This post hits the nail on the head---Bushco is desperate to have this immunity provision because it MUST keep its patently illegal actions out of the courts and beyond the scrutiny of litigation. End of story. And Reid wants to enable it.
The fact that an immunity provision is now the main "revision" supposedly needed to "put FISA into the 21st century" (ha-ha) shows what comic clownery this "Congress" has become, mostly because of the moral and intellectual rot of the Repubs, but we're seeing some extraordinary mental decay in the Beltway Dems as well.
Most of our "leaders" are falling all over themselves to abase most of the ideas behind the constitution. We are watching the complete implosion of the image and ideal of our country. Mark this disastrous charade well, this is historic.
Our laws are not meant to be taken seriously, and do not require conformance to their terms, at least by powerful corporations and the executive branch. What other conclusion can be drawn from this appalling spectacle?
We have plainly failed as a nation under law and will not return as a democratic people.
Posted by euzoius at December 17, 2007 12:49 PMdo you realize that almost every day in our government is spent scrutinizing the various ways the Bush Administration is breaking the laws of the land. Think about it. Virtually nothing they do is legal or within the Constitution as it's been defined over the years. It is, simply, an Outlaw Regime, and a bold one at that. These guys don't rely solely on subterfuge (although they certainly don't exclude that either), they just act out in the open. Thanks to the Democratic inability to hold them accountable (if I hear the "60 votes needed" line any more I'm gonna vomit) they are just plain pillaging. I agree with euzolus...we have failed as a nation. Can we come out of it?
Posted by T2 at December 17, 2007 01:26 PMI don't think so, T2. Too much damage has been done to our democratic safeguards, and much of it will be impossible to "undo."
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at December 17, 2007 01:46 PMWell crap, didn't all this start when impeachment was taken off the table?
Posted by Seven of Six at December 17, 2007 02:13 PMno, 7o6, it all started when the Supreme Court decided we didn't need to count votes in elections.
Posted by T2 at December 17, 2007 02:16 PMBy a person, by Cindy Sheehan's pronouncments, who is complicit in Speaker Pelosi. The Democratic Leadersheep protecting this admin. after all that you say has gone on. You ever think that you're on the wrong side here?
Posted by peter at December 17, 2007 02:18 PM76 to 10!!!
My how many unknowledgeable senators. Senators sworn to protect and uphold the US Constitution. What a bi-partisan vote this was, uniform approval by the many. How many presidential candidates showed up for the vote? Where were they? Was something more important than voicing the yeahs or nays on our FISA law?
You want to bet Speaker Pelosi goes along too, as well as the many knowledgable House members.
Posted by peter at December 17, 2007 02:27 PMUm, that was just the cloture vote, peter the pinhead.
And Reid apparently just tabled the FISA debate until January.
This was Dodd's work---a slight reprieve for the rule of law, at least for a couple weeks. It's all that can be expected in lawless BushAmerica, with its armies of cretinous conservative cogs (like peter) and above the law corporations.
Posted by euzoius at December 17, 2007 05:05 PMNot that I don't appreciate the link, but it's broken. There's some extraneous stuff on the back end of it.
Posted by dday at December 17, 2007 09:08 PMugh- sorry about that, dday. fixed now.
Posted by Turkana at December 17, 2007 09:30 PM