One Little Victory

…and we’ll gladly provide immunity to the telecoms that help them.

This is one of the reasons why I am a member of the ACLU. This legislation is unconstitutional and it is bereft of common sense. Once again Congressional Democrats are complicit in helping a morally bankrupt president get away with illegal activities.

This is also one of the reasons why I am no longer a Democrat.

Telecoms granted immunity in US wiretapping probe
Elana Schor in Washington
guardian.co.uk,
Friday June 20, 2008

In a major victory for the White House, the House of Representatives today passed a bill to grant legal immunity to phone companies that helped the Bush administration eavesdrop on US calls and emails after the 9/11 attacks. The measure was approved 293-129.

Democrats in Congress had previously refused to yield to White House demands that telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon be spared from pending lawsuits related to their role in government wiretapping.

A six-month window for existing wiretap orders expires in August, leaving Democrats leery of charges from the administration that Congress had failed to fulfill its national-security responsibilities. Democrats ultimately agreed to a deal that is almost certain to meet the White House’s goal of immunising the telecom companies.
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Meanwhile, civil liberties groups and Democratic activists were openly furious at the party’s congressional leaders for giving ground to the Bush administration.

“Congress is moving so fast and so secretively that we only got a copy of this bill [yesterday],” Caroline Fredrickson, Washington director of the American civil liberties union, lamented in a letter to the group’s members.

“I can tell you it’s horrible. It contains vacuum cleaner-style surveillance that sweeps up the phone calls and emails of Americans. And it’s blatantly unconstitutional.”

Full story here…