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February 15, 2008 at 14:08:27
The Senate Caves on FISA. Will The House Stand or Fold? by Timothy V. Gatto Page 1 of 1 page(s) 
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We all realize we have a big problem with Bush and Cheney and we know that providing there are no excuses for Bush to declare martial law, they will be gone in less than a year. I’m sure people realize that we also have a big problem with the Senate. The House seems to have “caught the drift” coming from the American people. They finally censored Bolten and Miers for not answering the subpoena’s that they had sent out almost a year ago to testify in front of Congress on the end-run around the FISA Court that the administration had perpetrated, but that was the House. The Senate, clueless and bold, voted to give the telecom companies a get out of jail card for allowing the Federal Government to tap American’s phones without a warrant. That’s par for the Senate that shows no oversight tenacity or even tries to make a show out of acting as if it did. The Senate has been the biggest defender of Bush and this administrations policy since the beginning. We have had the Patriot Act shoved down our throats, The Military Commissions Act of 2006, The Warner Defense Act (Re-vamped Insurrection Act ), The Kyl-Lieberman Amendment and a host of other fascistic laws. So why is the Senate so eager to pass this law giving Immunity to the telecommunications industries before the House can use it’s oversight on how the administration broke the law by skirting the FISA Court in the first place? The simple truth is that they are not out to “protect” the telecommunications companies, this is just another way to protect this administration’s flagrant disregard for the “rule of law” (unless they use it on someone they don’t particularly like). It seems as it’s just perfectly all right for President Bush and Vice-President Cheney to spout on about the subject, but when it come to themselves, it appears that “executive privilege” allows them to spit on the Constitution and the US Code as they see fit. The Senate meanwhile, gives them a pass on this type of behavior time after time. Arlen Spector (R-PA) talks a good game on C-Span and the talk shows claiming that the Constitution must be followed and the rule of law upheld, but when it comes to a vote, with all the years he has on that decrepit body of his, he runs under a table and votes with his party every single time. C’mon Senator, we see what kind of game you are playing with us? Why don’t you just come out and say it, that loyalty to the Republican Party comes before the Constitution? We can see what you are doing, we’re not all stupid. Meanwhile, the Senate is pressing the House to pass a “compromise” on the FISA Bill even before the House can grill Miers and Bolton on exactly what they did! I believe that I have most Americans with me when I say that until we get to the bottom of what happened and why, we should give nobody immunity from breaking the law! That’s just the way it is! No get out of jail cards for the telecommunications companies, no card for Cheney and Bush that took it on them to break the law as if they “were the law”. It all comes down to this basic principle; either we all follow the law and those that don’t are punished, or we just forget about the “rule of law” and everyone does as they please. The Senate has been a role model for no one in this nation over the last decade. The two Senators that are running for the Democratic nomination can’t even show up to vote! The rest of the Democrats, save 29 that voted not to pass this new FISA Bill should hang their heads in shame. It’s like this, you can expect this type of behavior from the Republicans, and this is what they have been doing for a long time. This of course, still doesn’t make it right, but having Democrats abandon their principles in an election year to boot, is downright despicable. Where were the two “darlings” of the Democratic Party while this vote was being held? Looking after their own self-interests, that’s where. 
As far as I can see, it’s time that the American people took the time out to examine their Senator’s voting records. I believe that there are many in that august body that really need to go home. If they can’t take their oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of this country, maybe it would be a good thing if they never took that oath again!
I dare them to put pressure on the House to pass the FISA Bill the way the Senate has amended it. Once that happens, every Representative that caves to their demands will be duly noted and put up to public scrutiny on every website and every venue that I have access too. It is time that the House stands its ground against bullies from the upper chamber. There is no good reason to give this administration more power than it has at this specific time. The American people will not see you as “soft on terrorism”, rather they will see you as someone that stood up to the administration and demands that they follow the rule of law like everyone else. Let the Senators be the ones that face the angry voters.
