Letters to the Editor
-
Bought and sold
Has there ever been a more obvious example of an elected official completely under the paid influence of big business? How is this any different than Randy Cunningham and his ilk?
-
I actually feel sorry for the telecoms....
Imagine being in their position, making gazillions of dollars, with buildings just filled with lawyers, and still unable to defend themselves in any manner whatsoever when President Bush demands them to jump.
Why they have nowhere near the resources that I do, a private citizen, barely making ends meet, to protest against government actions.
You are being completely unfair to AT&T and their shareholders to demand any sort of civic responsibility from them. They are helpless, leave them alone, we're lucky they do anything for us.
-
"And the president was just having his way."
I think that short sentence says it all.
Until enough citizens and legislators decide that we don't live in a dictatorship, that won't change. Many of us will take up the battle today, but will it be enough?
When will the people have their way?
When will the Constitution have its way?
-
Ok, here's the deal
Having conclusively demonstrated that one of the major players in the FISA debate has unquestionably lied to a national media source about the scope and intent of the law, we can of course rely on our intreped truth-seeking national media to pick up the story and run with it, assuring us that everyone who pays attention to such issues is fully informed of the dishonaesty and self seeking that the Democratic leadership in the Senate is engaged in.
After all, its not like they'd be bashing Bush or anything by doing so. I wonder what's stopping them.
-
Who has profited from this?
Let's look at the returns of all the major players in this exercise. corporations, their executives, which members of congress own stock in any of these companies. Let's look at the activity of their stocks during the whole period of the Bush administration. If people don't get pissed off about having the government co-op a commercial entity to conduct illegal activity and then changing the laws retroactively, then maybe they'll get pissed about unfair profiteering that of course, no one is allowed to discuss.
-
@ trisexual: AP seems helpless, maybe AT&T is too
I actually feel sorry for the telecoms....
Imagine being in their position, making gazillions of dollars, with buildings just filled with lawyers, and still unable to defend themselves in any manner whatsoever when President Bush demands them to jump.
Why they have nowhere near the resources that I do, a private citizen, barely making ends meet, to protest against government actions.
You are being completely unfair to AT&T and their shareholders to demand any sort of civic responsibility from them. They are helpless, leave them alone, we're lucky they do anything for us.
There's some truth to that, when you consider that the Associated Press, the world's most powerful and largest news organization, is helpless to defend photographer Bilal Hussein against this outlaw president's army. Hussein has been proven innocent by the AP, yet he remains in prison. Perhaps the telecoms had nothing to fear but imprisonment and torture.
-
On trying to avoid severe depression
If Rockefeller and his Dem ilk “win,” the one saving grace is that Glenn and the netroots and my fellow Democrats who are disgusted by this “win” will have more irrefutable evidence to go after each and every one of them when they come up for election.
-
It's not just money
I think we have learned something valuable here. Even moderate politicians calculate that if they take a stand and declaim "for our freedom and the Constitution", and their opponent yells back "you're empowering the terrorists!", the politicos believe that the latter will resonate, and the former hold no sway. I fear that in more than half the Congressional constituencies in America (ironically, the ones least likely to be attacked by terrorists) they are right. This has become a battle of fear versus principle, and principle is losing in the White House, Congress, the Media, and large segments of the electorate (only the Courts have taken an occasional stand for principle). I now see the 2006 Midterm elections as a vote against failure, not a vote for anything.
-
NEITHER party wants to investigate the crimes of the Bush administration
This is assuredly about the power of money in politics. But it's my feeling it also reveals how much both party establishments want to shut the door on any investigation into the precise nature and extent of the illegality of the Bush administration. There is so much we do not know, and so much we have a right to know. Nancy ("Impeachement is off the table") Pelosi, Harry Reid, Rahm Emmanuel, et al do not want to do their duty to investigate and hold other politicians accountable for their crimes. (Think of the precedent that sets!)
Or maybe they think investigating the Bush administration is a loser politically, (another myth they appear to believe), or, more likely, they fear some sort of exacerbation of the already extreme political polarization in this country, leading to -- God forbid -- some sort of civil unrest? (The latter would be the most generous view.)
At any rate, the American people are again the losers, as our political leaders pursue their only real agenda -- remaining in power, whatever the damage to our democracy and the rule of law.
-
Leahy Undermines His Own Investigations
Last spring, the three members of Vermont's Washington delegation -- Senators Pat Leahy and Bernie Sanders, and Congressman Peter Welch -- stood together when the Vermont state senate voted to impeach Bush and asked Vermonters to have patience. There were ongoing investigations, and we must let these investigations continue, they said.
“People are expressing broad outrage about this president’s handling of the war, his treatment of civil liberties, and the use of bogus intelligence, and there is a lot of common ground here on holding the president and vice president accountable. The major question is the best way to make that happen.”
Welch said the current investigations on everything from the war to the firing of U.S. attorneys are potentially the beginning of further action, not the end. He said the current probes into the Bush administration are akin to the congressional investigations into the Nixon administration.
“Those investigations weren’t the end, but the beginning of the end and brought out the facts that led to articles of impeachment,” said Welch. “It didn’t begin with filing articles of impeachment. My fundamental concern is ending this war.”
Democrats need to use these investigations as a way to chip away at Bush’s support in the GOP, and convince Republicans that the administration needs to be held accountable, Welch said. (From the Vermont Guardian website.)
Now, Leahy is working with Harry Reid to push through this bill with retroactive immunity for the telecommunications, thereby undermining the very investigations that we Vermonters were promised. That's how craven and irresponsible this Democratic Congress has become. Unlike the days of Nixon, when the Democrats actually had a backbone, this Congress will do anything to appease George Bush and their own corporate sponsors. What a disgrace.