Congress to approve continued wiretapping

[IceColdBrewski]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/washington/09nsa.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin



A Democratic bill to be proposed on Tuesday in the House would maintain for several years the type of broad, blanket authority for N.S.A. eavesdropping that the administration secured in August for six months.

A competing proposal in the Senate, still being drafted, may be even closer in line with the administration plan, with the possibility of including retroactive immunity for telecommunications utilities that participated in the once-secret program to eavesdrop without court warrants.


You've gotta hand it to those Dems. They still know how to talk a good fight, only to end up toeing the company line when it's time to shit or get off the pot. Same old excuces too. "The Republicans backed us into a corner on this." :rolleyes

The more things change...

[Extra Stout]

You've gotta hand it to those Dems. They still know how to talk a good fight, only to end up toeing the company line when it's time to shit or get off the pot. Same old excuces too. "The Republicans backed us into a corner on this." :rolleyes

The more things change...
When the rubber hits the road, the Dems are whores of the same interests as the Repubs are.

[IceColdBrewski]

When the rubber hits the road, the Dems are whores of the same interests as the Repubs are.

Yep. People who voted the Dems into the majority should feel like idiots. What was the reasoning again? Oh yeah. It was "because I don't want to vote Republican." Yeah, you din't vote Repub. You voted Repub lite.

Hopefully the number of people voting Independents continues to rise. Otherwise, history is doomed to repeat itself.

[Extra Stout]

Hopefully the number of people voting Independents continues to rise. Otherwise, history is doomed to repeat itself.
The corps will just buy the independents too.

[boutons_]

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/10/domestic_taps


http://www.wired.com/images/article/full/2007/10/nsa_2005_traffic_flows_630px.jpg

[Nbadan]

After the Democrats took over Congress in 2007, the administration put the NSA surveillance programs under the supervision of a secretive spying court, which ruled shortly thereafter that wiretapping U.S.-based facilities without a warrant was illegal, even for the purpose of harvesting foreign communications.

In August, Congress granted the NSA "emergency" temporary powers to continue the surveillance, which are set to expire in February. The RESTORE Act (the Responsible Electronic Surveillance That is Overseen Reviewed and Effective Act of 2007) is the Democrat's effort to extend that power indefinitely, while including some safeguards against abuse. It would legalize both the foreign-to-foreign intercepts, and the domestic-to-foreign surveillance associated with the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

So the Demo want to legislate what the Bush Administration has been doing anyway, except with built-in safe-guards protecting domestic intercepts, a move the Bush Administration not surprisingly opposes......why is this a bad thing again?

[Nbadan]

The bill enjoys wide support in the House, but on Wednesday President Bush vowed to veto any surveillance legislation that doesn't extend retroactive legal immunity to telephone companies who cooperated in the NSA's domestic surveillance before it was legalized -- a provision absent from the RESTORE Act. AT&T, which is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly wiretapping the internet on behalf of the NSA, is reportedly among the companies lobbying hard for immunity.

Oh yeah, and the bill doesn't protect companies that have already (illegally) participated in Dubya's domestic spying program...

[Nbadan]

Steny Hoyer is a stupid M.F..


A top Democratic leader opened the door Tuesday to granting U.S. telecommunications companies retroactive legal immunity for helping the government conduct electronic surveillance without court orders, but said the Bush administration must first detail what those companies did.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said providing the immunity will likely be the price of getting President Bush to sign into law new legislation extending the government's surveillance authority. About 40 pending lawsuits name telecommunications companies for alleged violations of wiretapping laws. Democrats introduced a draft version of the new law Tuesday _ without the immunity language.

"We have not received documentation as to what in fact was done, for which we've been asked to give immunity," Hoyer said.

Link (http://www.democrats.com/is-steny-hoyer-the-stupidest-democrat-in-history)

Right now, the Demos could impeach because a FED law was broken, and Hoyer wants to just forgive and forget....

[spurster]

The corps will just buy the independents too.
I agree. The cost of politcal campaigns is so great that campaign contributions have become legalized bribery.

[Nbadan]

Cheney spins domestic eavesdropping...

Cheney Cites Justifications For Domestic Eavesdropping
Secret Monitoring May Have Averted 9/11, He Says
By Jim VandeHei and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 5, 2006; Page A02


Vice President Cheney said yesterday that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might have been prevented if the Bush administration had had the power to secretly monitor conversations involving two of the hijackers without court orders.

As part of an effort to sell Americans on the administration's recently disclosed program to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant, Cheney told a small group of conservatives at the Heritage Foundation that instead of being able to "pick up" on the terrorist plot "we didn't know they were here plotting until it was too late."

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010400973.html)

ehh...to bad for Cheney that QWest started spying on domestic calls without a warrant in July 01 (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,27), well before the Sept 11th attacks.....

[101A]

The corps will just buy the independents too.

...or the independents will suck at the free-spending, Pork Barrel Teet. Tomatow, Tomatah

Democrats act Republican after they're elected.

Republicans return the favor.

It's one big happy club.