October 31, 2007
Let's Not Get Hung Out to Dry Again
Bill Moyers reminds us that Dick Cheney has been slavering after our civil liberties for thirty years.
Now, as the FISA Bill is reconsidered, Christopher Dodd struggled, almost singlehandedly, to preserve a last shard of our Constitution by putting a hold on its passage until immunity for telecom companies is dropped, Anonymous Liberal writes:
From a purely political standpoint, I find it virtually incomprehensible that Democrats are not tripping over each other to oppose granting immunity to the telecoms. I understand that many Democrats live in constant fear of being labeled "soft on terror," but this issue is easily severable from the issue of surveillance law generally. It has nothing to do with the president's surveillance authorities going forward, and any voter can readily understand that. This is about a president (who is painfully unpopular) asking Congress to do something totally unreasonable (blindly grant sweeping immunity for unspecified illegal conduct) on behalf of huge corporations (whom no one much trusts or likes) who are more than capable of taking care of themselves (they have massive legal budgets and top-notch lawyers). If Democrats in Congress don't think they can present their opposition to such legislation in a way that the public will understand, then they might as well pack up and go home because they're clearly not cut out for this line of work.Opposition to telecom immunity should be a political no-brainer for Democrats. It is passionately opposed by virtually all left-leaning activists and bloggers (as well as many non-left-leaning folks), and it is hard to see what possible political downside there could be to opposing immunity. Sure, Republicans could try to use such opposition to paint Democrats as weak on terror, but it's not going to be very convincing to anyone ("unless you retroactively immunize AT&T, the terrorists win!").
The BIG QUESTION is why hasn't this been a no brainer? All of us here at Dakota have the sinking feeling that some democrats have been purchased by the corporatocracy, though Steny Hoyer, Barack Obama and Hillary are coming around -- ever.... so...... slowly.
Studs Terkel who has lost his civil liberties more than once in his lifetime writes in the New York Times:
I was among those blacklisted for my political beliefs [during the McCarthy era]. My crime? I had signed petitions. Lots of them. I had signed on in opposition to Jim Crow laws and poll taxes and in favor of rent control and pacifism. Because the petitions were thought to be Communist-inspired, I lost my ability to work in television and radio after refusing to say that I had been “duped” into signing my name to these causes.By the 1960s, the inequities in civil rights and the debate over the Vietnam war spurred social justice movements. The government’s response? More surveillance. In the name of national security, the F.B.I. conducted warrantless wiretaps of political activists, journalists, former White House staff members and even a member of Congress.
Glenn Greenwald tells us what we can do about retroactive telecom immunity, as well as how and why we should do it.
Photo note: Airing out dirty laundry - not getting hung out to dry - honestly just a nice picture at dawn
Posted by Dakota at October 31, 2007 09:09 AM