Stop the Spying!
By Nicole Belle Thursday Feb 21, 2008 5:14pm
People for the American Way (email):
The Senate passed a FISA reform bill last week that not only falls short on adequately protecting Americans from warrantless surveillance, but also shamefully grants retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies that may have aided the Bush administration's illegal domestic wiretapping.
The House, which is showing encouraging signs of spinal fortitude in recent days, can still stop this. That is why we are launching an emergency petition to STOP TELECOM IMMUNITY. Please be one of the first to sign.
Americans are speaking out -- thousands have taken action, hundreds have participated in our collaborative multimedia project with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and have sent us video testimonials and pictures expressing their opposition to telecom immunity and warrantless spying.
The House is thus far refusing to follow the Senate's lead on telecom immunity. And last week, a majority in the House heeded the call of the nearly 45,000 PFAW petition signers and voted to hold White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress for their failure to honor congressional subpoenas.
The contempt vote showed that the House is ready to hold the administration accountable AND that petitions can make a real difference (in whipping votes, trying to move the contempt resolution, our allies on the Hill specifically cited the PFAW petition as part of the case that Americans wanted to see administration officials held accountable to the rule of law).
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let's hope this show of fortitude continues
and we actually see the house refuse to
approve this illegal spying of bush and
deny him the telecom immunity.
I'm pulling strongly for the telecoms to have an opportunity to vindicate themselves in court. Go telecoms! Go congress! I'm signed up.
Unfortunately, my Senator, Claire McCaskill (D? MO), voted against the telecoms getting their day in court. How un-American is that? Boo Claire - next time please stand up for our communications industry to freely participate in the American process.
Wooo! I just signed. Go PFAW!! This video rocks.
Continue the stampede.
Vote Obama.
We also need to thank Pelosi and the rest. for holding up this insane bill and not letting it pass. We are quick to bitch and we should be equally quick to say thank you when they get it right. How about an email to those who voted against this nonsense with a word of gratitude?
.
SINCE WHEN IS WARRANTLESS CONSTITUTIONALLY LEGAL?
If WARRANTLESS is to be considered legal, then why the need for amnesty from prosecution for violating the Fourth Amendment?
If doing the Patriotic thing means handing over your protection from a form of government that is compelled to invade one’s privacy, then how did the Founders get the Fourth Amendment wrong?
What then, is the definition of TYRANNY?
.
Yes, I did sign it. Damned proud to do so. Now I bet I have my very own person reading and listening to everything I do. I feel sorry for that person because my phone calls and emails are boring as hell. He/She will be asleep most of the time.
#4 VietVet8666 Says:
Vote Obama.
Then why, pretell, was Obama ABSENT on the immunity vote? Granted he voted FOR the Dodd amendment, but was ABSENT on the bill sent back to the House granting immunity.
OBAMA WAS ABSENT THE DAY LIBERTY AND FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY DIED
A B S E N T!
Care to explain why I should support Obama and his actions?
.
PoP,
Know your enemy. Pelosi might do something with which you agree. But overall, she is a worthless piece of shit.
I signed and am passing the video and link to my addy list.
Is the next round we'd better fight?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRIDNQNsUss
Max-1 @ 6:
def. is what you get when you elect a fascist as a president.....bush
Max-1 @ 8:
Then why, pretell, was Obama ABSENT on the immunity vote? Granted he voted FOR the Dodd amendment, but was ABSENT on the bill sent back to the House granting immunity.
OBAMA WAS ABSENT THE DAY LIBERTY AND FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY DIED
A B S E N T!
Care to explain why I should support Obama and his actions?
.
Obama has a flawed record. But he's drawing many Americans into the political process who would never have given a fuck.
I'm not saying he's the best. Just the best we've got.
Max-1 @ 8:
Then why, pretell, was Obama ABSENT on the immunity vote? Granted he voted FOR the Dodd amendment, but was ABSENT on the bill sent back to the House granting immunity.
OBAMA WAS ABSENT THE DAY LIBERTY AND FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY DIED
A B S E N T!
Care to explain why I should support Obama and his actions?
.
obama did vote.........hillary did not bother to show for the vote
Max-i @#8... Get your facts straight..
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm...
Barack Obama voted in the minority to REJECT giving Telecom companies retroactive Immunity. Senator Clinton on the other hand didn't show up to the vote. Try to get your facts straight in the future. And vote Obama!
VietVet8666 @ 12:
Obama has a flawed record. But he's drawing many Americans into the political process who would never have given a fuck.
I'm not saying he's the best. Just the best we've got.