The entire argument is like this, either we are a Democratic Republic or we are not. Either we have an efficient system of checks and balances or we don’t. If we don’t, then tell us now and we can change this government back to the way our fore-fathers intended it, either by an Article V Convention, or in some other way. The House should not bow to pressure and let this administration off the hook. They broke the law and they should be charged. Let’s see what our House of Representatives does. The ball’s in their court. They can either stand up or cave like so many times before. Before I end this, how many times must the American people put up with this administration breaking the law? This is the question we should all be asking ourselves.
That’s the way I see it.
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The House better hold.....
else America does not exist anymore except in the history books... by Michael Morris (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 16 diaries, 316 comments [4 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Friday, Feb 15, 2008 at 4:07:38 PM  (0+)
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Why will the treasonous criminals stop at nothing
to get the House to fold like the prostate senate? If any of the 40 or so pending lawsuits ever see the light of day, it will come out (yes, even in our cheap whore press), that the program was begun BEFORE 9/11!! That is when the dominos will start falling and the guillotines will start working overtime. I like the Article V Convention mention. Lets run with that. Lets not be afraid of false imprisonment, torture or death. Lets fight the bastards, but fight to win....smart, peaceful, united!! We owe it to our brothers and sisters sharing this spinning rock with us. Only Americans can derail the machine that is killing our planet. by CamusRebel (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 100 comments [29 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Feb 15, 2008 at 5:26:02 PM (0+)
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Why will the treasonous criminals stop at nothing
to get the House to fold like the prostate senate? If any of the 40 or so pending lawsuits ever see the light of day, it will come out (yes, even in our cheap whore press), that the program was begun BEFORE 9/11!! That is when the dominos will start falling and the guillotines will start working overtime. I like the Article V Convention mention. Lets run with that. Lets not be afraid of false imprisonment, torture or death. Lets fight the bastards, but fight to win....smart, peaceful, united!! We owe it to our brothers and sisters sharing this spinning rock with us. Only Americans can derail the machine that is killing our planet. by CamusRebel (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 100 comments [29 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Feb 15, 2008 at 5:27:03 PM (0+)
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My two cents worth
Hello everybody I for one am sick and tired---to death----of hearing that this Congress "caved". That' s just way too nice. Let's hold them responsible: Congress is DELIBERATELY trying to convert us to a dictatorship. They are DELIBERATELY giving Bush cover from prosecution from everything, ranging from warrantless wiretapping to war crimes. And they know just what they are doing. Congress knows that Martin Luther King was wiretapped, stalked based on that, and finally murdered. They know that the legislation prohibiting wiretapping without warrant was passed based on MLK's true story. They know that immunity to any law is unconstitutional. Congress knows that they are funding a war based on lies. They know that is a criminal act, by national and international law. Come on, let's not be "soft on terror" ourselves and let's hold the REAL TERRORISTS responsible! It's time for us to rigorously campaign to challenge Congressional seats. That's the only hope for undoing the mess we are in. Time to boycott any corporations funding ANY Congressperson who supports this unconstitutional law (or any others). It's time to switch to Qwest and Credo, neither of whom will wiretap without court warrant. It's time to post the Bill of Rights everywhere we go. Practice the solution. And spread word like hell! by Kathryn Smith (110 articles, 2 quicklinks, 43 diaries, 542 comments [23 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Feb 15, 2008 at 5:46:33 PM (0+)
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The 911 hoax was good for biz
The honest members of our guvment can be counted on ten fingers. Wexler,Paul,Kucinich,a young man from Ohio I dont remember his name and possibly one or two more I cant recall right now. Sodom and Gommorah come to mind. If I could call down fire from heaven to rid us of these insects I wouldnt hesitate. Kay Bailey Hutchinson endorsed Horse Hockey McCain, I wrote the hag and asked her to vote against 1959 and all the rest of the globalist diabolical dung, I dont even need to ask how that abortion of a corporate dung-beetle voted, she sold out, Jon Coryn sold out. We are a nation ruled by traitors. The globalist plan is to wrest from us any portion of our income that is left to us. They plan to take your savings by inflation and your income by new tolls on highways, new federal sales taxes, increased food prices, land confiscation, etc. etc. The global CO2 tax is the cherry on top of the elitest plan. Head for the hills if you can. by john riggs (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 463 comments [24 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Feb 15, 2008 at 6:15:39 PM (0+)
