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The NSA (National Security Agency) and AT&T program to wiretap and data-mine American’s internet and telephone communications is both astonishingly massive and unquestionably illegal. Thankfully, the class-action lawsuit filed by the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation — based just around the corner from me on Mission Street) threatens to bring these crimes to light, which is precisely why we see such frantic attempts by both the Bush administration and AT&T’s lawyers and lobbyists to prevent the truth from ever seeing the light of day.

Their wish is either a dismissal of the lawsuit (no luck so far) or retroactive immunity (where Congress gives a free-pass on seven years of blatantly illegal intrusion into the lives of innocent Americans — still a very real possibility given how corporate money has thoroughly corrupted Congress). Clearly, the Bush administration knows that protecting AT&T saves their collective ass as well. For both parties, the cost of getting caught is immense.

Earlier today, Glenn Greenwald interviewed Cindy Cohn, EFF’s lead counsel in the AT&T lawsuit. Their discussion brings a new level of clarity and coherence to the story. Specifically, the case against AT&T is clear, as Cohn states:

We have evidence of an NSA-controlled room in the Folsom Street AT&T facilities in San Francisco. We have evidence that AT&T diverted copies of everyone’s Internet traffic into that room. And we know that there’s very sophisticated equipment in that room that is capable of doing real-time analysis of the Internet traffic that is getting routed into there.

For most of our legal claims, that’s enough to win, and we’re done.

And yes, for those of you who follow my humble blog with any regularity, you’ll recall that she is speaking of the building right outside my home in San Francisco. Sweet.

AT&T’s lawyers have mounted an argument that paints their illegal activities as a “good faith” effort to help the Bush administration fight terrorism. In a word, bullshit. Cohn continues:

Remember, these phone companies are very sophisticated about these FISA laws and the other laws that explain how and when they can cooperate with law enforcement. These aren’t some rouges. This isn’t Joe’s Phone Company. They are very sophisticated and know the law better than almost everyone.

But even if they didn’t, I don’t think it takes a lot of thought to wonder: “huh, the FISA law says that the exclusive means by which the Government can get information is either by a warrant or a short-term certification from the Attorney General in an emergency situation. Huh - do either of these two things justify ongoing wholesale surveillance of all of our customers for five years and counting?”

The answer to that has to be “no.” I don’t think you even need a law degree to figure that one out.

Nor even a college degree, as I can attest. Face it, there’s nothing complicated about it, which is why we see such a sustained campaign to find a way out of this mess…

AT&T is desperately trying to buy immunity in Congress, while Bush is doing everything he can to ratchet up the fear of another terrorist attack that will come the moment he can no longer spy on us, and neither one seems to have any shame whatsoever (no surprise there). If you weren’t already shocked and appalled by their brazen disregard for the rule of law, spend a few minutes reading the discussion between Greenwald and Cohn. It’s enough to make your blood boil.

Let’s see. There’s the iPhone. Granted, that’s almost entirely Apple, but they did need a carrier for the first version, and Ma Bell stepped up. Then there’s AT&T Park, one of the most picturesque ballparks in America, in spite of being home of the woeful San Francisco Giants. And now there’s a fresh batch of Wes Anderson directed commercials, thanks to goldenfiddle from kottke for the tip.

I heard one of them in the background yesterday, but didn’t catch the video, only the story-line and absurd amalgamation of cities and places at the end. All in all, very clever, but nothing without the trademark Wes Anderson seamless movement from scene to scene to pull it all together. Roll the tape:

Typical Wes Anderson brilliance.

As for the dark side of AT&T, see the inimitable emptywheel Marcy Wheeler, at The Next Hurrah for a quick rundown:

Back in June, the Bush Administration invited one of AT&T’s key lobbyists, Ed Gillespie, to serve as White House counselor. A few weeks after that, BushCo expanded AT&T’s resident lobbyist’s role to include most of Karl Rove’s portfolio. Just days after Gillespie took over that role, the DOJ made an unusual intervention into the FCC’s request for comments on Net Neutrality, weighing against Net Neutrality.

Well today, one of AT&T’s former key attorneys, Peter Keisler, just took over the Department of Justice.

…

Basically, Bush just gave AT&T the ability to have its long-time lawyer give it legal authority to collaborate with the government to spy on citizens.

