I didn't say that it was their fault that the NSA lied. Its their fault that secret courts, the Patriot Act, and a number of other things exist. Its also their fault that the constitution has been systematically undermined for the last four decades.
It was hilarious watching a bunch of congressmen feign disbelief when they know that its their fucking fault. Its depressing watching the public believe them. If they really didn't know this was going on, they would be trying harder now to stop it instead of passing legislation to solidify the NSA's position.
The only thing that we can be certain of, is that our elected representatives' response to these revelations is going to be disappointing, misguided, and inadequate.
"The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, also called the FISA Court) is a U.S. federal court established and authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA)" --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Foreign_Intellige...
Even if you're talking as about changes to it in the PATRIOT Act, that was passed on October 26, 2001. Each congressional district has had 6 elections since then, so some of these congresscritters never voted for or against the creation of the court. Of the ones that did, how many were on the committee that produced this? How many read it?
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2009/03/02/congress-had-n...
This all sounds very nihilistic and myopic. It's like saying I'm responsible for drones because I voted in an election for one of two candidates who were going to use them anyway. Credit where due, and I'm certainly not letting Congress off the hook, but your argument boils down to "well, Congress allowed them to exist," and I'm even less inclined to let the NSA off the hook. I have higher standards than, "well, that's just the way they are."
I didn't let the NSA off the hook, I was just commenting on the absurdity of congress acting like this wasn't the obvious outcome of decades of bad leadership and bad legislation.
It was hilarious watching a bunch of congressmen feign disbelief when they know that its their fucking fault. Its depressing watching the public believe them. If they really didn't know this was going on, they would be trying harder now to stop it instead of passing legislation to solidify the NSA's position.
The only thing that we can be certain of, is that our elected representatives' response to these revelations is going to be disappointing, misguided, and inadequate.