Greenwald: "There is one reason, and one reason only, that the Protect America Act expired"

this post is dedicated to the protect america act which expired 7 hours ago at midnight, est...

There is one reason, and one reason only, that the Protect America Act expired. Its name is "George W. Bush." That is who refused to agree to the Democrats' offer to extend the law by 21 days (or longer), then repeatedly threatened to veto any such extension ("US President George W. Bush on Wednesday vowed to veto another temporary extension of a domestic spying law"), then directed the always-obedient House Republicans to vote unanimously against the extension, which they (needless to say) did. This vital-to-our-safety piece of legislation expired only because George W. Bush repeatedly blocked its extension. It's just that simple.

[...]

[M]any right-wing polemicists use fearmongering techniques like this... manipulatively, to exploit the Terrorist threat for more unchecked government power and to advance their political agenda.

But many of them actually believe this, and there are undoubtedly all sorts of individuals in the U.S. today nervously looking at their clocks, with accelerating heartbeat and a deepening sense of foreboding, knowing that the Hour of Danger is nigh upon us. This pitiful, fear-drenched absurdity is the face of the Bush Movement, the symbol of the post-9/11 Bush Era in the United States.

a commenter to greenwald's post, fmd, inquires...

If the nation is really going to be more vulnerable as the result of the expiration of the PAA (Protect AT&T Act), why hasn't Homeland Security's color coded threat level been raised to Magenta or Puce or some such thing?

so, on a sunday morning here in buenos aires, as i look out at the brilliant blue sky and listen to the occasional annoying ratcheting of the cicadas float in on the summer breeze, i wonder if my country will make it through the day without a determined and dreaded jihadi attack, now that the paa telephone companies* is are no longer there to protect us...

Officials made clearer Friday that the real dispute is over the protection of phone companies for past actions. Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, told National Public Radio on Friday: "It's true that some of the authorities would carry over to the period they were established for one year. That would put us into the August, September time frame. However, that's not the real issue. The issue is liability protection for the private sector. We can't do this mission without their help."

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