![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The FISA ball is back in the air
Jun. 4th, 2008 03:23 pmI've been hearing rumours for a while that the Democrats have been working to get retroactive immunity for lawbreaking by telecommunications companies past the House of Representatives, as per Chief Executive Bush's desire. It would also greatly expand warrantless wiretapping powers, as repeatedly discussed here and other places.
Digby today reprints part of a National Journal article stating, amoungst other things:
If this report is real, and if this law passes, I will vote for no national Democrats this fall. The only reason I'm considering voting for Democrats at all is in fact because of this one, single, hold out so far against Chief Executive Bush's agenda of unlimited and unilateral executive power. This last shred of stand for Constitution and law and this last and only functioning path of investigation into some of the crimes of the Bush administration these last eight years is the only remaining piece of hope I have in reversing this authoritarian lawlessness.
If the Democrats hand that over, if they let these investigative lawsuits be mooted, if they shut down the last and only functional past of investigation, then I will not help them pretend they are somehow different, because they won't be. I've said before that FISA is my last stand. I meant it.
Digby today reprints part of a National Journal article stating, amoungst other things:
The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat disclosed late Tuesday that he is ready to accept a Republican-brokered deal to rewrite [FISA]... House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes told CongressDaily that he is "fine" with language offered by Senate Intelligence ranking member Christopher (Kit) Bond and other Republicans to overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.There's also some talk of letting a different Federal court make the grant, but that's not the language being discussed right now. Under the new capitulation - if working out the exact details of the plan you and your negotiating partners both want can be called that - the FISA court would grant the telecoms retroactive immunity, rather than Congress directly.
If this report is real, and if this law passes, I will vote for no national Democrats this fall. The only reason I'm considering voting for Democrats at all is in fact because of this one, single, hold out so far against Chief Executive Bush's agenda of unlimited and unilateral executive power. This last shred of stand for Constitution and law and this last and only functioning path of investigation into some of the crimes of the Bush administration these last eight years is the only remaining piece of hope I have in reversing this authoritarian lawlessness.
If the Democrats hand that over, if they let these investigative lawsuits be mooted, if they shut down the last and only functional past of investigation, then I will not help them pretend they are somehow different, because they won't be. I've said before that FISA is my last stand. I meant it.
