Money talks -- telcos walk
By Libby Spencer
It's official. We are now a government by the corporatocracy, of the corporatocracy and for the corporatocracy. Senate Dems and GOPers reviewed the "documents underlying the administration's post-Sept. 11 warrantless surveillance program" and checked their campaign donation spreadsheets and concluded the telcos acted in good faith when they knowingly broke the law in order to obtain enormously lucrative government contracts to illegally spy on innocent Americans.
In the House, the Democratic "leadership," fearful of being painted as weak on terror in future campaign ads, pulled a competing bill when they allowed the GOP to outmanuever them by introducing a boneheaded motion that effectively did nothing but muddy the intent of the legislation. In practical terms what just happened here is that the lawsuits brought by American citizens against the telcos for illegally comprising our privacy, have just been killed dead by a bi-partisan agreement to protect their future deep pocket campaign contributions.
The bottom line my fellow Americans, is, we've been had. We elected a Democratic majority to bring accountability back to our government. The joke is on us. There will be no accountability. The rule of law is dead.
There are no words sufficient to express my dismay and disgust. Our legislators engage in staged sham battles with predetermined outcomes for the sole purpose of protecting their political positions. They don't give a tinker's damn about protecting the constitution, much less our rights under it. At the moment, I don't see any solution other than to throw all the bums out.
See Glenn and Steve for the wonkery.
(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)
It's official. We are now a government by the corporatocracy, of the corporatocracy and for the corporatocracy. Senate Dems and GOPers reviewed the "documents underlying the administration's post-Sept. 11 warrantless surveillance program" and checked their campaign donation spreadsheets and concluded the telcos acted in good faith when they knowingly broke the law in order to obtain enormously lucrative government contracts to illegally spy on innocent Americans.
In the House, the Democratic "leadership," fearful of being painted as weak on terror in future campaign ads, pulled a competing bill when they allowed the GOP to outmanuever them by introducing a boneheaded motion that effectively did nothing but muddy the intent of the legislation. In practical terms what just happened here is that the lawsuits brought by American citizens against the telcos for illegally comprising our privacy, have just been killed dead by a bi-partisan agreement to protect their future deep pocket campaign contributions.
The bottom line my fellow Americans, is, we've been had. We elected a Democratic majority to bring accountability back to our government. The joke is on us. There will be no accountability. The rule of law is dead.
There are no words sufficient to express my dismay and disgust. Our legislators engage in staged sham battles with predetermined outcomes for the sole purpose of protecting their political positions. They don't give a tinker's damn about protecting the constitution, much less our rights under it. At the moment, I don't see any solution other than to throw all the bums out.
See Glenn and Steve for the wonkery.
(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)
Labels: Bush Administration, Congress, data mining, rule of law
posted by Libby Spencer at
11:47 AM
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