Truck, anyone?

Okay, so, I'm now in more of a hurry to sell my pickup truck, so I've cut the price dramatically. I still think it'd be a very nice restoration project truck for someone, even if it is a full-size bed, or, barring that, a very nice occasional-use heavy-hauler. If you know someone who needs such a beast, please let them know. Thanks.

FISA update: It's going down tomorrow

Okay, so, executive summary: The fix is in. House vote for the protection of criminal spying and the erasure of the 4th Amendment goes down tomorrow. Democratic Party insures passage, protects Chief Executive Mr. Bush by ending the last investigations, insures evidence and reasons for immunity will be kept secret. Senator Obama, btw, is MIA, when not endorsing supporters of amnesty over primary rivals opposed to it. This is a joint effort between the parties because this is what both parties want. There will be political retaliation; donate to the Strangebedfellows fund to that effort. Glenn Greenwald has more, like usual. So does Threat Level.

Slightly longer:

The bill is out, and on House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's website. It provides for essentially limitless warrantless spying on Americans, without even the previous potential limit of the minimal FISA court review. Said review is still technically present, but unenforceable, and evidence collected illegally - for up to years - can be used. Nonfunctional court review is not actually court review in any way. Quoting the ACLU:

This bill allows for mass and untargeted surveillance of Americans' communications. The court review is mere window-dressing –- all the court would look at is the procedures for the year-long dragnet and not at the who, what and why of the spying. Even this superficial court review has a gaping loophole –- "exigent" circumstances can short cut even this perfunctory oversight since any delay in the onset of spying meets the test and by definition going to the court would cause at least a minimal pause. Worse yet, if the court denies an order for any reason, the government is allowed to continue surveillance throughout the appeals process, thereby rendering the role of the judiciary meaningless. In the end, there is no one to answer to; a court review without power is no court review at all.

It also provides retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies separate and specific violations of Federal law in cooperating with illegal spying by the Bush administration, shutting down the last remaining function investigation of this administration, and, for bonus points, orders the court it is ordering to grant this immunity not to say why; not only will the "evidence" submitted be secret, but the judge in question will not even be permitted to reference it. It's entirely a "grant immunity and shut the fuck up" order from Congress to the court. The ACLU again:

The telecom companies simply have to produce a piece of paper we already know exists, resulting in immediate dismissal. That’s not accountability. Loopholes and judicial theater don’t do our Fourth Amendment rights justice. In the end, this is politics. This bill does nothing to keep Americans safe and is a constitutional farce.

The process by which this deal has come about has been as secretive as the warrantless wiretapping program it is seeking to legitimize.

In terms of political cover, the House leadership has decided - as rumoured - to bundle FISA with the supplemental Iraq War spending bill, so that they can claim that they were forced to vote for it or "leave the troops! stranded!! in Iraq!! and cut!! and run!!" and all that crap. I remind you that this entire agenda is controlled by the Democratic party; this is their show, and they are doing it this way because they want to, not because they have to.

Russ Feingold condemns the measure here. As far as I know, no elected Republicans are even pretending to be opposed; up to 100 Democrats may actually be opposed, but frankly, I don't trust the word of any of them who haven't been working actively on this, which cuts the count down to about 10 in the Senate and a similar number in the House.

The vote in the House is, as of right now, going down tomorrow. The Senate vote will follow quickly. The bipartisan alliance that forms our "two party" system has set everything up get exactly what it wants in exactly the timeframe it wants, with just enough lie to let the political media cover their asses for them. It is well past time for new parties.

Certain people better not leave the US after inauguration day

There may be some justice, in the end, from overseas:

In the past two years, I have spoken with two investigating magistrates in two different European nations, both pro-Iraq war NATO allies. Both were assembling war crimes charges against a small group of Bush administration officials. "You can rest assured that no charges will be brought before January 20, 2009," one told me. And after that? "It depends. We don't expect extradition. But if one of the targets lands on our territory or on the territory of one of our cooperating jurisdictions, then we'll be prepared to act."

Outdoing the GOP

From Deal Reached in Congress to Rewrite Rules on Wiretapping:

With some AT&T and other telecommunications companies now facing some 40 lawsuits over their reported participation in the wiretapping program, Republican leaders described this narrow court review on the immunity question as a mere “formality.”

“The lawsuits will be dismissed,” Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 Republican in the House, predicted with confidence.

The proposal — particularly the immunity provision — represents a major victory for the White House after months of dispute. “I think the White House got a better deal than they even they had hoped to get,” said Senator Christopher Bond, the Missouri Republican who led the negotiations.

The Democrats are giving Mr. Bush, the telecoms, and the authoritarians, a fucking Christmas present here even they didn't think they'd get in Mr.Cheney's Bush's masturbatory fantasies.

The phrase you're looking for here is "contemptible filth."