Progressive World Review

Proving once again how spineless the Democrats can be, a “compromise” is in the works that will give Bush virtually everything he wants regarding FISA including retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that broke the law at the president’s bequest.  For awhile it looked as if the House Democrats were going to make a stand (Senate Democrats had already passed a bill with everything Bush wanted), but it appears now that the House will cave in to Bush’s desires and call it a compromise.  From The New York Times,

Senior Congressional officials said they hoped to seal an agreement early this week and quickly vote in the House and Senate on legislation that expired back in February, though the administration retained the authority to continue spying on terror suspects it already had in its sights. That power begins slipping later this summer.

The main sticking point between the House and Senate has been President Bush’s demand that phone companies that cooperated in the wiretapping program after the Sept. 11 attacks be given blanket immunity from legal action by customers who claim their rights were violated by warrantless surveillance. The Senate went along with the plan but the House balked.
…
After weeks of talks, lawmakers have worked out a deal that would allow federal courts to settle the question of whether the telecommunications companies should be protected because they were assured their participation was legal.
…
The question for the negotiators will be whether the final product is seen by Democrats opposed to the immunity for the phone companies as conceding too much or whether backers of warrantless surveillance will view the compromise as too weak. (emphasis added)

Apparently, if the telecoms were given the proper assurances by the government that their cooperation wouldn’t violate any laws then they’ll be off the hook.  This is completely absurd, the whole point of our system of government, of checks and balances, is that it’s never assumed that a particular action is legal simply because the government says so.  Furthermore, ignorance of the law has never been a valid excuse, not that the telecoms were ignorant of anything.  This is an excerpt from Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling when he refused to dismiss the lawsuits against the telecoms. (h/t Glenn Greenwald)

That the government isn’t simply to be trusted at face value is not only one of the cornerstones of our democracy, the reason for which is self-evident with the current administration.  From lying to start a war, to signing statements to illegal propaganda programs, George Bush has shown nothing but the utmost contempt for the rule of law.  This administration has been the poster child for why we have checks and balances to begin with and the Democrats, even though they control Congress, are willing to chuck it all, presumably in a misguided attempt to consolidate their power.  This is what Glenn Greenwald has to say regarding the wheelings and dealings of the House Democrats,

There are reports from very reliable sources that Hoyer, after engineering this “compromise” and ensuring it has enough votes to pass, will then vote against it so he can claim it’s not his fault (as will Pelosi). Worse, the Democratic leadership in the Senate (Reid and Durbin) have been saying that while they oppose the “compromise” and will vote against it, they will do nothing to impede its passage.

After eight years of lies and corruption from Bush and the Republicans, now more than ever, we need principled leadership from the opposition party(s) but instead, even with the Democrats virtually guaranteed of continued control over Congress, what do we get, the same style of corrupt, self-serving government we’ve come to expect from the Republican Party.  Is it any wonder that Congress has even lower approval ratings than Bush?

Clearly we have a long way to go to take back control of our country but as a start the so called compromise on FISA must be defeated.  Currently, donations are being accepted to facilitate this campaign and I urgently implore everyone to give what they can.

–Paul Wilden

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