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Keith Olberman exposes Bush as the liar and traitor he is
A Veto of the FISA Bill Endangers Americans -- By Keith Olbermann -- his main points: Mr. Bush, by tabling the telecom immunity and FISA act, you have just sided with the terrorists. At first you said that we’ve got to have this law or “we're all going to die.” But, practically speaking, you just vetoed this law! It is bad enough, sir, that you were demanding an ex post facto law that could still clear the AT&Ts and the Verizons from responsibility for their systematic, aggressive and blatant collaboration with your illegal and unjustified spying on Americans under this flimsy guise of looking for any terrorists who are stupid enough to make a collect call or send a mass e-mail. (And by the way, if you believe in the seamless mutuality of government and big business, come out and say it! There is a dictionary definition, one word, that describes that toxic blend. And that word is fascism.) Did you see Mark Klein on this newscast last November? Mark Klein was the AT&T whistleblower who explained (in the placid, dull terms of your local neighborhood IT desk) how he personally attached all AT&T circuits, everything, carrying every one of our phone calls, every one of our e-mails, every bit of our Web browsing into a secure room, room No. 641-A at the AT&T Folsom Street facility in San Francisco, where it was all copied so the government could look at it! Not some of it, not just the international part of it, certainly not just the stuff some spy (a spy both patriotic and telepathic) might be able to divine had been sent or spoken by or to a terrorist. Everything! "My thought was," Mr. Klein had said, "George Orwell's ‘1984'! -- and here I am connecting the Big Brother machine!" ==================== Keith continued: "This Saturday at midnight," you said, Mr. Bush, "legislation authorizing intelligence professionals to quickly and effectively monitor terrorist communications will expire. If Congress does not act by that time, our ability to find out who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying and what they are planning will be compromised." Essentially you said that "the lives of countless Americans depend" on your getting your way. This is crap. And you sling it with an audacity and a speed unrivaled by even the greatest political felons of our history. Richard Clarke wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Let me be clear: Our ability to track and monitor terrorists overseas would not cease should the Protect America Act expire. . . If (our ability to track and monitor terrorists overseas would really cease upon expiration of the Protect America Act), then the president would certainly not threaten to terminate any temporary extension with his veto pen. In fact, all surveillance currently taking place would continue even after legislative provisions lapsed because authorizations issued under the act are in effect up to a full year.” So you are a liar, Mr. Bush. And after showing some skill at it, you have ceased to even be a very good liar. Thus, Mr. Bush, your panoramic invasion of privacy is dressed up as "protecting America." As Sen. Edward Kennedy reminded us in December: "The president has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. "But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retroactive immunity (for the telecom companies that collaborated with him to spy on Americans).. "No immunity, no FISA bill. So if we take the president at his word, he's willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies." Now that you have vetoed an extension of this eavesdropping, if some terrorist attack were to follow, you would therefore not merely be guilty of siding with the terrorists. You would not merely be guilty of prioritizing the telecoms over the people. You would not merely be guilty of stupidity. You would not merely be guilty of treason, sir. You would be personally, and eternally, responsible. But we will no longer fear the recognition of the manipulation of our yearning for safety, and we will from now on call it what it is: terrorism. We will not fear identifying the vulgar hypocrites in our government, and we will name them. We will no longer fear because George W. Bush wants us to fear. by Richard Clark (30 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 101 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Feb 15, 2008 at 10:46:25 PM (0+)
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Of Course They Will Fold
Look at the record, clearly they will fold and fold and fold again because Congressional Democrats, especially the leadership, are cowards, and cowards always fold. That doesn't mean we should help out the War Criminal Party by voting for Nader the Traiter, Paul, McFadden, or other favorites of the progressive political babies. To do so is just another kind of folding. by James Cordray (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 56 comments) on Saturday, Feb 16, 2008 at 1:07:34 PM (0+)
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I'm so disgusted
and I'd like to know why immunity for those companies is so important to President Bush if he doesn't think they (and his administration) broke the law. I see his insistence on immunity as a confession of guilt. by SpiritBlooms (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 55 comments) on Saturday, Feb 16, 2008 at 1:59:38 PM (0+)
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