walked directly in front of you on at least two occasions en route from the buffet to my table.”

Specter has authored legislation to require the NSA program be brought under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which would require wire taps be signed off on by a judge prior to being initiated.

Specter warned Cheney that this stonewalling must end and that “if an accommodation cannot be reached ... The Judiciary Committee will consider confronting the issue with subpoenas and enforcement of that compulsory process if it appears that a majority vote will be forthcoming.”

DEVELOPING....

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Senator_slams_Cheney_for_lobbying_Congress_0607.html

[OKNancy]

23. original source

http://www.rollcall.com/