Much to the chagrin of many Democratic House members and all Americans that respect the Constitution, the Democratic leadership and many conservatives on both sides of the aisle are putting the finishing touches on a bill that will give the telcos the immunity they want. George Bush is a happy man today, because despite his abysmal ratings as a President, the cowardly Democrats still bent over for his willful disregard of the laws in our country. Along with his accomplices (AT&T, Verizon, etc) he broke the law and spied on Americans, not caring about their fourth amendment rights. Instead of holding him and the companies accountable, Congress is just going to rewrite the law so it'll be legal, retroactively.
From TPM:
From the Wall Street Journal:
WASHINGTON -- After more than a year of partisan acrimony over government surveillance powers, Democratic and Republican leaders have agreed to a bipartisan deal that would be the most sweeping rewrite of spy powers in three decades. The House is likely to vote on the measure Friday, House aides said.Removing the final barrier to action on the measure, which has been hashed out in recent weeks by senior lawmakers in both parties, House Democratic leaders decided to allow a vote on the bill, despite the opposition of many in their party.
The new agreement broadens the authority to spy on people in the U.S. and provides conditional legal immunity to companies that helped the government eavesdrop after the 2001 terrorist attacks, according to congressional aides in both parties.
Late Update: The deal-maker was offering immunity to the telecom companies who have already participated in the program.
Critical to sealing the deal was a compromise that would grant conditional immunity to telecommunications companies for assistance they provided from September 2001 through January 2007. If the companies can show a federal district court judge "substantial evidence" they received a written request from the attorney general or head of an intelligence agency stating the president authorized the surveillance and determined it to be lawful, the cases against them will be dismissed.We haven't heard what "conditional" means.
Conditional means that as they long as they show the judge a note that George Bush said it was ok to spy on Americans for him, then they are in the clear. Basically this a free pass, a get out jail free card and a smack in the face to law-abiding citizens everywhere. These companies have hordes of lawyers that knew the wiretapping orders were against the law, but they decided to break the law anyway because the President said it was ok and that he'd have their back if anything went down. Not only does he have them covered, he has the cowardly, spineless Democratic leadership to help him with it.
Now the vote on the bill is actually tomorrow, so there is technically is still time before this becomes law. However, the chances of changing the minds of enough Democrats in time is a slim possibility. Regardless, make sure to call your Congress member and tell them not to vote for this shameful legislation.
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