Tape up those mitts and put on your thinking caps kids, it's time for an intellectual rumble. Today's subject: the Senate's overwhelming reauthorization of Gee Dubs domestic spying powers with a new measure giving phone companies retroactive immunity from lawsuits. Good thing too (for them) since our AT&T, VZW, and Sprint collaborators have racked up about 40 lawsuits accusing them of violating USitizen's privacy rights. The bill now goes to the House. If they reject it or fail to pass the measure this week, then the temporary surveillance powers activated after 11 September, 2001 will expire on the House floor. So what's it going to be, live free or die or give up some civil liberties in good faith to your government? Your state representatives would like to know.
P.S. For those following the election: McCain voted for telco immunity, Obama against, and Clinton didn't vote at all even though she was in the area for Tuesday's primaries.
Voter Roll-call (a "Yea" is a vote to strike the immunity provision)
posted February 13th 2008 8:36AM
I think this should be on the november ballot.
I loved this movie.
@matt (the first post)
I know your scared and have a small penis. However, you can always craw under the bed and hide from a new world that's a different shade then the one you're used too.
@mark " a vote for a republican is a vote to be a coward in your boots or whatever blablabla" last time i checked it was the democrats that want to cut and run in COWARDESS they dont like to fight cause they have vaginas where their penis is spose to go, half of them are even voting for a vagina for president! lol you dont have to wait for hillary to get into office to cut your penis off if thats what your into. Or obama lol even better they asked a focus group last night what accomplishments obama has and the first woman said uhhh he go into the senate the second woman said uhh skip! the 3rd guy said uhhh hes had a really good speach about then he got cut off by the interveiwer who reminded everyone a speech is NOT a acomplishment the 4th guy said uhhh hes black and last time i checked being black wasnt exactly an acomplishment HA! it might be an acomplishment for blacks to have a black get this far but its deffinatly not an acomplishment. I'm not a racist but I also like not wanting to cut my penis off by voting for a lesbian ok ill put it this way diffrent countries compete against eachother economically even goto war with eachother lets compare countries to teams you want your team to win you vote for your team just like RECORD numbers of blacks have been coming out to vote for obama in the primaries regardless of they agree or even know what his polictical views are it should be the same way for Whites your on the White team and you should not vote for the other team as they wouldnt vote for yours.
hey sean, easy on the keg stands. and try punctuation next time.
fahnboi you truly can't see just how much of a miserable loser you are, can you?
I'm guessing you are a total fat-ass, covered in acne.....
The reason that republican's look like jackasses, is because you ARE a bunch of jackasses. Hasn't the past 7 years proven that point?
"Conservative" is just another word for "white makes right", "my way or the highway" and my personal favorite, "your either with us, or against us".
Jesus Christ -- Grow up. US is part of the world, its time we join it.
"Any person that would give up a little liberty for a little safety deserves neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
Using fear to persuade people is what being a terrorist is. Seems like our government has been quite hippocritical since 9/11.
@Zach
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Researchers now believe that a fellow diplomat by the name of Richard Jackson is the primary author.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
A. A conservative is against government interference in the market (and lots of other things).
B. Making telcos retroactively immune to prosecution constitutes market interference.
C. No senate republican voted to strike the bill's immunity provision for telcos.
D. No senate republican is against government interference in the market.
E. No senate republican is a conservative.
So I can see how this issue makes a perfect jumping-off point for the whole "Democrats are communists" trope.
terroristic
Engadget Editors!
Please update this post to include a reference to the EFF's action item on this:
https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=365
The democratic party is right of where the repubicans were 60 years ago, and the republicans are now openly fascist in ideology (look up Fascism, then compare it to, say, Reagan's doctrines). Americans believe they defeated communism, but never asked 'by how much?' Its core truth: greed is more reliable than altruism.
Capitalism, however, is based on greed and fear, which are both wildly out of control in the US right now. It's creating socio-economic pressures in the states (disappearing midde-class, poor health care) that WILL lead to large-scale unrest if not relieved. The Republican response has been to enact laws that further disenfranchise the American people, under the guise of national security; their key messages pounded home by corporate-controlled media as news. The democratic party's response has been confused, at best. They are under the same pressure from corporate interests that already control the Republican party. Just ask youself, would the founding fathers even recognise the America of today, from an ideological standpoint? I think not, and no amount of rationalisation will change that.
That's pretty fucked up if that bill passes, feel free to move to Canada or Mexico, or riot in the streets.
You can either stay and fight, or leave and let the air heads take over, how long before this starts to resemble the communist hunts just a few decades ago?
Start calling your representatives and ask them how they're going to vote, then you tell them how you're going to vote against them if they don't vote this bill into the shredder.
I hope this country doesn't go down the slippery slope of becoming a dictatorship before we get to a presidential election.