As predicted the new NSA bill will grant retroactive amnesty in return for the president notifying congress about domestic spying if and when he kind of sort of feels like it. Kevin Drum explains:
So the bill loosens requirements for wiretaps, thus giving the president more authority than he already has, and in return requires nothing new in the way of judicial review. Those must have been some truly tortuous negotiations, all right.
See also Glenn Greenwald.
Congratulations Arlen Specter, you are now a verb.
***Update***
Some confusion exists about whether Specter’s bill still contains the retroactive amnesty provision. If Specter removed it I feel roughly the same relief that I would feel if Specter merely gave the president permission to beat kittens unconscious but not kill them.