IMMUNITY...FOR BREAKING THE LAW...STUPID RIAA...oh wait, what do you mean it's someone other than the riaa?

dodds is filibusting this in the senate right now. watch it on cspan 2

Liberty is DEAD in the U.S., the downfall of U.S. is at hand. In another 100 years, we'll all be a footnote in China's history books.

I hate this administration and everyone surrounding it.

go dodd go!

@Noobs-R-Us: i usually disagree with most things you say, but i think you are right about this one...maybe not 100 years, but close enough.

Why should anyone be surprised?

@EMoShunz: "i usually disagree with most things you say"

Your being a bit extreme there aren't you?

In anycase, did you see that book that Naomi Wolf wrote? I saw it the other day at Barnes and Noble. Made me do a double take since I've been thinking about that ever since W and his henchmen came to power. Jefferson warned all Americans about tyrants and yet, no one listens.

I know this is no political forum, but the lack of context in these stories of "domestic wiretaps" is meant to make people believe that the NSA just kicked back with a bag of popcorn and tuned in to Fred the mailman's phone call to a 900 number. The calls were tapped where the NSA had reason to believe that either party was in some way affiliated with AlQaeda. It was always a foreign to domestic call or vice versa, not domestic to domestic. Of course thats what we are told, and I'm not so naive as to think that some wouldn't take advantage of this program. I just cringe every time this program is made to look like something sinister by the creation of the media's favorite phrase "domestic wiretaps."

Bastards.

well... like this should surprise any of us. If it doesn't pass in the senate, purhaps it will become one of those late minute executive orders/pardons that are always being handled out as a president is trying to avoid letting the White House door hit him in the ass on his way out.

@Noobs-R-Us: Good read... Better start learning Mandarin.

@Noobs-R-Us: maybe a bit extreme...but it's always fun :)
no, i haven't read that...too much conspiracy is bad for me...leaves me feeling anxious

@tamoko: my 12 y.o. asked me if she could learn french, then japanese (she likes anime) i told her not to waste her time, learn mandarin, even if they don't take over, from a business standpoint it just makes sense.

This is simply a way to prevent any investigation into the domestic wiretapping program. The government doesn't want us to know the details which might come to light during the discovery phase of these lawsuits. I wonder what they are more afraid of - the terrorists finding out what the government is really doing, or the voters?

Recall the dems that vote for it, then replace Conyers and Pelosi with someone who will do their job and start impeachment proceedings.

Then ship them overseas to the world court where they can be tried for war crimes.

@gizmodome: I was thinking the same thing: "Oh thank god we had our Democratic revolution last year. It has changed things so much!"

*sigh*

Filibuster got killed, vote passed 76-10.

And I actually thought things were getting better after Enron and Tyco...

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine

That's ok, I wasn't using my civil liberties anyway

Please go to [www.eff.org] to help fight this!

@CarlR:

Voters...definately voters.

I would allow this bill to be passed only if every member of the legislative branch continued to be "wiretapped" by the NSA via telcos. I would also like to eavesdrop on all execs from the telcos. All conversations will be published on the web for the general public to listen to or read.

@Rotnmeat: One can only listen to evil diabolical laughter for so long before one gets bored.

Wow... dems have no backbone to stand up to Bush and his cronies. I'm just getting sick of this.

They're going to grant blanket immunity... WITHOUT having the Senate actually KNOW what the Telcos specifically did!

-

Ridiculous. With an administration this corrupt, you better check if the immunity deal covers all homicides (as well as privacy violations) committed by the Telcos during that time period, as well.

Blanket immunity, without even investigating what they actually are getting immunity from.

Embarrassing. Like I'm living in Communist China.

"No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed."

Might help if Senators occasionally opened up the document they've sworn to defend.

Where are the gun-toting psychopaths when we need them?

I dunno, dudes. If the NSA told me to do something, and told me it was legal (and compulsory!), and then I complied and then *I* got in trouble, not the NSA, I'd be pretty pissed. Wouldn't you? I realize there is more at stake here, but it's really the government wiretapping itself that's the problem, not the evil, evil corporations.

What we really want is to subpoena the living daylights out of the various governmental bodies responsible for this mess, not just strip telecoms of their cash. Not that that wouldn't be fun.

