What we're seeing right now is some kind of weird kabuki dance where congress pretends to shut something down by having a debate over whether to re-authorize on

What we're seeing right now is some kind of weird kabuki dance where congress pretends to shut something down by having a debate over whether to re-authorize one of several justifications NSA uses for monitoring U.S. citizens. The only reason it's considered equivalent to "shutting down the program" is that folks haven't been paying attention. As far as illegality, what the Executive has taken to doing over the last 20 years or so is lawyer-shopping until they can get an opinion that justifies what they already decided they were going to do. Then they classify both the decision and the legal justification. No information = no debate. No debate = no oversight. Very nice and easy. Problem solved. We need the NSA. But the structure of the legal system the operate in has been totally fucked up by the War on Terror. I don't even think most politicians understand the nature of the problem, much less are able to provide needed oversight.