Now it's Jane Harman bit by a law she supported

Last week we had various conservatives going bonkers over the fact that Homeland Security put out a report suggesting extreme right wingers and returning veterans might be worth watching for signs of violence. So who was it who cheered from the sidelines as Bush put in all the appurtenances of the surveillance state and kept stressing that creepy term Homeland Security (an admission of empire, of course)? Welcome to the Security State you liked when a guy with an R behind his name was in the White House.

Now Democratic hack congresscritter Jane Harman, who knew about and defended the NSA unwarranted wiretapping program and even called for the prosecution of the NYT when it did a story about the manifestly illegal program. She's not so pleased now. In fact she's hopping mad. One of those warrantless wiretaps apparently caught her doing a little horsetrading with people from AIPAC, whose former lobbyists are slated to go on trial in June for passing secrets to Israel. You get me the chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee, she apparently said in 2006, and I'll see what I can do about getting those charges dropped. She didn't get the chairmanship; apparently she and Nancy Pelosi hate each other. Oh, well.

If I thought it would lead to recission of all the surveillance laws and programs the Bushies put in place I might even indulge in a little Schadenfreude. But I think Obama likes all those conveniently expanded executive powers just fine, thank you.