This is freaking pathetic. I'm not voting in the next election, not because I'm lazy, but because I'm voting against *everyone*. The democrats are spineless, and the republicans are just openly corrupt. They're not even trying to act like they're not ripping everyone off and establishing a police state anymore.

Even in corrupt China they would've hung people by now.

Yeah this is bad. I am truly embarrassed and ashamed of the US govt. right now.

Right now we are pissing on the constitution and everything we Americans have defended this country for.

@Noobs-R-Us, & MULLINTTON, et al Patriots:

Bush & Co. are assembling their dream (wet) of a Fascist America, one totalitarian step at a time. And the most disturbing part of it all, to me at least, is how the American people (sheeple is a more apt moniker) seem not to care. Seem to just lay down and take it as their Constitution is EVISCERATED, one precious Amendment at a time.

At this point I am SO LITERALLY SICKENED by the mind-numbing APATHAY here in this so-called "Land Of The 'Free'" I almost say the American sheeple HAVE EXACTLY THE KIND OF LEADERS & GOVERNMENT THEY DESERVE!

Every 'American' should IMMEDIATELY read (or re-read if the case may be) 1984 by George Orwell. The prescient GENIUS that is 1984 has never been more relevant in 2007.

George Carlin: education and the owners of America
[www.youtube.com]

Rigged Elections righ here in the "Free" US of A
[www.youtube.com]

"Our forefathers would think it's time for a revolution. This is why they revolted in the first place...They revolted against much more mild oppression." - U.S. Con
gressman Ron Paul (R-TX)

You people act like wiretaps like these are new; they're not. The NSA has done this for years for calls that originate and end outside of the US, but got routed through the US. The FISA courts have done this for years. The difference here is that if one end of that call is to a known terrorist organization, then they can wiretap.

And truly, the NSA doesn't care about your planned Rock Band parties and games of Hacky Sack. They're too busy trying to track down people that want to blow us up.

You guy's are absolutly pathetic. How many of you have had your phone or anything else tapped by the Govt. I don't aggree with everything this admin. does, but if they are that corrupt, why hasn't someone brought up the proof and finally stopped them? I just wish everyone would take a damn breath. It doesn't matter who's in office, nothing is ever going to be done right and none of you are gonna get off your lazy asses and try to do it better. They(politicians) are all as bad as you can get. However, if W. had sat back and did nothing after 9-11, he would have been called weak, now that he's done something he's a war criminal. Make up your minds. And please remember this. This country has lasted as long as it has because we have had the guts to fight. When you loose the will or the guts to protect whats yours, you will loose it. That's why I served.

@winexprt: No, the most disturbing part is your dumb avatar. Did I stumble into a HuffPo convention here? JFC.

It was not a "domestic" wiretapping program.

You people are so susceptible to marketing you don't even know it.

Oh wait I'm sorry you're counter culture revolutionaries.

Sorry to interrupt.

It was not a "domestic" wire tapping program.

You people are so susceptible to leftist marketing you don't even know when you're being played.

Oh wait. I'm sorry you're counter culture revolutionaries.

Sorry to interrupt.

@w00zzy:

I'm a registered Republican but I consider myself a moderate. I, like many others, was glad to see something done after 9/11. I think it was the right time and the right place to respond but guess what happened? Bush fucked it up. His own people said going into Iraq under the pretext of WMDs was wrong. In my mind, everything he's done since 2003 has been a fuck up or another move to cover his or his people's asses. I've never seen a group of people so secretive over day-to-day operations as this group. It's almost as though he does it just to piss people off.

Now, with this bill, even the dems are getting in on the act. Honestly, this reminds me of some sick, twisted mix of 1984 and a bit McCarthyism. Remember, this is the same group who argued that the Constitution was just a piece of paper.

[www.youtube.com]

I'm sorry, and I don't mean to sound like a dick, but after so much you have to wonder how these people made it through life long enough to be so stupid AND be in power.

Why would anyone refer to Chinese as Mandarin? I'm pretty sure no one is going to go out of their way to learn some other variation of Chinese used by 11.35% of the Chinese rural population.

And, about the wire tapping. I'm pretty sure a bill like this would never pass. Besides, it's not really anything to worry about except if you're a terrorist.

@mullingitover: Failure to participate is never the right option my friend.

Get out there and find somebody good. Work for them.

Trust me, in the places you fear we are becoming, the people would jump at the chance to be involved in politics and vote.

