Senate Showdown Over Warrantless Wiretapping

AP :

The Senate is expected to decide this week whether to shield from civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on Americans.

The Senate is grappling with an update to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law that dictates when federal agents much obtain court permission before tapping phone and computer lines inside the United States to gather intelligence on foreign threats. It may tap lines without court permission outside the country.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[Kane]

06:29 PM on 12/17/2007

Senator Kit Bond's argued that if immunity wasn't given for telecoms, potential lawsuits could hurt the economy by putting some telecoms out of business.

Now how many lawsuits do you think it would take to put a telecom out of business?

[bumpersticker]

04:35 PM on 12/17/2007

There is real danger when a government intentionally instills a negative emotion in the public by which they increase governmental power to pursue an agenda. The Third Reich did it with, "You have been humilated by the treaty ending WW1." The Bush adminstration has done it with, "You are not safe."

[hmmmmmer]

04:06 PM on 12/17/2007

Didn't the fall of Rome come about because of greed, religion and corrupt politicians, not to mention the overreaching hand of a government that wanted to conquer the world. Well, I wonder how long we have before we are no longer a country that values freedom and are looking down the eyes of a dictator? Oh, it is happening right now, sorry.

[Waitaminute]

04:05 PM on 12/17/2007

People these traitors are TAKING OVER THIS COUNTRY. They want to have the goods on every American citizen, including the politicians in order to criminalize all dissenters.

From day one, and lets start with the stolen elections, 9-11, the patriot act, the torture, the eavedropping, the ravaging of the tresury, using the invasions of both Irag and afganistan, the weaking of the arm forces, the elimination of habeus corpus, the take over of all departments of government, including the justice department, the pentagon, the cia and the MAIN STREAM NEWS MEDIA.

Now they are going to give immunity to corporations that spy on us. Who will not do what they tell them to do after this.

This is a conspiracy to overthrow our country. They are traitors and need to be treated as such.

When they start dragging us from our homes, will you get it then? Will it be too late?

[clumberfeet]

04:02 PM on 12/17/2007

If the phone companies need immunity, what crime was committed that they need immunity from?
If no crime was committed why do the phone companies need immunity?

The GOP's only escape from this logical corner is:
It's all highly secretive.

[AntonBursch]

03:59 PM on 12/17/2007

This is like watching a movie or reading a book watching this on CSPAN today. Listening to Orrin Hatch... even his name sounds villianous.

Where's Jason Bourne or even James Bond when you need them?

[samuraijack]

03:57 PM on 12/17/2007

If you're waiting on Harry to get into a showdown, don't. He's more likely to catch the 11:10 to Yuma, and not be around for High Noon. Don't count on Feinstein, and, of course, forget about Tokyo Joe Lieberman. I hope we do stand up to the president, but we have been waiting for the party to do this since November 2006. Jack Out.

[aintnogod]

03:53 PM on 12/17/2007

I hate to bring in an aside to this marvelously angry bunch of comments, but I want to suggest that it is people of god whose very psychology is set up to accept authoritarian rule which is the culprit here. I'm not singling out any one religion (I'm secular on that head), but I want us to consider how the brain works on religion. High on religion, the brain is programmed to look above itself, literally above itself, to find direction. It's subtly structured by instinct to adopt pecking orders, to accept kings and princes and other authorities. It looks for heroes and leaders to follow automatically. Every cultural story we tell ourselves is full of morality (rather than reality) based on good and evil, bad and nice people and behaviors, good and bad leadership. Religion is anti-democratic. Religion will alway be the enemy of a truly free human culture. The brain on religion can't help itself; it's structured by evolution to participate in pecking orders, to bow to the silver-backed male in the group, to seek the old man in the cave to learn the truth from, no matter how crazed or sane that elder or silver-backed male is. It's a rare human who has truly escaped his evolutionary past, and, interestingly, it's the religious people that most hate evolution who are most deeply directed by their evolutionary instincts. They can't free themselves from the idea of god: the most authoritarian concept there is. They are so deeply involved in their evolutionary past that they can't see the facts beyond their own noses.

[speakingtruth2power]

03:44 PM on 12/17/2007

I have emailed my Senators, asking them to support Dodd and to
tell Reid that along with the telecoms, the whole world is watching!

[AntonBursch]

03:42 PM on 12/17/2007

Where the hell are Biden, Clinton and Obama? Why aren't they on the floor right now protecting the rights of US citizens? They will all lose my vote if they don't show up today to fight this.

[marinemomof3]

03:42 PM on 12/17/2007

If you try to call a Senator that is voting to approve this immunity, you CAN NOT GET THROUGH!

If you call a Senator such as Dodd, Whitehouse,
or the one from Oregon that just spoke, NO PROBLEM.

You have to call their regional offices to get through.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CALL CORNYN, HATCH, KYL, AND AND ALL SENATORS THAT ARE VOTING FOR THE IMMUNITY PLEASE!!!!

[AKJM]

03:41 PM on 12/17/2007

I have appointments this afternoon, but I would much rather watch the Senate. Dodd just finished, Hatch is speaking now "sometimes what you are looking for doesn't exist" I hope Iowans are watching, gotta go.

[LITU]

03:38 PM on 12/17/2007

You're not perfect, Senator Dodd, but you're pretty righteous by today's standards, and I plan on voting for you should you get the nomination.

But secretly, I hope with all my heart that a Republican wins the presidential election, so as to take this country down the final hole of despair. Only when we hit bottom will we have the will as a nation to climb out of that hole. Anything short of that is just clawing at the walls.

[leekinny]

03:37 PM on 12/17/2007

For all those who excuse such things as illegal spying on American citizens with the overused line of, "Why worry I have nothing to hide", "I say Oh really?".

You just never know what opinions or relationships or the opinions and relationships of other family members or friends will place you out of favor with government goons.

You could be 'in a whole heap a trouble' and never know why.

But you would still lose your rights as a citizen and your freedom just the same.

[Indyfromny]

03:22 PM on 12/17/2007

Kiss the country goodbye folks. These spineless pigs arent going to help us. They're just as crooked as the republicans.