Letters to the Editor
Jim White
Published Letters: 1093 Editor's Choice: 15
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[Read the article: AT&T, other telecoms, buy victory in lawsuits]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Cassia Bella is right that this is not yet law. In the Senate, one brave Senator can put a hold on legislation. Is it possible to convince Russ Feingold to step up and be a true patriot here? Is there another Senator we should approach instead? I think we should choose one, and deluge that office with calls, emails and even live demonstrators for those who live close enough to pressure one brave person to do what is right. Sadly, I think it will be necessary to find a single patriot, since we are unlikely to find 41 who will vote against cloture on this.
Also, we don't yet know what the House is doing. Yes, they pulled their bill yesterday, but at least the one they were going to vote on yesterday, while not perfect, did not have immunity. We need to pressure House leaders to continue on bills without immunity. Having a different bill in the House buys time for the lawsuits to progress.
Keep in mind that the atrocity passed in August has several months left before expiring. The new bill does not have to be passed yet, so everything we can do to delay joint passage of final legislation buys time for the suits to progress.
Finally, in preparation for when (sadly, not if), immunity is passed and signed into law, it seems to me that this should be subjected to challenge on a constitutional basis. Doesn't this violate separation of powers? How can a law be passed to erase a number of suits already pending before the courts? Similarly, can't some of the suits continue anyway, since they are based on constitutional, rather than statutory issues? I'd gladly miss a few days of Glenn's posts if he is lending a hand to drafting briefs on these issues. His expertise in this area is practically unmatched and his dedication to the issue is an inspiration to us all.
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Glenn, thanks for the responses
[Read the article: AT&T, other telecoms, buy victory in lawsuits]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for digging out the information on Senate holds and for finding Chris Dodd's statement. I'm going to call his office and let him know that if he stands up on this issue and places a hold on any Senate bill with immunity, he has my support in the Presidential race.
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Submitted to my local paper (and to Dodd's blog next)
[Read the article: AT&T, other telecoms, buy victory in lawsuits]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It was announced late on October 18 that Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee have reached agreement with the Administration regarding retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies in the warrantless wiretapping program that the government began putting together in February of 2001. According to the New York Times, these Senators reviewed materials provided by the Administration and “came away from that early review convinced that the companies had ‘acted in good faith’ in cooperating with what they believed was a legal and presidentially authorized program…” This statement is categorically false. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing AT&T for illegally providing the government with access to all of its telephone and internet data. According to Cindy Cohn, lead counsel for EFF, the judge in this case has already ruled that “no reasonable phone company in the position of AT&T could have thought that what they were being asked to do was legal…”
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was put into place not to allow the government to spy on foreign enemies but to protect the rights of American citizens. Under FISA, the process of monitoring the communications of foreign agents has always been fast, efficient and never questioned. The safeguards of FISA were put into place because whenever the government has had no oversight in its surveillance activities, these activities have always been allowed to drift to illegal use to monitor internal political enemies. Do we want to return to the days of J. Edgar Hoover’s files on all the US citizens who are “enemies of the state”?
On October 19, Senator Christopher Dodd announced “I will do what I can to see to it that no telecommunications giant that was complicit in this Administration's assault on the Constitution is given a get-out-of-jail-free card.” As soon as I read these words from Senator Dodd, I registered to work on his campaign.
To paraphrase Michael Harold, a scientist, artist and businessman in California: September 11, 2001 changed nothing. July 4, 1776 changed everything.
Our Constitution is under attack by cowards hiding behind an irrationally overblown fear. Ironically, “They hate us for our freedoms” has been used to dismantle those very freedoms. I believe that a President Dodd will restore our Constitution and our freedom.
[PS--I checked and Michael Harold hasn't posted since early September. Anyone know why we haven't heard from this powerful voice in so long?]
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Bo
[Read the article: AT&T, other telecoms, buy victory in lawsuits]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Welcome to the reality-based community. Stick around. You'll like it here.
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HE DID IT!!!!
[Read the article: AT&T, other telecoms, buy victory in lawsuits]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just posted on Dodd's web site:
Today Senator Dodd will send a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid informing him that he will be placing a hold on FISA legislation that includes amnesty for telecommunications companies who enabled the President's assault on the Constitution by providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.
Take action and add your name to the list of people who don't want the Senate to provide telecom companies with amnesty for violating Americans' civil liberties. Visit http://chrisdodd.com/fisa to stand with Chris Dodd today.
Help spread the word, use the code below to embed on your blog or MySpace page and support Senator Dodd an his stand against the FISA bill:
Link for code to embed and blog post:
http://tinyurl.com/2a6e89