Feingold: Wiretap deal 'no compromise, it's capitulation'

[babsbunny]

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Feingold_Wiretap_deal_no_compromise_its_0619.html

Nick Juliano
Published: Thursday June 19, 2008


Wary of making the debate between liberty and security into a campaign issue, Congressional Democrats appear ready to retreat in their years-long effort to instill some sort of accountability on the Bush administration and its enablers in the telecommunications industry for their extra-legal surveillance of Americans.

Congressional leaders have reached an accord with the White House on the update to a controversial surveillance law that essentially legalizes the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program and seems likely to let off the hook the phone companies that facilitated it.

Under the bipartisan measure, a court could dismiss a suit if there is written certification that the White House asked a phone company to participate in the warrantless surveillance program Bush began shortly after the September 11 attacks and assured the company it was legal.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), who has been among the most vocal critics of the administration's apparent disdain for the Constitution, called the latest deal "a capitulation."

[spanone]

1. mr feingold speaks the truth...there is no opposition to bu$h* in congress whatsoever

there may be a few who openly oppose him, but there is no opposition party

so a government can ask a company to do something illegal, then declare it legal if the company has proof the government asked them to do something illegal.

[Lifetimedem]

11. You speak the truth

[mikelgb]

2. Filibuster Russ.... do it

[annabanana]

3. Russ is right. The president can't just write a "get out of trouble free" card.

Every single American citizen.. even the ones that work for big companies should know that wiretapping Americans without a warrant is UNCONSTITUTIONAL..

The employees either didn't know it or ignored it.

If corporations are going to claim the "rights of citizens" they are going to have to accept the responsibilities too.

[Bluebear]

4. FILIBUSTER

[KansDem]

9. I'm with you!

That may be the only way to stop this monster!

FISA = F**kers Illegally Spying on Americans

[Selatius]

5. Makes you wonder why so many people stopped fucking voting after the 1970s. nt

[slipslidingaway]

6. Thank you Senator Feingold n/t

[Jakes Progress]

7. Our party just selected a leader

Will he lead us on this? What would happen if Barack strode to the floor of the Senate and demanded that members of his party defeat this bill? We sent a majority of Democrats to both houses last time and it has done nothing. Can he put some backbone into congressional Democrats?

[Leopolds Ghost]

19. Yes, will Obama lead the Senate on this issue?

[spanone]

8. steny hoyer can kiss my ass 'this strikes a good balance'

fuck you hoyer

[griffi94]

10. this thread has a really different view of feingold

than the thread where feingold said that obama was making a mistake by reversing his position and opting out of public financing.
in that thread he needs to shut up and stop being a concern troll.

kudos to those of you posting in support of feingolds speaking truth to power concerning illegal wiretaps.

[Leopolds Ghost]

21. He was right then and he is against Obama on this one, too. Obama is noticeably not filibustering nt

[kentuck]

12. As usual, Feingold is right.

It is no compromise when you swap our freedoms for any benefit for any special interest. Justice and freedom are non-negotiable. How hard is that to understand??

[Canuckistanian]

13. Great! But....

Is there anyone in the HOUSE other than Wexler who's speaking out against this?

[bluesmail]

14. Wouldn't that set a precedent for future filthy rich no-good

BigCorp's so called immunity?

[Leopolds Ghost]

22. They already did it with Clinton/Gramm banking deregulation.

Clinton promised national banks they would not be prosecuted for violating
statutes prohibiting banks from buying up financial services firms that
had been in place since the New Deal, in anticipation of a deregulation
act Clinton anticipated signing 8 months later. As a result of this act,
for 8 months in 1998 I believe it was, NationsBank changed their name to
"NationsBanc" and Bank of America got bought up by "Banc of America LLC"
entities which were not banks and could therefore evade the New Deal law
and not be prosecuted because the intent of Congress and the President
was to remove that law 8 months later. The telecoms were told the same
thing by Clinton at the same time -- warrantless wiretapping of all US
citizens in a dragnet began around the time of 1997 telecom deregulation
and was probably their price for instituting it.

[bluesmail]

24. Thanks, I did not know about warrantless wiretapping

in 1996 came with :scared: deregulation. Explains so much.

[mod mom]

15. We've got to get rid of the weak ass complicit Dems who stand w the corporations & *

over what is the law. The frickin telecoms were involved when the law was originally written! They chose to break it-they bear responsibility for their actions.

[tavalon]

16. Years long effort to instill accountability?

Where have I been? I missed all those years of effort. I've seen nothing but capitulation and facilitation with only the occasional spine seen to rise, only to be ignored.

[AndyTiedye]

17. Bush** Must Have Them By The…

so they

[Leopolds Ghost]

23. Don't worry, all the information collected will be put in a "black box"

[Leopolds Ghost]

18. No, it's worse than that. It's a permanent enshrinement of a surveillance state.

[Individualist]

20. It's collaboration, not capitulation.