One of the reason our choices remain so bad is that so many rational people have walked away and left the zealots to cast their ballots.

Stand up bro. Stand up.

@888Gavin

"And, about the wire tapping. I'm pretty sure a bill like this would never pass. Besides, it's not really anything to worry about except if you're a terrorist."

Baaa Baaa keep bleating Sheep.

*sigh*
They've put off the vote until January. I would suggest writing your Senator, letters do actually get read, by someone. None of that form crap either, those get shredded. Speak up. Protest. Apathy and atomization are what the totalitarian state thrives on. History would seem to say that we can't fight empire, but I for one won't be accused of supporting it.

This place sucks. Little by little the US citizens are being ripped of the rights and opportunities we have enjoyed for the past several hundred years. The constitution is no longer valid. Laws are no longer valid. Big business pay off politicians and the little guy, who buys and supports these business are the victims of their own needs.

It's time for a revolution - again.

You people are nuts. The Liberals complained that Bush didn't "connect the dots" prior to 9/11 and for the many other terrorist attacks around the world. So when they do the things that are necessary, the Liberals complain again.

I would be far more worried about Google. The government has it's hands busy dealing with Militant Islamists who keep killing.

Do you think that if the terrorists had a nuke in New York that they wouldn't have used it?? Wake up.

BTW, this place is great.

@tdj114: You are making my point. "Bush fucked it up"? The entire world fucked it up. Anybody thats followed politics for the last 15+ yrs knows what the world thought was going on over there. Look, lets just agree to disagree. But the people doing nothing but bitching because they get their info from a 20 sec. sound bite or some whacked out web site and run with it to try and make someone look bad.

Ron Paul 2008!

F You AT&T, Verizon, FCC and Congress. I've simply had it up to here.

@92BuickLeSabre: "I was thinking the same thing: "Oh thank god we had our Democratic revolution last year. It has changed things so much!"

You thought the Democrats were somehow different? Both "sides" get their money, and hence their positions, from the same source. All this disagreement is just for show.

It's reasons like this that make me thankful I'm not an American.

@w00zzy: You're a bit confused. No one blames Bush for going after Osama in Afgan. Only idiots would say the same about Iraq. Do you know the difference?

I'm glad that we're still able to bare arms. The Supreme court is about to listen to a case regarding that which should settle this once and for all. Hopefully, they won't side with tyrants.

It saddens me to think that one day we might have to take up arms against our own people like the Civil War.

@tdj114: w00zzy = 2 term Bush voter/apologist. Simply sad. He should take his own advice about "they get their info from a 20 sec. sound bite or some whacked out web site". Two words for you, sir: Fox News.

@benz57us: Yeah, I suppose that presidential daily briefing entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" that Bush got in August 2001 was just a joke.

Here's a nice definition for you right wing-nuts:

terrorist |ˈterərist| noun a person who uses terrorism in the pursuit of political aims.

Sounds like our current administration to me! I'm sorry reality has a liberal bias, but you're the one who needs to wake up.

(Gizmodo overlords, this might be boring...but it's America, and I love it...hate when misinformation spreads like wildfire...America is in distress, because they argue about stuff they don't invest the time to know what's really going on.)

W00ZY,

1)Evidence...What will it take for you man? 10,000,000 emails from 2003-2005, just two years...just GONE. CIA tapes...destroyed. Attorneys being fired from jobs because they're not sympathetic to GWB. Science reports being redacted, or manipulated to reflect Admin Policy; reports like the NIE behing held back, or at the very least an President being uninformed for 3 months' time. Proof that Colin Powell knew what he was reading about Curve Ball's intel for the move to go to war with Iraq was FALSE before he read it to the American people.

2)DEANJO, you're not understanding the issue.
a)Telcom immunity is ALREADY included in the old FISA guidelines; did you know that?

Myth: The bill's provision is necessary to extend immunity to telephone companies that responded in good faith to a government request.

Reality: Existing law already immunizes telephone companies that respond in good faith to a government request, as long as that request meets certain clearly spelled-out statutory requirements. This carefully designed provision protects the companies and Americans' privacy by encouraging the companies to comply with legitimate requests but not to comply with requests that don't meet the requirements laid out in the law.

[feingold.senate.gov]

Same thing with FISA period...what is WRONG with wanting oversight in your Government, and transparency? Bush is fighing this..because he knows actions were taken that are against the Constitution.