Key lawmaker calls spy program illegal (Harman "flip flops")

[gulfcoastliberal]

12-02) 04:00 PST Washington -- Rep. Jane Harman, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told a gathering of the American Bar Association on Friday that the Bush administration's secret wiretapping program for suspected terrorists is illegal.

Harman, D-Venice (Los Angeles County), who has become increasingly critical of President Bush's policies in recent months after her initial support for the Iraq war and her defense of the Patriot Act, also blasted the administration for refusing to provide legal opinions and authorizations for its wiretap program, interrogations policy and detentions of accused terrorists.

"The administration has too often operated under vague legal guidelines, pursuant to secret legal opinions generated by few and vetted by almost none," she said Friday.

House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, bypassed Harman in announcing that Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, will become chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the new Congress. Harman, who had been backed for the chairmanship by other conservative Democrats, apparently lost favor with some liberal Democrats for not being vigorous enough in challenging the administration's policies.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/02/MNGKFMO5VU1.DTL&feed=rss.news

Pelosi :yourock:

[gratuitous]

1. Welcome to the party, Jane

Was it our shouting it into your face the last five years that finally got you to recognize the criminality of this corrupt administration, or was it something else? I'd really like to know, because I've gotten rather hoarse.

[FogerRox]

2. 'bout time, sheesh.

[Doctor_J]

3. I guess Nancy won the cat fight

:eyes:

[Morgana LaFey]

6. Incredibly inappropriate term for what happened

Why make it sexist? It was a policy problem that the Speaker-Elect had with one of the Congresspeople. It wasn't about women fighting each other.

[ClassWarrior]

7. The poster was referencing a news article...

...that used that nasty expression in its headline to describe the Pelosi-Harmon situation (Yahoo! News, perhaps - I can't remember which Corporate Media Whorehouse it was). Didn't you notice the little :eyes:?

NGU.

[Morgana LaFey]

8. Uh, okay

If that's the case. And yes, I missed all the subtlety and nuance.

[ClassWarrior]

9. Honest mistake.

B-):thumbsup:

NGU.

[stevedeshazer]

4. Better late than never

She had me cringing more than once during her appearances on the Sunday shows.

[Senator]

5. See what caution gets you -- Now, if she were to Champion Impeachment

...she could take Nancy's job away from her...

...or even become the Dem Nominee for 2008.

Yes, really.

(listening AIPAC?)

--

[formercia]

10. Better late than never.

More Republicans need to flip too.