Spy Kids 3D - An Insta-hoglets Special

Wow. Didn't Mad King George put his royal foot royally in it this time? Here are some of the bloggy voices who have interesting takes on the whole Snoopgate thang.

Start with Shakespeare's Sister - because that's often the best place to start. She has the works, including Boxer's asking questions about impeachment as well as the big news that Rep. Conyers has introduced resolutions to censure Bush and Cheney for abuse of power and to create a Select Committee with subpoena authority to investigate the administration’s misconduct with regard to the Iraq war and report on possible impeachable offenses.

Scott Shields at MyDD has a great write-up of Senator Jay Rockefeller's 2003 letter to Vice President Cheney, which gives the lie to Dick Vader's claim that the Senate was fully briefed on warrantless snooping methods.

DefenseTech gets emails from former spooks who are just as upset as us common folks.

"It's drilled into you from minute one that you should not ever, ever, ever, under any fucking circumstances turn this massive apparatus on an American citizen," one source says. "You do a lot of weird shit. But at least you don't fuck with your own people."

The Heretik thinks there may be some new technology involved in the wiretaps that is a major reason behind the lack of warrant getting. He says

The idea that the Bush Administration needed to bypass the courts to get wiretaps quickly makes no sense; under the current system, you can start eavesdropping, and get a warrant later. The notion that disclosing the surveillance would somehow tip off potential terrorists is laughable, too; Al Qaeda types know they're being monitored.

I just think paranoid George didn't want to share his secrets with the Brits.

Arlen Specter intends to question Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. The nominee will be expected to comment on the revelation that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to monitor the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens without seeking a court order.

Meanwhile, The Right Wing Nut House lives up to its name, calling Newsweek's Jonathan Alter a "pig". Welcome to the illustrious Order Of Feral Hogs, Jonathon!

Oh and what exactly does Rick Moran of the above named website mean by these lines?

I hope the President has noticed this. The next 11 months he will be fighting for his political life and, in no small way, the life of this Republic. To allow this bunch of power mad hysterics to have their hands on the levers of government would be a disaster of the first magnitude.

Is he really exhorting Bush to deny the political succession if a Dem wins in '08? I rather think he is.

Bush might just heed Moran's suggestion. After all, what's to stop him? Tapped observed:

To his great, lasting credit, a journalist asked the president directly this morning what limits he thinks exist on his administration's ability to circumvent U.S. law, given the reasoning he has offered in justification of the domestic spying policy. Bush got very testy at this question, and basically said that the existing checks on his ability to circumvent U.S. law consisted of the oath he took to uphold the law and the requirement he honors to inform relevant members of Congress of such policies in classified briefings. Which basically means the only real restriction on the president's ability to aggrandize executive power in the name of fighting terror is the Bible he swore on.

Does anyone remember Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tx) warning that Bush wanted an easy way to declare martial law?

Is it Christmas or Hallow'een?