"...perhaps the most startling fact in the declassified document is that the NSA was tasked with monitoring the overseas telephone calls and cable traffic of two prominent members of Congress, Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) and Sen. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.). As shocking as the recent revelations about the NSA's domestic eavesdropping have been, there has been no evidence so far of today's signal intelligence corps taking a step like this, to monitor the White House's political enemies."
"Church gained national prominence during his service in the Senate through his chairmanship of the U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities from 1975 through 1976, more commonly known as the Church Committee, which conducted extensive hearings investigating extra-legal FBI and CIA intelligence-gathering and covert operations. The committee investigated CIA drug smuggling activities in the Golden Triangle and secret U.S.-backed wars in Third World countries. Together with Senator Sam Ervin's committee inquiries, the Church Committee hearings laid the groundwork for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. Daniel Ellsberg quoted Church as speaking of the NSA as follows: "I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.""
Hilarious Stewart/Colbert bit.
""Gotham," a new drama based on the DC Comics world of Batman, has received a series commitment from Fox, as first reported by Deadline. Bruno Heller, creator of "The Mentalist" and co-creator of "Rome," is set to write and executive produce. The series will depict the early stories of both Commissioner James Gordon and Gotham City's villains, though Deadline notes that Batman will not be a part of the series. "Gotham" will focus on Gordon as a detective in the Gotham City Police Department, before the character met Batman."
Exactly why I only made it through a couple episodes of Sorkin's Newsroom before tuning out. No, not because of its occasional preachy political obnoxiousness mixed with decent observations, but because of... I've already seen this show. See, I loved Sports Night, liked a reasonable amount of the West Wing, and even gave Studio 60 a shot, but Sorkin has just turned into a one-note writer, with the same characters, having the same relationships and speaking the same dialogue. Over and over. Wordplay that was once witty and clever, now is just lazy, recycled and repetitive. A shame, because this was sharp, well-crafted dialogue. The first time he wrote it. Back in 1998.
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