Forward!

I'm pretty sure that there has seldom, if ever been enough intelligence or competence in the various "oversight" committees to actually understand how they are being bamboozled.

" designed to silence "those who are on the trail of something that isn't right"

In other words,

I can tell you what the government is doing wrong,
but then I would have to kill you..

Duhhhhh.

But why worry? Washington is a beautiful city. The martinis are guaranteed to be
perfectly made and perfectly chilled. Great seafood - I've never forgotten the piece of swordfish I had when my Dad too meto the restaurant in the Shrine Temple in Washington - I was all of 8 years old. Terrific steaks Not to mention Virginia ham! It's great to visit. What it might be like for a Congresscritter is beyond my imaginations of opulence.

Its a fixed game now.
Regulations brought in by both parties since the massive scourging of the 70's from FBI filming of Arab pay-offs. To the Keating 5.The obvious payoffs from PAC's. Legislators are fearful of the public knowing of the bribes, baksheesh, & kickbacks they slaver over.

All of this is window-dressing. It is beyond obvious now that the Obama administration is more concerned with the average American and his political opponents than capturing true threats to national security. The bare minimum will be done to sate the public and nothing more. If people were truly concerned, they would go after the man at the top, the very one who met repeatedly with the IRS and whose overtures to Islamists is beyond troubling.

"The members have to maintain their own notes and their own follow-up and keep the issues very much in their own minds," he said."

I can see how that would be a problem, given the small size of the minds involved.

So who would you pick in the battle of wits? The congress critter or the spymasters? I know which side I would lay money on.

The basic principle should be: If it affects a US citizen, in any way, anywhere in the world, secret courts are not acceptable. Execution of anyone without trial is not acceptable. Imprisonment of anyone without trial is not acceptable.

The US constitution was written in such a way that tyrants cannot use the apparatus of the state to attack their domestic political enemies. That they foresaw this possibility was great; that modern "executives" work around, override and ignore the constitution is shameful.

"A 22-page white paper from the Department of Justice laying out the legal rationale for the bulk collection program singled out Congress’s access to the details of the program and its role in repeatedly approving the underlying provision, known as Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act."

"'Information concerning the use of Section 215 to collect telephony metadata in bulk was made available to all Members of Congress, and Congress reauthorized Section 215 without change after this information was provided,' the document said. 'It is significant to the legal analysis of the statute that Congress was on notice of this activity and of the source of its legal authority when the statute was reauthorized.'"

This sounds like a whiny 8-year old saying, "You said I could!"