One for the good guys
It seems the forces of antiasshatdom have won a major victory. Senator Chris Dodd, with the help of a bunch of dirty hippie bloggers (go, dirty hippy bloggers!), has stopped the planned revision of the FISA bill. The reason this is good is because the revision was planned by the Bush Administration and their idea of "tools to fight terrorism" is "tools to spy on whoever we fucking feel like and sell the information to anyone we want to."
The fight was over telecom immunity. The Bush Administration requested information from big telecom companies that violates the telecoms own privacy practices and license agreements (not to mention Federal Law). And just in case anyone thinks this is about "stopping the terrorists," the first requests were made in March of 2001, when the Justice Department's top priority was... wait for it... porn. Giving the telecoms immunity would have protected them from the consequences of their actions (which were illegal) and buried a whole new pile of Bush Co. illegal doings. But Chris Dodd didn't let that happen. Go Chris Dodd.
And a side of Asshat for Senator Harry Reid, for even trying to get a FISA-with-telco-immunity to the Senate Floor. You're the Majority Leader, and when there's a chance to do something that's both an ethical imperative and a shrewd political move, you're supposed to do the right thing, not run the other fucking way. Seems to me like it's time for a new Majority Leader
The fight was over telecom immunity. The Bush Administration requested information from big telecom companies that violates the telecoms own privacy practices and license agreements (not to mention Federal Law). And just in case anyone thinks this is about "stopping the terrorists," the first requests were made in March of 2001, when the Justice Department's top priority was... wait for it... porn. Giving the telecoms immunity would have protected them from the consequences of their actions (which were illegal) and buried a whole new pile of Bush Co. illegal doings. But Chris Dodd didn't let that happen. Go Chris Dodd.
And a side of Asshat for Senator Harry Reid, for even trying to get a FISA-with-telco-immunity to the Senate Floor. You're the Majority Leader, and when there's a chance to do something that's both an ethical imperative and a shrewd political move, you're supposed to do the right thing, not run the other fucking way. Seems to me like it's time for a new Majority Leader