Even though the White House “strongly support[s]” the FISA bill, and contends it is necessary to provide “our intelligence professionals the tools they need to keep our Nation safe,” and urges the Senate “to act as soon as it returns from its recess,” the Bush Administration is willing to veto the legislation and forgo these tools unless the telecom immunity is given effect immediately.
“Quick they’re on to us… put the jack boots away!”
Is this Civil immunity or Criminal immunity they are after? This has gone on so long I forget.
If it is civil immunity I can see that. They did what the Executive Branch asked, so people should bring criminal charges against the executive branch (like that will ever happen though). That may still hold the telco’s to criminal liability though.
But if they want Criminal immunity… Where does that stop? They broke the law end of story. So anyone can break the law and not be held liable as long as it was for the “safety” of the nation or can be spun that way?
Would you libs agree with Senator Kennedy’s comment I suppose?
>> Think about what we’ve been hearing from the White House in this debate. 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. No immunity, no new FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he is willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies.
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This is ridiculous! It’s the liberals that are willing to let Americans die while they play games with the laws!
>>The President’s insistence on immunity as a precondition for any FISA reform is yet another example of his disrespect for honest dialogue and for the rule of law.
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Yes, and tell us we are doing what you are really doing. Typical lib.
>> It’s painfully clear what the President’s request for retroactive immunity is really about. It’s a self-serving attempt to avoid legal and political accountability and keep the American public in the dark about this whole shameful episode.
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First of all, nobody is being kept in the dark about this. The libs made sure even the terrorist know about it (which might have been illegal on their part).
2nd the libs in Congress not only know about it but have to vote on it, and I thought they voted for it, and now are complaining that we will not vote for it. It seems to me that they want to vote for the FISA laws to look somewhat pro-American safety on the one hand, but then they still want to leave open the possibility of suing people over that same law later.
If you are going to vote to give someone the ability to monitor call records, why would you want hold the threat of a lawsuit over their heads if they do what you are allowing them to do?
The President is telling Congress to quite playing games. If the libs want to sue the phone companies, they are preventing the phone companies from cooperating in our security endeavors and they are putting the American people in danger.
They are deceitfully trying to bring down the FISA laws thru a back-door method.
Of course they want immunity more than legal powers. With immunity the government can ask or bully the telecoms into giving them anything.
“I see youse got a nice industry here. It sure would be a shame if anything were to happen to these here FCC regs.”
Because it is then “voluntary” and “civilian” instead of a government demand, the only recourse of citizens is a lawsuit against the telecoms. Which the government then blocks.
The united states is basically a police state now a days. We the people have very little freedom left. Nearly every one of the first 10 amendments have been blatantly broken by the federal government in the near past. The sad thing is there is so many stupid people out there that go about their lives thinking they are free, and have no idea what is happening. Also sadly there is not really anything we can do to save the united states at this point. Only way to really get away is to pick up shop and move to another planet.
One of the reason I dont visit slashdot much anymore was that they dove into the realm of politics.
What does telecommunications companies and FISA courts have to do with operating systems? My answer would be “nothing”.
Please, can we keep this site free of politics? I come here to see which operating system has been released, reviews of operating systems, who has innovated FOSS software to improve our computing experience, and to see what directions the IT industry is taking. This is one of the best sites for this on the web. But, posting subjects like this only lowers the value of this site’s content.
I registered solely to post this. Please, don’t let this site become another slashdot or digg.
Welcome Friday! Actually, I welcome Friday every week..but I digress..
There’s a very simple solution to the issue you’ve raised…don’t click a link to a story you’re not interested in. Quite simple really.
This issue however, is very relevant. If your online activities are being monitored/logged/analysed and forwarded to third parties, I’m guessing you’d probably want to know about it.
Failing that of course, don’t click the link and move onto the next story…