The Senate once again caved to pressure from the White House and its theatrical war on terror by passing a bill that grants retroactive immunity to telecoms for illegally snooping on US citizens at the Bush's administration behest. The claim is that the snooping was done to protect from foreign activity but it’s since been discovered that most of the wiretapping was done on US citizens talking to other US citizens. Its original mandate was pretty much ignored for whatever the Bush admin saw fit to do.
The main problem with the bill is it allows the telecoms to continue to do whatever they want with whoever they want as long as it’s cloaked in the "war on terror" disclaimer. In addition it allows the Bush admin to easily cover up its continuing illegal behavior.
What are worse are the Democrats that caved on this bill, probably after the telecoms promised campaign financing assistance. The list isn't exactly a who's who of the respectable, but Senators that have proven to be easily purchased.
In regards to the Presidential candidates votes - John "more Bush, just better" McCain voted yes, Hillary "I can't give a straight answer" Clinton didn't vote, and Barack "change chant, no plans" Obama voted no. Of the three, I have the least respect for Clinton who chose to dodge the controversy by providing no answer of record. The more I see Clinton in action, the less confidence I have in her as a potential presidential candidate.
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