Update: Voted! Passed 293-129.
Today the House votes on a new compromise FISA Bill that will make the NSA’s formerly questionable activities—like spying on Americans—legal, and will grant conditional immunity upon the telephone companies that aided the NSA in spying on their customers. It’s “conditional” because there will still be a court review, but nobody seems to be taking the court review seriously: Senator Russ Feingold, D-WI, calls it a “capitulation” in the ongoing fight over holding the telcos responsible, and Rep. Roy Blunt, R-MO, says the review will be a “formality.” Looks like you’re about to get off free, Verizon and AT&T!
We’re curious what Senator Obama and Senator McCain have to say about this—particularly, whether Obama will vote speak out against it. Oh wait, he’s too busy campaigning to weigh in on important issues, right? Because that’s how career politicians work. (End of rant on politicos not doing their jobs.)
“Deal clears way for wiretap-law overhaul” [CNN]
New FISA Bill Would Grant Telcoms Immunity; Vote Is Tomorrow” [Slashdot]
(Photo: Getty)
More From Consumerist
-
Feds Approve 8 More State Health Insurance Exchanges For A Total Of 20
-
As Of Today There Are 1,800 Fewer Classic Movie Titles On Netflix Instant
-
NY Atty. Gen. Calls Out Wells Fargo For Halting Loan Mods In Wake Of Hurricane Sandy
-
Michigan Medical Marijuana Users Gain Ability To Defend Themselves In Court
-
Facebook’s New App Rules Means Your Content Consumption Can’t Be Automatically Shared
@Trai_Dep: Pelosi was strongly against it? Are you on crack? She spoke in favor of it this morning. She VOTED for it.
@linus: They were acting as proxies for the government, in some cases possibly violating Privacy policies[i.e. We won't hand over information unless served with a warren or court order]. Then let’s not forget that even if I was not say an AT&T subscriber my information may still of passed though AT&T’s servers/wires/what ever and allowed the government to ease drop on me. The 4 Amendment REQUIRES the government to get a search warrant from a Judge before they can ease drop
In Katz V. United States the Supreme Court ruled that Wiretapping falls under the 4th Amendment. [caselaw.lp.findlaw.com]
@Trai_Dep: Pelosi was strongly against it?
She spoke in favor of it this morning. She VOTED FOR IT.
So what the hell are you talking about?
Sorry for the double post, Gawker is wonky today.
@Bladefist: That’s your president for the next 8 years sucker.
@booksy: Pull your head out of your ass. They may have been international calls, but on one end of that phone was a U.S. resident. So yes, warrants were required by law.
@Bladefist: abramoff
One thing people forget, what Republicans vote in favor of a corporation, it not always because they are corrupt and selling out.
Did you ever think that maybe conservatives (me) are also in favor for the corporation? This time around, it’s a bit more tricky. And I can’t say I’m all for this.
But for big oil, I am all in favor for them. So when my republican senators are all in favor for them as well, they are just representing what conservatives want.
We don’t want government control. I’ll take corrupt corporations over corrupt government any day of the week.
@Bladefist: Yes, but by supporting the Republican party, you’re backing corrupt government AND corrupt corporations! It’s the best of both worlds!
@sncreducer: if you’re referring to title VII, I’m not as convinced that this violates it. Obviously, we will never find out because the people that the telecoms were reporting on is classified and won’t be revealed anytime soon. Nor will we ever know if having that information prevented any attacks.
@Stormyaaron: You’re assuming that the telecoms didn’t surrender.
If a police officer asks me what you were doing between 10-12 this morning, I’m under no obligation to tell them (outside of being charged with obstruction). I can tell them, should I so choose but that does not make me an agent of the government.
@sncreducer: Disagree. I want smaller government and more power in the consumer/corporation relationship.
For instance big oil, when they reap huge profits, it is fantastic for our economy. Our 401ks are through the roof, more money is pumped into the system. Jobs are created. It’s nice. (Note the price of gas isn’t up due to profits).
When the government is taking in that money, it doesn’t do shit for our economy.
@booksy: Maybe you can get it through your thick skull that the activity occurred on American soil, to calls that originated from or ended in America, and that all persons on this soil, whether foreign or citizen, must abide by (and therefore are protected by) the US Consitution.
If you don’t understand that, go back to high school and take your Civics class again. Anything more to say? Blow it out your ass.
@Stormyaaron:
Even the opinion notes:
It was under this premise that court said that if the FBI had known that the evidence wouldn’t have been admissable, they could have made it admissable by getting a warrent and that’s what the bill covers.
