GOP Wants to Raise OUR Taxes to Pay for Wiretapping Lawsuits

[babylonsister]

GOP Wants to Raise Our Taxes to Pay for Wiretapping Lawsuits
Submitted by Bob Fertik on November 8, 2007 - 12:38pm.

* NSA Wiretapping

It's bad enough that George Bush pressured the phone companies to spy on every email and phone call in America, starting 7 months before 9/11.

But now that the phone companies have been caught violating the privacy of their customers - and are being forced to defend their crimes in court - Republicans want to raise our taxes to pay for those lawsuits.

At a markup on a bill to overhaul the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) plans to offer an amendment that would make the federal government — instead of the phone companies — the defendant in about 40 pending lawsuits across the country.

Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) used sarcasm to rip Specter's idea to shreds:

“So we would have the taxpayers pay the cost of the Bush administration breaking the law? Interesting concept, I’ll look at it,” Leahy said.

You go, Pat!

Unfortunately some Democrats are getting bamboozled. Here's Dick Durbin (D-IL), who really should know better:

"I think the government needs to be held accountable for a warrantless program that I think clearly violated the law."

Dick, the way to hold "the government" accountable is to impeach the criminals in "the government" who pressured the phone companies to spy on us - Dick Cheney and George Bush.

more...

http://www.democrats.com/gop-wants-to-raise-our-taxes-to-pay-for-wiretapping-lawsuits

[elehhhhna]

1. Hold them ALL Accountable: the telecoms, the BA, every asshat who violated the Constitution.

[babylonsister]

2. You'd think there'd be a straw that broke the camel's back somewhere. nt

[williesgirl]

3. Anyone who votes for this would be crazy. Talk about a backlash! rec'd

[AX10]

4. Raise taxes on the Richard Mellon Scaife's of this country to..

pay for these suits. That would be fair.

[babylonsister]

5. But you know it wouldn't work that way. They'd want to squeeze the

have-lesses more than the have-mores.

[Hissyspit]

6. K&R n/t