Obama is in the senate and could not have voted in the house when they voted. He voted against amnesty in the senate. What the hell could he have done the day the house voted if he had been in DC?
Maybe people are waking up a little with desperation and panic starting to set in.
PoP,
Obama's not my guy. Kucinich was.
But he's the best of what we've got. Unfortunately.
I expect republicans to let bush have his way. It hurts 10 times worse to have democrats cave in on this one. What are they thinking? I don't get it.
Max,
Where are you getting this misinformation?
Can't we all just speak into our wiretapped phones if we want the Government to hear us?
I do it all the time, so far, no ice cream has been delivered by Cheney, but I still have hope!
I would be happy to sign the petition if it didn't require an address. I'm really tired of getting unwanted mail after I sign one of these things.
kscitydude @ 21:
you get mail from just about anything you vote on now......
so for this reason, you would not vote even in a national election?
lame
jimmiraybob @ 2:
Actually I'm wondering about how apparently the telecoms got roped into this situation. They live under the same tree we do, they're just as vulnerable with this warrantless wiretapping.
Probably more so, because of their expertise and I would especially like to see if there was any forced collaboration on their part regarding this whole bucket of cr*p.
Especially after what happened to that Qwest CEO when he refused to go along with this program.
Any compensation would not be worth the liberty you would be losing. Your family, your friends, your community, your nation and it would all stand on your shoulders.
That would be like tempting sheep with tasty food to lure them into the slaughterhouse.
I wouldn’t care how tasty the compensation was, it wouldn’t be worth it.
Here's a suggested 'tagline' to use in regards to anyone who tries to tell you that the telecoms deserve immunity:
"You tell us that only those who have something to hide have something to be afraid of. And that's exactly what we're saying."
Without protection against lawsuits, are the telecoms less willing to cooperate with government spying efforts?
In a letter sent late on Friday to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and Attorney General Michael Mukasey claimed that in the six days since the temporary law expired, some "partners" in intelligence operations have "reduced cooperation."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/114572
Of course what they fail to mention is that they probably aren't cooperating with spying without warrants. I don't think they could resist if there were proper legal warrants. Bushco is still wanting them to do it illegally and they are saying no which they should have done in the first fucking place.
"and voted to hold White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress "
What is taking so long to arrrest these two? Are they hiding or out of country?
Janet @ 25:
You are so right about "saying no which they should have done in the first fucking place."
I would think that the telecoms should have a day in court so we can see exactly what happened.
If there is any shred of evidence that would indicate that the telecoms were forced in any way shape or form regarding this warrentless wiretapping it really needs to come to light.
One of the reasons I say this is really important is because of what happened to that Qwest CEO when he did not cooperate.
That was so bad, I would think that would of at the very least gave a cause of concern to the remaining telecoms.
Max-1 @ 8:
Then why, pretell, was Obama ABSENT on the immunity vote? Granted he voted FOR the Dodd amendment, but was ABSENT on the bill sent back to the House granting immunity.
OBAMA WAS ABSENT THE DAY LIBERTY AND FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY DIED
A B S E N T!
Care to explain why I should support Obama and his actions?
.
Wrong.
He voted for the Feingold, Feinstein, and Dodd amendments, and he voted against cloture on the vote for final passage. By the time the bill came up for a vote, the numbers were 68 - 29, his vote didn't matter, and he was on his way out of town.
Clinton didn't come back for the Dodd amendment or the cloture vote.
ticktock @ 27:
Randi Rhodes points out that the phone companies weren't feeling too much pressure because they stopped tapping the lines when the government was late paying them.
The only people who are for immunity are the right wing sheeple. Have they never read/heard of the US Constitution? Talk about ignorance and fear!! SHEESH!
Why should I sign a petition from a site that thinks it appropriate to abuse my address and email? From their privacy page: "From time to time, we may send you information from other like-minded organizations whose products or services we think subscribers might find interesting, but we do not exchange, trade, rent, or give email lists to third parties."
No sense selling, renting, or giving away a contact list when you can make your own hay from it. Um...no thanks. I'll rather write my senator and representative without the aid of these 'progressive' sites.
A comment in some thread a couple days ago comes to mind..."Americans are too stupid and too lazy to do anything about anything."
Americans are screaming bloody murder...but our protests are being ignored. The very institutions, The Congress and The Senate, whose jobs are supposed to be the voices of The People and guard Our interests are blatantly and systematically ignoring us. A President, who anyone with half a brain can see, is obviously guilty of numerous war crimes and crimes against the Constitution is being allowed to finish his last term practically unchallenged.
The proper --and more effective-- description of this is amnesty. Republicans have already made hay with this word, let's toss it back at them!
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