The Big FISA Wuss Out

The House approved a compromised update to the FISA law on Friday and with that ends any speculation of there being reasonable restraints on government eavesdropping. It appears that election year pressures to be "tough" on national security have trumped the desire to provide meaningful oversight of the once warrantless program to gather endless bytes of data on any person in the U.S.

Just looking at the large number of Dems (105) that sided with GOP members of the House signals how anxious the moderate wing of the Democratic party was get this pesky issue out of the way. I'm curious was to where all the libertarian small government types have been in this one.

The tech-news sphere of reporting seems to be the only area of the online media that is condemning the passage of the law with some certitude. Some good follow up reporting can be found at Ars Technica and the EFF website. The approval of the FISA authorization includes telco immunity and allows the NSA to use general warrants to surveil large swaths of data based on loose parameters (don't take my word for it).

The joining together of Republicans and Democrats in the House demonstrates that the idea of bipartisan compromise doesn't always bring forth sound policy. If you are one of the many Americans unaware of the significance of this concentration of power or if you just don't mind America slouching towards a police state then you are probably content with the news.

Some recognition is due to local House members Betty Sutton and Tim Ryan. Both decided to stand on principle despite the overwhelming tide against it and voted nea on the FISA bill. Don't leave them hanging, call their respective offices and thank them for their principled stand if you care. They are sure to face negative campaign adds over their votes the next time they run for re-election.

Also of note are the ten Republican members that did not vote on the FISA bill for various reasons. The most noticeable of these was liberterian leaning champion of limited government Ron Paul. Even more reason to believe the darling of the latest resurgence against the current GOP is more talk than substance.

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Three Cheers For the Fourth Amendment

My persons, houses, papers and effects are rejoicing over the House passage of the correct FISA bill today. The Dems finally got it together and crammed a bill without telco immunity through a successful vote.

Thanks for taking all kinds of crap from presidential apologists and fear mongering cretins Speaker Pelosi. The secret session last night was the last antic in the b-s arsenal and when that revealed nothing new, the votes were still there. Thanks for pulling together a large enough coalition to get the needed votes in the face of faltering moderates. Enough of the Blue Dogs shed their yellow coats to do the right thing. Take a stand for the Constitution that the Bizarro World "strict constructionist" judge loving goofballs on the right have been trying to deconstruct one piece at a time.

The FISA Sell Out of 2008

My person, house, papers and effects don't feel so secure thanks to the 67 U.S. Senators who felt it was more important to protect telcos from legal prosecution than hold them accountable. Today the more deliberative of our legislative bodies approved a FISA bill that preserves legal immunity for AT&T and others that may have been complicit in the government's warrantless wiretapping plans.

Apparently only 31 Senators,all democrats save one (Bernie Sanders I-VT) were willing to risk being accused of comforting the enemy in order to take a stand for the 4^th amendment. Our own Sherrod Brown was part of the group that voted against amnesty while the other guy was okay with leaving it in the final bill.

With this legal roadblock out of the way giant telco's can get back to the business of devising a plan to create a tiered Internet. Or better yet maybe AT&T would be willing to drop those plans as a trade-off for this little favor.