Isn’t that what it basically boils down to, crooks protecting their own? They broke the law WITHOUT needing to. This deserves investigation, along with likely punishment.

As written, the new law gives lawbreakers a free pass. And giving crooks a free pass is the status quo in a republican administration. Bush even encourages lawbreaking. He insists low-life, underbelly types, once prominent fixtures in his administration, ignore congressional subpoenas. And they have!

Senate to pass bill overhauling eavesdropping rules

WASHINGTON - The Senate finally is expected to pass a bill overhauling rules on secret government eavesdropping, completing a lengthy and bitter debate that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks.

The vote, planned for Wednesday, would end almost a year of wrangling between the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, and Congress and the White House over the president’s warrantless wiretapping program that was initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A major issue was the Bush administration’s insistence that the bill shield from civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on Americans without court permission after 9/11.

“…that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks.”

You have to love how the AP framed that argument. And you wonder why today’s “journalists” have such brown noses.