And in case you’re worried that AT&T is stuck with no good legal representation, having lost Keisler, rest assured. You see, former Associate White House Counsel Brad Berenson (who also happens to be Kyle Sampson and Susan Ralston’s lawyer) has taken over for Keisler and is working on the AT&T case, among other things.

Reaching back a week for this gem, on the matter of our esteemed former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his desperate attempts to bury the warrantless domestic spying fiasco:

And finally, it adds another reason why telecom companies are anxious to get immunity for their work on the Administration’s warrantless wiretap program. That’s because some of that wiretapping was based on analysis the telecom companies are already doing on us.

…

You see, when these lawsuits go forward, we’ll have a sense not just of how the telecom companies are complicit in the government’s spying on us—but how much they’re already spying on us, anyway.

Luckily, all of AT&T’s and the Bush administration’s “alleged” efforts to spy on their customers and citizens takes place just right outside my front door at 611 Folsom Street. Thanks, fellas. I feel much safer already.

On the often overlooked and seldom discussed fact that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove in particular relied on an inherently weak and thoroughly obedient Alberto Gonzales to lend an imprint of propriety to their rampant lawlessness, Sidney Blumenthal saidbest:

From the beginning of his rise with George W. Bush until the day of his abrupt resignation, Alberto Gonzales was anointed, directed and protected by Karl Rove. At the Department of Justice, Gonzales served as Rove’s figurehead. In the real line of authority, the attorney general, a constitutional officer, reported to the White House political aide. Bush did not nickname Gonzales “Fredo,” after the weak brother in “The Godfather,” without reason.

As White House counsel and attorney general, Gonzales operated as the rubber stamp of the two great goals of the Bush presidency — the concentration of unaccountable power in the executive and the subordination of executive departments and agencies to partisan political imperatives. Vice President Cheney directed the project for the imperial presidency, while Rove took charge of the top-down politicization of the federal government. Gonzales dutifully signed memos abrogating the Geneva Conventions against torture, calling them “quaint,” and approved the dismissal of U.S. attorneys for insufficient partisan zeal.

Fittingly, his routine indifference to matters right and wrong, to say nothing of legal and illegal, was not his downfall. Rather, Gonzales is now leaving office due to his inability to keep up the barest semblance of competency in his job and coherence in the face of his critics. Let’s face it, he failed to register even a modicum of respect from his own Republican party, which is a pretty low bar indeed!

In the end, it all comes down to keeping up appearances. That, of course, was once thought to be Rove’s one true gift, but now like nearly everything else he has touched — in this case propping up a man who had no business being Attorney General — his ultimate undoing. And that is precisely why the real story here has nothing to do with Gonzales…

So make no mistake, Gonzales is not leaving because of Rove, rather it is Rove who had to leave because of Gonzales. Don’t be fooled by the inversion, and the implied causality here. This is due to a gross miscalculation on Rove’s part — that Gonzales could lie to Congress with impunity — necessitating yet another elaborate cover story to escape his crimes. I have to wonder if Bush has even pieced this one together yet.

As thrilled as I am to see them both go, and believe me I am ecstatic, I sincerely hope we haven’t seen the last of them just yet. Congress must continue to press these two and hold them accountability for all of their lies told and laws broken. That is truly the only way we can prevent this absurdity from ever happening again.

In an especially biting rant on the ease in which the vast majority of Americans can be lulled into sleep by such trivial pursuits, while the financial markets and government institutions slowly collapse under the weight of their own corruption, Jim Kunstler saidbest:

Of course, all that creates a problem for the masses of human beings who theoretically support themselves by working to produce new things of value to be bought and sold. But let them watch Nascar! Let’s take whatever little remains of our tax revenues (or bonding ability) and build a dozen more speedway ovals around the country, and tweak the stock car engines so those suckers can run on ethanol, and shower the fans with Little Debbie snack cakes as they count the laps. Bring on Britney Spears or Paris Hilton at half-time (do they have half-time in Nascar?) and let Justin Timberlake cut their hearts out on the hood of a Dodge Avenger. Believe me, the public will be so deliriously entranced by the spectacle, they won’t notice anything else going on in the background of our nation.

This is how America enters the Long Emergency — in a Nascar rapture, with Jesus directing the pit crews and the Holy Ghost working the barbeque concession.