I think what people are missing is that this legislation is a COVER UP for the Bush Administration secretly wiretapping “terrorists” through the NSA.
* It’s not about FISA or its secret wiretap approval court.
* It’s not about overseas or local phone calls, e-mails, or text messages.
The NSA wiretapping shenanigan went on for oh maybe 6 years until the New York Times wrote an article on it. Bush and Congress figured out that their “friends” *might* get in trouble, so they just tossed the law aside to protect them.
THAT’s what this is about. Here’s the article.
Democrats have no right to complain that Republicans “accuse” them of having no spine. They don’t.
@Trai_Dep:
You’re high. Why did she even let it come up for a vote? She is the Speaker of the House. That means she controls what even gets to the floor at all. So if this terrible piece of legislation even got to be voted upon at all, it’s her fault; that she even voted FOR it afterwards, is all I needed to know.
I’m done with “Ooooh! First woman speaker! How awesome!” crap. Pelosi is a spineless turd. I will be sending $50 to whoever her next primary opponent is.
Breaking the law is ok as long as you’re a company and after brown people.
The first word in “illegal wire tapping” is ILLEGAL. =/
@Bladefist: More power for who? Because the party you support is all about giving those corporations as much power as possible at the expense of you, the consumer.
Big oil profits fantastic for our economy? You’re kidding, right? The price of gas isn’t up due to profits? So, the oil companies are somehow legally obligated to pass along the high price of crude to us? They couldn’t just, you know, absorb a little of that cost and watch their profits shrink a bit from the record levels they’re at now? Are you not aware that the high cost of gasoline is spread across almost every consumer good sold?
But I guess you don’t have to worry about all those poor people choosing between food and medicine because it costs them twice as much to go to work these days as long as your 401k is fat and their money is “pumped into the system” and funneled up to the wealthy investors and oil company executives.
@linus:
@stopNgoBeau: No need for name calling. Many of us have corrected his misinformation.
1) Calls originated in US soil
2) Domestic only calls were caught up.
3) Probably much, much more, but Bush won’t release the iniformation, even though “he didn’t break the law.”
Whether he’s pulling a Faux News and injecting it for FUD or not, I’m not certain. But no need to go with the personal attacks.
God I miss the wonkette being a part of the gawker family…
Yeah I know Chris, your probably really surprised to hear me say that.
But it is nice to have a serious discussion about politics, vs. the crap that gets spewed %99 of the time by their followers.
@Trai_Dep:
“Never mind. Vote just happened half an hour ago. It passed on a 293-129 vote. … To the Senate!”
Hate to break it to you but the law is pretty much passed now. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but the next step will be for this bill to go back to a committee where they will reconcile this bill and the senate bill (which already was passed months ago) to make the final congress bill to be sent to the president, who is waiting to sign it.
@linus: really, you know that for a fact? the majority? should not 100% be on suspected terrorist? And the vacuuming of all communications on the internet had no warrant. That is what happened at AT&T at least.
@sncreducer: exactly.
And the shame of it is they got nothing out of it. By then, they were using satellite phones and skype for communications.
And if you think this is the only illegal activity by the administration that was going to bring back “honor and dignity” to the White House, you have been asleep.
I can say with confidence that most people posting here did not vote in the last Congressional Elections. Now did you?
@ARP: I would say when people peddle disinformation in service of making excuses for giant companies breaking the law and paying off our elected officials to look the other way, there is reason to name call.
Oh, one more thing. Republicans will control nothing next year, so Democrats better step up.
@mikelotus: I have missed exactly one election in the 15 years since I turned 18. It was a single-issue local special election that I simply forgot was happening, a school bond that narrowly lost (by more than one vote, but I supported it so I still felt bad).
And my representative is Barbara Lee of California’s 9th District, a true patriot who rightfully denounced and voted against this monstrosity, helpfully reminding her colleagues of America’s long legacy of illegal domestic spying, including but not limited to Watergate, COINTELPRO and recent efforts to “infiltrate” groups of American activists who were, you know, actually trying to influence their own government through protests.
@sncreducer: This is not an oil discussion thread. I’ll just say they are a business, just like walmart, just like Bobs Carpet, and they have a very low margin, and it’s not their job to absorb anything.
If anyone should absorb anything, the government could give you a tax break. That would save you more money then the oil companies could.
@snoop-blog: Politics are very important right now. And a lot of people are getting in the discussion and having a good debate.
