FISA:watch the Fourth Amendment go up in flames

pitu

The FISA bill is lost.
Rather than getting mad while we watch the Fourth Amendment go up in flames, start getting even.

Firedoglake picked out some of most reactionary Democrats, and are turning it over to their readers to decide who the worst offenders are. They'll then run ads and robo-calls in their congressional districts to let their constituents know how poorly their Representative is representing their rights.

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/getevenforfisa

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/index.html

glen greenwald wrote: Tuesday March 11, 2008 09:32 EDT
Targeting bad Democrats
House Democrats are expected to unveil and possibly vote on their FISA bill this week. While they may (or may not) end up securing some additional, mild safeguards against eavesdropping abuses as compared to the Rockefeller/Cheney Senate bill, it is almost certain that they will ultimately end up granting amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms and gutting most of the long-standing, core protections of FISA. The recent, extraordinary revelations of just how sweeping is the administration's spying on domestic calls and emails of Americans seem to have had little effect thus far on what appears to be the inevitable course.
the rest

FDL wrote: Big telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint are poised to get retro active immunity they want. But now is no time to sit and mourn that the administration may soon monitor our phone calls on a whim. ...

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/getevenforfisa

pitu

but wait!

NYTimes wrote: House Rejects Eavesdropping Immunity
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: March 14, 2008 NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — After its first secret session in a quarter-century, the House on Friday rejected retroactive immunity for the phone companies that took part in the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program after the Sept. 11 attacks, and it voted to place greater restrictions on the government’s wiretapping powers.

The decision, by a largely party-line vote of 213 to 197, is one of the few times when Democrats have been willing to buck up against the White House on a national security issue. It also ensures that the months-long battle over the government’s wiretapping powers will drag on for at least a few more weeks and possibly much longer.

the rest of the NYT article
This is pretty great news, even though if the House bill were to gain approval by the Senate, a veto by the White House appears certain.

carnivore

Awesome!

boygabriel

Quite a surprising positive turn in the fight to make it slightly harder for the govt to eavesdrop on us without any warrant whatsoever.