To wit, Michael Vick’s plea is the top story (old news) on the day in which Alberto Gonzales resigns to spend more time with his lawyer (big, big new news). Wake up, America.

On the wisdom of impeaching Alberto Gonzales as a means to uncover much greater crimes committed by George W. Bush and his administration, Anonymous Liberal saidbest:

The focus on Gonzales’ perjury has already paid dividends by forcing the Bush Administration to leak additional important facts about the NSA program to various news outlets in an effort to defend Gonzales. This is how scandals unravel. You find a thread and you pull it. That’s what happened in Watergate.

Nothing happens unless you create leverage and use it to pry the truth out. Gonzales’ lies may pale in significance to the underlying conduct at issue here, but they are also something concrete, something that can be seized upon to put pressure on the White House. We’re never going to get to the underlying truth unless we have some means of forcing the issue.

Bush knows that he cannot afford to lose Gonzales, but he is quickly running out of room to maneuver. His administration is clearly in a panic, frantically trying to make this issue go away, yet each successive twist to the story only ratchets up the pressure. Democrats in the House are wise to move on impeachment now. They must force Bush to make another move he can ill afford…

To be fair, this is only the first of many battles to come, but it is an important one. We have the truth on our side, as well as the authority to demand it, but more importantly we have a clear and compelling emotional and moral story-line. Gonzales’ conduct is beyond indefensible, even for the most jaded Republicans in Congress, so we must continue to force Bush and Dick Cheney to publicly back him. They cannot win that game without destroying what little credibility they have left.

I knew it, and wished I would have said it then. Can someone, anyone, please tell me why we now must find the “facts” buried on the opinion pages, while innuendo and spin masquerade parade unchallenged by the truth?

Digby, as usual, cuts through the clutter and puts the entire Bush presidency into focus (my emphasis in bold):

We can impeach and maybe we will. And maybe we’ll remove Bush and Cheney and Gonzales and send a powerful message about the usurpation of the constitution. But no matter what, this is ultimately something the people have to rectify at the ballot box. All constitutional power derives from us. We are the ones who have to make a stand, not just 67 men and women in the Senate. We must vote them out. And we must keep them out until this radical conservative movement is so discredited that they can never again take the radical step of ruling this nation with one president and 34 obedient senators as if they were ordained by God instead of the people of this nation.

I would hope that everyone can see that presidential impeachment isn’t an end in itself. It’s a very serious intervention by the congress into the heart of our democratic system — it seeks to remove a duly elected president and it simply must be ratified by the people or we will have weakened the constitution even more by doing it. It is elections that are the foundation of democracy and what gives real legitimacy to the government. Surely if we believe it is the Democratic congress’ duty to impeach, we must also believe it is our duty to ensure that these people are repudiated by the citizens in no uncertain terms.

No matter what happens in the congress over the next year, I hope that everyone recognizes that the single most important thing that has to happen is that we kick the Republican party so far out of power they have to have a passport to get back in.

I am far from a student of history, but even I now realize that we must never rest when it comes to projecting our voices, protecting our rights, and protesting endlessly when either one is trampled.

This is not a Democratic issue, this is an American issue. They — meaning Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, and the entire Republican party — have so fundamentally perverted what it means to be an American. We cannot and must not let it stand. The truth must be told, the air must be cleared; then we must continue to tell the truth and keep the air clear, so that we are never again confronted with such a brazen attack on our way of life.

These men are not patriots, they are criminals. But they have not only wrapped themselves in the flag, they have justified their actions with God and the Bible. It will not be easy to break their spell on a good portion of America, but it must be done.

On the audacity of Alberto Gonzales, and his willful and shameless shilling for George W. Bush, the man to whom he owes his place in life, Glenn Greenwald saidbest:

That is what Alberto Gonzales does. He lies to protect the President. And the President will never fire him. Gonzales isn’t keeping his job despite his willingness to lie to Congress, but because of it. Congress has no choice but to act meaningfully — impeachment of Gonzales and a Special Prosecutor — and if they do not, then, I suppose, one could say that Congress deserves to be lied to.

Honestly, how can you watch this clip and not be dumbfounded blown away by the gall of this man?

It no longer matters whether Alberto Gonzales is a woeful idiot or a pigheaded liar. This man has no business in our government, let alone at the head of Justice Department. If he won’t resign and Bush won’t fire him, then he must be impeached. Now.