How can you comment about this article and not be political? What is wrong with a bunch of people in here having a good time? Consumerist is promoting debate, which in return provides ad clicks, and gets more people involved.
If there were no controversial comments, people wouldn’t come back and read.
Personally, I thought it was only in 3rd world countries that the govt can pass laws retroactively. I remember in the early 90s when a military dictator will set up a law (they called them “decrees”) and immediately backdate it. Oh it’s illegal to hold people for x # of days without charges? Well boooyaah, here’s a decree extending x to infinity!
To those pushing for this bill, is this a tacit acknowledgment that what the telcos did was illegal? Otherwise, why do we need a law legalizing it?
@mikelotus: Oh, and today I contacted the offices of Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Rahm Emanuel, told them what I thought of their compromise, and donated $50 to Blue America’s campaign to take them out of office, by purchasing ads like this. Donate here if you want.
@Bladefist: Really? Because I paid less than $1,000 in taxes last year on my meager income. It’ll go up slightly this year due to a raise I just got at work. On the other hand, considering that gas has been over $3.50 a gallon in the Bay Area this entire year – $4.50 a gallon is the cheapest I can find right now – I’ll be spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500 on gas this year. And yes, I carpool. (I’d take BART, but I work nights and get out after BART closes).
So, you know, “cutting taxes would save you more money than oil companies forgoing some of their massive profits” = fail. But then Republicans often forget that not everyone is an upper-class investor whose “economic” concerns amount to losing value on the summer house or paying more for a yacht. Must be nice.
@tundey: OMG YES. Tundey’s right, Linus, so, care to respond? If what they did wasn’t illegal, why do they need special new immunity now?
All you folks on the left that think this is a travesty should donate some money:
[www.actblue.com]
All you folks on the right who think this is a travesty should also donate money:
[www.thestrangebedfellows.com]
All you folks who think this isn’t a travesty – please, kill yourself.
@mikelotus: It was 11 days before my 18th birthday, not my fault I was not born 11 days earlier.
@Bladefist: you must have mis understood me. I said we here on the consumerist have a nice discussion while the wonketteers spew vomit. except for five of them.
go on the wonkette if you never have. you’ll soon be booted off by jim newell no doubt. There’s enough snark on there to choke a donkey!
Of all you folks are just terrorist sympathizers and libruls from the Democrat Party and such. You probably think Hamas is a dip for Pita bread and that everyone should drive their Volvos to drum circle practice while drinking Latte’s and wearing Birkenstocks.
(snark over)
This whole thing reminds me of the movie “Idiocracy”. This country is getting dumber by the second. Congress = Americans biggest unflushed toilet. Get rid of all these turds.
And if the stupid republicans mention “fear”, “terrorists”, or “9/11″ ONE MORE TIME before the election, I WILL vote for Obama. That is all.
Aww MAN, Pelosi is a skank. This is “San Francisco Values”?! I’m thinking of another word for her, one that McCain uses for “wife”, also four letters, beginning with “c”. But my ma will make me eat soap if I say it aloud.
And yeah, I was wrong in my previous post. I assumed (ass-u-me, anyone) that she wouldn’t. That witch!
It’s worth noting that 129 Democratic House members voted against it. Want to bet how many Republicans there were? 20? 13? Try 1. That’s it. One.
More Democrats voted against it than voted for it.
Out of 189 Republican House members, only one (~0.5%) voted against it. And their President, who swore a veto, making it harder for House members to vote this outrageous bill down. The GOP owns this. Suck it up.
@snoop-blog: To Wonkette’s credit, they’re fine w/ opposing viewpoints. Just not too-earnest ones. It’s snark. There are myriad sites for earnest political discussion. If you’re funny, they don’t care which position you take.
@Trai_Dep: there will be less than 189 Republicans next year. I wonder if they will regret giving President Obama this authority?
@mikelotus: You know they will.
So if they voted a retroactive immunity today, will they be able to vote a retroactive liability next year? That would be awesome.
@snoop-blog: my bad. I apologize.
Democrats were put in congress to counter this kind of crap. What a huge disappointment. Pelosi has to go.
Isn’t that Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan in ‘Shanghai Noon’? Funny image choice.
@postnocomments: See my above comment. The problem isn’t the Democrats.
@Bladefist: I have to ask this. We share many core values, once the partisan rhetoric is stripped aside. Take this case, for example. It’s bad. It’s very bad. We’re in agreement here.
Objectively, one would then ascertain which policymakers, which party, is more responsible. More so if overwhelmingly responsible. And there’s a simple test for this.
