Senate Passes Telecom Immunity Bill 1088
zehnra writes "The U.S. Senate this afternoon passed the FISA Amendments Act, broadly expanding the president's warrantless surveillance authority and unconstitutionally granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in the president's illegal domestic wiretapping program. The House of Representatives passed the same bill last month, and President Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law shortly." The New York Times has a story, as does the Associated Press (carried here by Yahoo!). Reader Guppy points out the roll call for the vote.
Re:habeas corpus (Score:5, Funny)
Re:MOTHER FUCKING TRAITORS (Score:5, Funny)
I wrote my senators. Fat lot of good that shit does.
You probably forgot to put a few $100 bills in the envelopes.
Holy Christ! (Score:3, Funny)
I feel so much safer (Score:4, Funny)
Now the government has the tools it needs to protect us. Don't you feel more protected? I feel more protected!
My freedoms are so protected too. Freedom to write things like:
"I wish each member of the Bush administration was dipped in a vat full of Poison Oak sap, and that each senator and representative was made to take turns scratching the oozing blisters on their private parts."
Re:I didn't know Obama was supporting this (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, you said something against Obama. The moderation rollercoaster will be fun to see.
Re:Some days... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I didn't know Obama was supporting this (Score:5, Funny)
McCain abstained, which I guess makes him a "moderate" on the issue of screwing us over at every opportunity.
Tired of choosing the lesser of two evils? Vote Cthulhu in '08! No more years!
Re:Remember in November. (Score:5, Funny)
If everyone did that, we'd probably elect Oprah.
Which, all things considered, I'm sure would be a big improvement.
Re:Some days... (Score:4, Funny)
Unfortunately I don't think I can carry a guillotine on to a plane anymore, especially not one headed to Washington.
Re:Whew, your telcos are safe. (Score:5, Funny)
Sure glad i'm european
Yes, because regimes that violate civil liberties have never come to power in Europe.....
Re:Whew, your telcos are safe. (Score:5, Funny)
You know..., because of all the lawsuit and legal counsel *savings* the telecoms have now that they cannot be sued ala immunity ex post facto...?
Re:Remember in November. (Score:5, Funny)
Don't change your plans (Score:3, Funny)
I should be using my vacation time to go campaign for him (as I have been planning) when he just reversed himself on a major promise to his supporters?
Obama will say "green" a lot in the next few weeks, babble about "corporations", promise "free" healthcare and you'll be right back in line.
No worries.
Some days... (Score:3, Funny)
I wish I could vote "None of the above." in elections. Today is really one of them, which sadly seems more like every day.
Re:Whew, your telcos are safe. (Score:3, Funny)
Why do you want President Obama's administration to have less authority than President Bush?
Time to consider turning the tables (Score:2, Funny)
I wouldnt mind seeing how the remaining elements of the Bush apparatus react when they're being tapped. This includes the activist judges Roberts and Alito, the entirety of Fox News, certain "conservative" bloggers(Pajamas Media and Club for Growth come to mind), the entirety of talk radio, lobbyists of all influences, union busting/H1B agencies, and those whose business is Wall Street(or similar). It is implied that Congress will be tapped.
For full effect, wait until Bush leaves office, then start the tapping. Collect enough for a year, then release to the non-Fox media at the first major economic crisis/election cycle.
Then break out the popcorn and watch the amusement.
can we stop calling it illegal now? (Score:2, Funny)
So there was a heated debate weather the wiretapping was legal or not... it was regularly claimed to be illegal... now congress passed a bill clairfying that it's legal... when they pass a law saying you can do it, it's legal, no matter how much you may dislike it. So my real question is can we stop calling it the "illegal domestic wiretapping program"?
Re:can we stop calling it illegal now? (Score:2, Funny)
Sure. But I'll still call it "warrant-less" and "unconstitutional" if you don't mind.
Just exercising my 1st Amendment rights.
get them while you can... (Score:2, Funny)
The collectors value of this stuff [amazon.com] is going to go though the roof.
Re:Whew, your telcos are safe. (Score:5, Funny)
I ran into a *lot* of people that were on the *far* side of weird every time I went there.
Any beach in Europe will have 1/4th of the women going topless. And *nobody* *cares*
Europeans don't like boobs, and you're calling us weird??
Re:Enjoy the two party system (Score:2, Funny)
nahhh look at the money trail. When you look at exactly HOW MUCH money goes into lobbying. Then how much goes into donations, how much goes into favours its worrisome. A few years back I used to hang out in some shady corners of the internet so I got a lot more of this sort of information. Even if not all of congress is corrupt I can assure you at least 80 have been bribed whether they returned the favour or not.
So it must be true!