All the phone companies are off the hook for listening to all of our phone conversations, even before 9/11. Anyone who thinks email or phones are private conversations is not living in the US!
In his ruling on Wednesday, Judge Walker said the legal protection carved out by Congress for the phone companies appeared unique in immunity law. "It creates a retroactive immunity for past, completed acts committed by private parties acting in concert with government entities that allegedly violated constitutional rights," he wrote.
New York Times
Now if you are a corporation, then you can buy the law even after breaking it. If you are the government, then you can ignore the law. If you the Republican National Convention, then you can use pre-emptive arrests to stifle free speech. Liberty is now just a marketing word that Republicans use.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit that retroactive immunity for the telecoms is illegal was rejected by Judge Vaughn Walker.
Forget change. Abandon your hope. Obama supports the Graham-Lieberman Secrecy Act. This bill would make any photo taken between 9/11 and the End of an Error (1/22/09) of anyone we captured secret. Yet another step of Obama becoming complicit in Bush's torture by covering it up.
jamess wrote a great post over at dKos about what are progressive values. He make a comprehensive list, a laundry list really. This post is definitely worth reading.
He got me thinking. jamess is talking more about our progressive values. But is there one single thing that makes a politician a progressive? I believe there is. The concept is transparency.
One of the major things wrong with politics as usual is behind-the-scenes deals the have led to the Military Commissions Act, FISA capitulations and many more. How often does it happen that by the time we hear about it, the deal is done.
FISA is the perfect example. Democrats Jello Jay Rockefeller and Steny Hoyer collaborated in secret with Darth Cheney to grant the Bush Administration exactly everything they wanted. We progressives thought we'd defeated retroactive immunity for the telecoms and warrantless wiretapping of Americans in February of 2008. But in May when rumors began circulating about Jello Jay and Steny preparing the capitulation, we started to worry and organize.
The bill breezed through the House by overwhelming margins. By the time we knew what had gone on, we had one single chance to defeat the bill by preventing it from coming to the floor of the Senate. Only 13 Senators voted to prevent the inevitable and on the final meaningless votes, only 26 opposed it.
The reason that transparency is so critical is transparency prevents that stadium from getting built at taxpayer expense, from that garbage incinerator going in your back yard and from politicians doing harm to America or your community behind closed doors.
Progressives want these decisions made in plain view. Sometimes we have to make tough choices. Sometimes we have no good choices, but only bad ones. We're in a deep recession, the economy is in collapse, budgets may have to be slashed at all levels of government. But you can tell a progressive politician by how the deal with the issue.
At a brunch event in Maple Grove Sunday, DFL-endorsed congressional candidate Ashwin Madia said he would have voted "No" on the recent FISA amendment bill, saying it "put the cart before the horse" in providing immunity to the telecom corporations before their actions on behalf of the Bush Administration have been investigated.
The attorney and Iraq veteran added that "Congress diminished probable cause, a standard for search and seizure that's held for 200 years."
He also responded to the Republican Party's recent charge of weakness on Iran by sticking to his message that Iran is a concern, not a threat, and that aggressive diplomacy should be used first: "I think it's troubling that they [Iran] launched missiles recently, but I'm a little unclear on why it's so important for some people to focus on the semantics instead of policy, and why they're so excited about a military showdown with another Middle East country. I've always said all options should be on the table, but the military option should be the last option."
MNPublius's Zack is offering thanks to Sen. Amy Klobuchar for her votes on the FISA amendment bill that passed the Senate yesterday, calling out "left wing bloggers" for being quick to criticize and slow to thank.
Paging all Fox News Democrats -- Alan Colmes, Howard Wolfson...I won't address the irony of this pejorative coming yesterday of all days.
Yes, Sen. Klobuchar voted the right way yesterday. That's good, and certainly better than voting the wrong way. But the votes taken yesterday were doomed from the get-go. The whips knew this, the entire Democratic conference knew this, and every Senator in the chamber knew this. Sen. Dodd's amendment to strip preemptive telecom immunity was doomed, votes against the bill's passage were doomed, all of it.
The really important vote was this one -- the cloture vote on the motion to proceed, taken June 25th and on which Sen. Klobuchar voted in the affirmative. For those (including myself) who are not experts on the arcane procedural rules of the U.S. Senate, that basically means a 60-vote threshold in order to start debating amendments on the bill. Basically. Sort of.