Which party made it happen? Whose President? Which Congressmembers overwhelmingly supported it. Total ‘em up.
One can’t use the Bad Apple theory, a rogue distorting the True Ideals, since 99.5% of GOP House members voted for this travesty. They’re all in on it. Neither can one say it’s both parties, since when there was a Democratic President and Congress, nothing remotely close to this happened. Beside the fact that for this vote, more Dems voted against it than for it.
So if this violates the Constitution, if it’s Anti-American (it is), then objectively, one party, while saying wonderfully crafted words to the contrary, violates your ideals.
Isn’t that something that might make you ponder whether or not the GOP lives up to the values you hold dear?
This isn’t about scoring points. Don’t feel you have to respond. But consider, if you’re authentic to the genuine values you hold – many of the same which Progressives hold – shouldn’t you associate with a party that is closer to your ideals?
All of you guys: isn’t this a really clear-cut example of how your leaders do nothing past blurt out empty, appealing words? It would drive me crazy if my guys did that. I’d be outraged. I’d switch.
Bill Boyd, Connie Mack, you’ve got some explaining to do. This is nothing less than treason. Believe me, I’ll remember this at the next election.
I’m too angry to think straight, so this comment isn’t up to my standards.
I really like Trai_Dep’s comment!
“So if they voted a retroactive immunity today, will they be able to vote a retroactive liability next year? That would be awesome.”
It would be an historical piece of legislation! Headline goes something like…
“President signs Retroactive Immunity from Retroactive Immunity Bill”.
Story line: When queried exiting memorial services of those elected officials whom voted against the bill, Democrats, Replublicans, Independants, Libretarians, and all political ilk claim water boarding and other various forms off non torture by constituents had no influence on creation and near unanimous passage of the bill.
Obtaining commentary was strained as many of the representatives and senators seemed hurried and harried to resume their efforts to finalize other bills recently introduced. Bills of which the majority seem to be related to civil rights and constitutional issues.
Expedited passage of the “Belated Impeachment of George Bush Jr. bill” which is said to include exhumation of Bush along with any remains of Cabinet members and Supreme Court Justices appointees during his illegal terms of office was expected. The bill includes charges against Bush and others for treasons committed.
Both houses of Congress will convene at their new diggs monikered “The Wall” where they were fortunate enough not to be “…first up against!…”. One legislator who asked to remain anonymous stated ” Where before in our work venue we were daily in the presence of the Stars and Stripes wherein the color red represents the sacrificed blood of fallen American patriots failed to inspire our honesty and integrity while we went about doing the The Peoples business, the “Wall” with its involuntarily shed blood of unburied treasonous traitors, the smell of feces and terror has yet failed to be a continually inspirational workplace location.
@Linus: You’ve never heard of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, where they wiretapped thousands of innocent civilians?
“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
This is a sad day in the history of our nation.
@Trai_Dep: I’m a Conservative before I am a Republican. I’ve tried to convey to you many times that I believe in Republican IDEALS not always Republican politicans. But the same can be said for the democrats. And the Independents. You got to pick a party and vote for the good guy.
That’s all you can do. I promote my beliefs. Have you seen me stand behind McCain? Or any of the senate republicans? And I would encourage you to be careful with standing behind any democrat senators. They’ll let you down.
I would say 90% of the time, the things Republican politicians do, that you think is corrupt, or a sell out, they are doing it because that’s how I feel and they are representing me. But this time, I think senators are just going rogue. They have the right to go rogue, and then we need to vote’em out of there. I don’t know what else you can do man. They’re all equally crappy people.
The Prez. 99.5%. A seven-year campaign to make this unprecedented abomination happen. It’s not accidental, it’s who they are.
To defend otherwise is like those ’60s era Communists defending Stalin. “It’s not Stalin, it’s that the Soviets aren’t the best implementers…” No, it’s that what they’re selling is simply a means to hoodwink you long enough for them to seize and retain power. Look at their actions, not their words – then adjust your behavior accordingly. Stop being a slave!, I’d say to them.
Dude. You’re being played. It’s so black-and-white. Are you cool with that?
@savvy999:
Is that Sheehan lady still trying to run against Pelosi? If I lived in San Francisco, I’d vote for her.
Sigh, the Democrats held such promise for change this last congressional election cycle. They dropped the ball and ended up kowtowing to Bush, not just on this issue, but on others as well. All just, it seems, to avoid being labeled “soft on terror.”
Cheers!