Amid a high-stakes battle over whether to grant telephone companies immunity, the U.S. House of Representatives agreed on Tuesday to extend for 15 days an expiring anti-terror surveillance law.

Bush and Republicans have pushed for passage of a bill that would replace a surveillance law, set to expire on Friday, that expanded the power of U.S. authorities last August to track suspected enemy targets without a court order.

The new measure would tighten controls on these expanded powers. It would also grant retroactive immunity from lawsuits to any telecommunication company that participated in Bush's warrantless domestic spying program, begun shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

With the Senate tied up in knots over the legislation, Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said, "The main issue is whether we have retroactive immunity to phone companies. That's what it all boils down to."
Reuters

Our good friend Nancy put the immunity issue into perfect perspective. To paraphrase what she said, "Bush and the Republicans are pushing for retroactive immunity for the telecomm companies, saying they should be immune from lawsuits and prosecution because they were just doing what the government told them to do. Meantime, soldiers like Lynndie England are rotting in prison for doing the exact same thing - doing what the government told them."

The big difference is, in Lynndie's case, since she was in the military, if she had refused to carry out her orders, she would have gotten into trouble anyway for insubordination. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't. The telecomm companies have no such dilemma.

It's simple. If they broke the law, they should face the consequences - and don't even try to tell me that they aren't fully aware of the nuances and subtleties of the law. Dookie and I both work for the phone company, as does my wife. When it comes to things like this, they don't blow their noses without consulting with a team of lawyers. They walked into this full well knowing they were violating the Constitution and breaking the law, and they did it anyway.

If Cheney walked up to you and told you to shoot an old man in the face, and you did it, it's a safe bet you wouldn't get away with it. In this case, Cheney and Bush are telling the phone companies to shoot us all in the face, and some of them have been listening to them.


Call and/or write your Congress-critters and tell them NO Immunity for Phone Companies!

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posted by  Anonymous at 12:45 PM