Look, I like Sen. Klobuchar a lot. I think she's done a good job so far of advocating for Minnesota, of securing funding for projects at home, and of providing constituent services to those she represents. But on votes like these, this was a rookie mistake. Her votes yesterday simply didn't matter, and the Senate Democrats, who supposedly run the chamber, are letting themselves get steamrolled every chance they get.
You support an amendment to gut the most controversial piece of the bill? Good. You don't support the bill in its entirety? Good. Then you, as a United States Senator, should be using every procedural weapon in your arsenal to stop the bill from being passed. If that means not allowing debate on the bill by refusing cloture on the motion to proceed two weeks before it's due on the calendar, that's what you do.
The Constitution and our shared political values are far too important to sit back and say "well, at least she voted the right way on final passage." It's difficult for me to offer thanks for a piece of legislation that shreds the Constitution and burns its tattered remains. If the bill is bad, you vote no. Plain. And. Simple. Final passage, cloture, bad amendments, motions to proceed, cloture on motions to proceed, everything. Vote. No.
Although I haven't reviewed the roll calls, I'm fairly certain that Norm Coleman voted to pass the bill in its entirety. Another notch on the "we really need Al Franken in the Senate" stick.
The Bilerico Project diarist beat me to it, but I have the excuse that I've been waiting on a statement from Erik Paulsen on the FISA bill that passed the house late last week before I posted that of Ashwin Madia, which popped into my inbox this morning.
Madia:
I am troubled by the House passage of HR 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. There is much we can do to prevent terrorism, but such measures do not require the sacrifice of fundamental constitutional freedoms which our country was founded upon. This legislation demonstrates the need for leaders in Congress who have experience in the military and in Iraq, and who value the rule of law as we fight the War on Terror.
Paulsen:
As of 7:30, I'm still waiting on a statement from the Paulsen campaign, but I've been assured it's coming soon. I'll update this post with that statement as soon as it arrives.
Update: heard from the Paulsen campaign late last night after I shut down the comp, and he was unavailable all day -- hopefully that statement will come through today.
I've just received through email Ashwin Madia's statement on the FISA Amendments:
I am troubled by the House passage of HR 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. There is much we can do to prevent terrorism, but such measures do not require the sacrifice of fundamental constitutional freedoms which our country was founded upon. This legislation demonstrates the need for leaders in Congress who have experience in the military and in Iraq, and who value the rule of law as we fight the War on Terror.
The traditionally red seat he's running for (western Twin Cities suburbs) is being left vacant by a retiring Republican who voted for the FISA amendments. Cook lists it as a toss-up. He's been sponsored by the DCCC Red to Blue program.
This is one we can take back, and here's a challenger willing to put out a statement opposing the bill (I don't know any other who has so far).
Michele Bachmann has grabbed George Bush's shoulder and claimed knowledge of double-secret plans to partition Iraq. Today she has given Minnesota more reason to be embarrassed at her presence in our congressional delegation, this time on the Foreign Intelligence Services Act.
The House this week passed a FISA amendment bill that provided fixes for several issues in the 1978 law, but did not include retroactive immunity for telecom companies that may have assisted the Bush administration in breaking the law. Yet in a Star-Tribune op-ed Saturday morning, there's Ms. Bachmann, claiming that responsibility for making Americans unsafe lies with the House Democratic Leadership -- who allegedly have not allowed any FISA legislation to pass.
We are currently 3 votes short of stopping this ugly little FISA ploy to provide legal cover for the Bush Administration's illegal spying. We need everyone to act now to slap this down for good.
There will be a cloture vote in the Senate on Monday afternoon and, if it fails, Republicans will force every amendment to the FISA bill to get 60 votes to pass instead of the usual simple majority. This move is designed to save the telco immunity provisions.
The good news is that Senators Clinton and Obama should be there for the vote (although neither has stated publicly how they will vote). Additionally I just spoke with Senator Klobuchar's office & she has not stated a position yet.
Take the time, today if possible, to contact the Senator's office by phone (612.727.5220 or 202.224.3244) or email to urge her to stand with the Democratic party and democratic philosophy and vote AGAINST cloture.
You should also contact the offices of our Presidential candidates urging them to support this effort (John Edwards can certainly weigh in even if he does not have a vote).
Michele Bachmann has grabbed George Bush's shoulder and 
