Wiretap immunity bill gets closer to president's desk

[MiaCulpa]

Source: Raw Story

Opponents of legal amnesty for telecommunications companies that facilitated President Bush's extra-legal warrantless wiretapping program were dealt a decisive blow Wednesday, as the Senate prepared to send President Bush the surveillance bill he had been asking for.

An amendment sponsored by Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) to strip telecom immunity from an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act failed 32 to 66, although that was more support than the 31 votes a similar amendment received in February. The shift appears to be a result of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) voting in favor of the amendment -- she did not vote last time -- and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) skipping the vote -- he opposed the measure last time.

Two other amendments to modify the immunity are expected to be voted down presently. The Senate was expected to formally endorse the FISA update before day's end.

Full article on this developing story at the link...

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Wiretap_immunity_bill_gets_closer_to_0709.html

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Gotdamnit. :(

-Diane

[ixion]

1. how very illegal of them... how very corrupt and unethical.. it's another sad

day for the republic in 'Murika. :cry:

[bdamomma]

2. oh boy, these people should not underestimate the American people!!!

I am angry about this.

[Robbien]

3. The American people won't know it is happening

It is only the few people who follow it on the internet who are the only ones who have a clue. Televised news is mainly silent on the issue and winger hate talk radio is blaring that this is a win for GOPers against the dumb loser Dems.

[kmac3]

8. "Big Money" talks again and again and again . . , ,

The "Pay Off" is in and the Rubber Stamp" voting is in full mod. Why am I not surprised. This has been the trend of this Congress from the start. If you have the money, you can buy the success of your bill. What we really need is more lobbyist!
:rant:

[Dr.Phool]

4. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people

Courtesy,

H.L. Mencken

[WyldRogue]

12. Won't matter...

.... we aren't anything to worry about. Even your own party has turned in on itself and is essentially not listening to any of the people that voted them into office.

Sad state of affairs for our country when no one will stand up for We the People.

By the time it's all over, it'll be that old saying:

Meet the NEW bosses, same as the OLD bosses. No change at all and THAT has already been proven. Makes this Independent voter rethink if he should throw his vote away on candidates that will NOT properly represent us and our country....

Sad state indeed...

[JDPriestly]

5. Is there any hope for a filibuster?

[kevsand]

6. Not with only 32 votes.

I think it only takes 60 for cloture, so you would need 41 to sustain a filibuster.

[Robbien]

7. As the wingers at RedState are saying

What Dodd and Feingold aren't doing is reminding their people is that there are a whole list of things that Senators can do to make sure that a bill never sees the light of day, starting with the hold.

Feingold or Dodd could walk up to Mitch McConnell (no reason to bug Harry Reid about this; Mitch will tell the Senate Majority Leader what the Senate Majority Leader needs to know) and bluntly inform him that if FISA passed with telecom immunity in place every piece of legislation in the Senate would be routinely subject to a hold, thus forcing cloture votes on everything. Feingold or Dodd could still do it: it'd work, for a while - but it'd also make them the most hated people in the Senate, which is apparently more of a consideration than stopping the passage of FISA.

Basically, the Dems want this bill passed. Dems have already made the deal. (Dems aren't caving, the majority of Dem congresscritters support the bill.) All the talk today is just CYA show.

[JDPriestly]

13. Judging from Feinstein's e-mail to me, our senators are

reasoning that this bill leaves no doubt that FISA is the sole authority for eavesdropping on electronic communications. My problem with that reasoning is that there is utterly no ground for believing that Bush will respect this bill and stop the indiscriminate eavesdropping. The problem is that Bush does not respect the law. He thinks he is a dictator.

I am reading a book entitled "What Kind of Nation" by James F. Simon.

At page 71, it quotes Thomas Jefferson writing to Senataor Stevens Thomson Mason of Virginia with regard to the Alien and Sedition Act prosecutions:

"For my own part, I consider those . . . laws as merely an experiment on the American mind, to see how far it will bear an avowed violation of the Constitution. If this goes down, we shall immediately ssee atttempted another act of Congress declaring that the President shall continue in office during life, reserving to another occasion the transfer of the succession to his heirs, and the establishment of the Senate for life."

I was never active in the ACLU, but I have decided that my volunteer time would be better spent working for them than for Obama.

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matthew 16:26

http://bible.cc/matthew/16-26.htm

Individual rights are the soul of our Constitution. If we allow them to be taken from us, what good does it do to gain the world?

[Robbien]

15. So cheap is the going rate these days it seems

what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matthew 16:26

The fact that neither McSame or Obama is against this unlimited spying law tells one much about the deep pit in which this country now resides.

Not a good day. Not a good day in any shape or form.

[lonestarnot]

9. Fuckers!

[WyldRogue]

10. Hate to say it but...

... I have lost total faith and trust in the Democrat party. They've turned into spineless cowards and in collusion with the * regime. Pelosi and Reid are completely worthless.... makes this Indy sick of the backstabbing the Dems are doing to me...

My hope lies with Obama but he too has done an about-face....

Guess my votes were for nothing....

[NYC_SKP]

11. You mean, "the soon to be former president"?

Wow, it felt good to type that.

"hi:

[KansDem]

14. Wouldn't it have been easier if Bush simply pardoned the telecoms?

...instead of Congress putting us through this dog-and-pony show?

He has that power, doesn't he?

[ForrestGump]

16. Didn't it START there?