Democratic House leadership successfully shepherded the (Responsible Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed and Effective) RESTORE Act through the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees and the bill will go to the full House next week. This bill would replace the temporary and flawed Protect America Act hastily passed before the August recess. 

In the RESTORE Act, Democrats rejected Bush's insistence that the bill must include retroactive immunity for telecoms that assisted the government in Bush's warrantless spying after September 11. 

Without this immunity provision, Bush threatens to veto the bill.  Bush and his Bushites keep whining that their surveillance programs have been legal.  Then the question is: if everything was done legally by the administration and the telecoms, why should they need retroactive immunity?

While the RESTORE Act revises the flawed provisions of the Protect America Act, it still does not protect civil liberties.  In a glaring disregard for the Fourth Amendment, it allows program warrants to proceed for a year.

Program warrants, also known as blanket or basket warrants allow the government to collect phone calls and emails from Americans without individual
warrants.  It is not a real warrant.  These types of warrants have been upheld as unconstitutional for violating the Fourth Amendment according to the ACLU.  So what is it doing in the RESTORE Act?

Why are the House Dems conceding to the monarch in the White House and Bushite Congressional Republicans by installing a provision, blanket warrants, that spits at the Constitution and has been previously upheld as unconstitutional in prior cases?  Dem leadership realizes that Bush will veto the bill because of the lack of retroactive immunity, so maybe they're playing a bluff.  But why play a bluff by disrespecting and ignoring the Fourth Amendment and civil liberties? 

Again, we have the Democratic Congressional majority frightened of being labeled soft on terrorism by a president whose poll numbers are in the cellar. In order to appear strong against terrorism, the Dems are willing to cast aside the Fourth Amendment.  Unbelievable!  They need a spine transplant.

It is precisely because Bush is a lame duck president that he is now even more dangerous than ever.  A Republican, Bruce Fein, has explained very well exactly what is wrong with the RESTORE Act. Congressional Dems might want to listen to his advice.