today, including banking regulations, obligation to obtain government issued identification, access to (some) public services, etc. -- it is the combination of executive action and outsourcing that worries me. --  Outsourcing government functions can be trouble, or can be smart. As usual, "it depends." But I share your concern -- outsourcing creates new opportunities for mischief, including the time-honored "he did it" (point one way with one hand, and another way with the the other) defense. 89 -- Ron, if you see this, if you are interested, if you could, if you would (if if if) ask Conyers if anyone has ever asked the telecom execs in those closed sessions whether or not they were told or were aware: a) that Judge Lamberth told DOJ he thought the program was unconstitutional and barred it from his court; b) that Dep AG Larry Thompson would not sign FISC applications (presumably bc he was afraid of liability either from violations of FISC firewall orders or otherwise); or c) that Judge Kollar-Kotelly told DOJ she thought the program was unconstitutional and barred it from her court. For that matter, whether the telecoms knew, or did not know, that the Gang of 8 had not been briefed and that the Senate Intel committees had not been briefed. Shouldn't someone at DOJ be looking at really big problems if they failed to communicate back to OLC and the President and the telecoms the FISC position? And if they did communicate the Court's position, then how