Political Skullduggery

The extra-legal NSA warrantless eavesdropping program will be examined today by Sen. Arlen Specter's Senate Judiciary Committee:

Needless to say, not all lawmakers agree that Bush broke the law, and the issue should get a good airing this morning in a separate hearing before Specter's panel. Four federal judges are slated to discuss proposals to bring the eavesdropping program, which is conducted by the National Security Agency, under the auspices of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act...

Some of the judges have served on the FISA court. Also scheduled to testify today are Morton H. Halperin of the Open Society Policy Center and David S. Kris, senior vice president of Time Warner Inc.

Later in the week, things might get interesting:

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a Friday hearing on Sen. Russell Feingold's resolution to censure President Bush for authorizing warrantless surveillance of Americans' international phone calls and e-mails. The measure has divided Feingold's fellow Democrats, some of whom fear he is helping Republicans shift attention from the GOP's problems in dealing with Iraq, hurricane relief and other matters.

The goopers will be in fine form, I'm sure.

Feingold will no doubt be on the receiving end of some of the most colorful (within Senate decorum) diatribes we have seen in many moons.

That is, if the goopers don't succeed in persuading their man Specter to cancel Friday's hearing first.