For the past few months, as the FISA bill has been on and off the floor, Chris Dodd has been championing an amendment to the bill that calls for striking "provisions providing immunity from civil liability to electronic communication service providers for certain assistance provided to the Government." Without this amendment citizens cannot bring civil lawsuits to the telecommunication companies that supply the government with private information. Beyond the breach of an individual contract privacy clause, the new bill is yet another affront to American civil liberties-- read that Dodd speech, he keeps it real. Democrats have a majority in Congress, but even they do not protect our rights. At least the Senate Democrat leadership voted 'yea' for the amendment and 'nay' for the bill. Not that it really matters, but both Obama and Clinton missed the vote on the bill, but Obama made the amendment vote (voting 'yea').
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5 comments:
Fuck.
I love that man though.
Spizeech
hell yeah. good look g.
if you get a moment read over the House version of the FISA bill (named RESTORE I think) and if you agree that the House bill is a superior bill to the Senate bill (mainly the House bill does not grant telecoms retroactive immunity) then fill out this form with your name and submit it. showing citizen support for the house bill will encourage house members to remain strong on the differing issues within the bill.
http://action.firedoglake.com/page/petition/RestoreFISA/kliuw
this is how Bush begins his speech on the passage of the FISA bill:
"Director, thank you for joining me. Good morning. At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning new attacks on our country. Their goal is to bring destruction to our shores that will make September the 11th pale by comparison. To carry out their plans, they must communicate with each other, they must recruit operatives, and they must share information."
He continues as he knocks the house RESTORE bill, followed by more scare tactics:
"The House's failure to pass the bipartisan Senate bill would jeopardize the security of our citizens. As Director McConnell has told me, without this law, our ability to prevent new attacks will be weakened. And it will become harder for us to uncover terrorist plots. We must not allow this to happen. It is time for Congress to ensure the flow of vital intelligence is not disrupted. It is time for Congress to pass a law that provides a long-term foundation to protect our country. And they must do so immediately."
that's out man. you can see a video of his public address on whitehouse.gov/news.
I guess the ends (contrived) always justify the means with our president.
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