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After years of debate, President Bush signed a warrantless wiretapping bill on Thursday. It allows foreigners outside the U.S. to be wiretapped without court oversight, grants immunity to the telecoms who made wiretapping possible and invalidates dozens of legal challenges. Tim Starks of Congressional Quarterly explains how the bill became a law.
FISA Passed the Senate. See who voted yes, and who voted no with these maps and charts.
http://www.govit.com/S_2248/An_original_bill_to_amend_the_Foreign_Intelligence_Surveilla/Gov_Votes
http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00168
Never... never, ever has a government been given or taken this sort of power without eventual using it for nefarious ends. Shame on all of the media for not drilling this simple point into the public consciousness for the last six years. WELCOME BIG BROTHER, WE ALL NOW LIVE IN CHINA!
Here's to another OTM in which every guest (it seems) is a white male!
Yes I agree with "Ansel" -- I'm kind of missing those cocky Chinese women guests from the previous 2 wks!
Why was this story the lead segment on OTM ?
Not only are telephone calls not really "media" but your myopic guest only reinforced OTM's own overlooking the real story, i.e.:
- When your communication crosses a border it is never protected by the Constitution. Monitoring someone in the US who is in contact with another outside the country is NOT "domestic eavesdropping" as the media have mislabeled it.
OTM ignores the real story: " Why have the media misled the public?" The overwhelming passage in both houses this week has proven that the fabricated "domestic eavesdropping scandal" cannot stand up in the light of day. Where are your Mea Culpas?
I agree OTM and the free press overlook the complete story: the administration argued for years they have an article two right to spy without a warrant. Now retroactive immunity protects the administration. Why do we need retroactive immunity if laws were not broken?
We have heard for years that the program has been limited? The press only knows the program is limited because the government told them so. Come on.
I like the OTM host talking about such a lopsided vote … That sounds pretty objective? What is the standard for the assertion.
Das vidana
That was extremely disappointing coverage of a pretty basic and clear issue. The President illegally ordered phone companies to break the law, and then illegally used the information gained, all while covering up what happened as thoroughly as possible. The lawsuits coming out of this obvious ignoring of the 30-year-old FISA law were our only way to know the extent of the illegal activity, and now we will never know. This was never about "domestic spying"--it is simply about the executive branch following the laws of this nation.
On Wednesday Melissa Block (SP?) interviewed Armstrong Williams who spoke highly of Senator Obama yet would not commit to supporting him. This is the same Armstrong Williams whose claim to fame is having being paid by the U.S. Education Department to promote 'NO Child Left Behind.' I would expect FOX or CNN to pander to Williams because he is a black conservative, but NPR? Perhaps Williams is testing the water to see if he can profit form and Obama administration. After all he faired well with the current administration.
NPR, I trust that you aren’t reluctant to look at yourself is a critical way, just as you look at the medial at large.
Thank you,
Dale Weathers
Tucson, AZ
520-829-3266
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