Kia Franklin

FISA’s in the House (but it’s no house party).

Yesterday was a heartbreaker for our civil liberties and our right to enforce them through the civil justice system. Now, Bush is on to pressuring the House to pass the Senate’s version of the FISA Amendments Act of 2007, which provides retroactive immunity to companies that illegally spied on American citizens. (You heard me right).

From the AP:

Bush said he would not agree to giving the House more time to debate a measure the Senate passed Tuesday governing the government’s ability to work with telecommunications companies to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails between suspected terrorists. The bill gives phone companies retroactive protection from lawsuits filed on the basis of cooperation they gave the government without court permission - something Bush insisted was included in the bill.

About 40 lawsuits have been filed against telecom companies by people alleging violations of wiretapping and privacy laws. The House did not include the immunity provision in a similar bill it passed last year.

“In order to be able to discover … the enemy’s plans, we need the cooperation of telecommunication companies,” Bush said. “If these companies are subjected to lawsuits that could cost them billions of dollars, they won’t participate. They won’t help us. They won’t help protect America.”

That’s a lie. A plain-faced lie. To which Reid responded:

“The president could have taken the simple step of requesting new authority from Congress … but whether out of convenience, incompetence, or outright disdain for the rule of law, the administration chose to ignore Congress and ignore the Constitution,” Reid said.

“Due to months of White House foot-dragging, the relevant House committees have only just gotten important documents related to whether the Bush Administration followed the law and the Constitution,” he said. “They need some time to review and analyze them. We must not let this critical issue be resolved by White House bullying.”

Preach it. Let’s see… what else have I got on this? Senator Dodd gave a final speech on the Senate’s (terrible, wrong, devastating, depressing) vote, and you can read or watch it here.

That’s all I have to say about that right now. Gotta be careful what I say these days… never know who’s watching/reading/listening…

Posted at 4:29 PM, Feb 13, 2008 in Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)