“The committee is, to put it bluntly, basically under the control of the White House.”

– Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D- W.V., vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee

Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed their status as a giant, expensive rubber stamp for President Bush and the worst of his fascistic tendencies yesterday when they opted to approve — not investigate — his illegal domestic spying program:

The agreement, hashed out in weeks of negotiations between Vice President Dick Cheney and Republicans critical of the program, dashes Democratic hopes of starting a full committee investigation because the proposal won the support of Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine. The two, both Republicans, had threatened to support a fuller inquiry if the White House did not disclose more about the program to Congress.

“We are reasserting Congressional responsibility and oversight,” Ms. Snowe said.

The proposed legislation would create a seven-member “terrorist surveillance subcommittee” and require the administration to give it full access to the details of the program’s operations

Snowe also called it “the beginning, not the end of the process” — where “process” means “our heritage as a democratic nation.”