Bush To Veto Wiretap Bill After “Republican Ads” Threaten America Vulnerable to Terrorism
The LA Times writes, “Extending a battle with the Bush administration over espionage laws, Democrats in the House pushed through legislation Friday that would give the government expanded wiretapping authorities but would not shield phone companies from lawsuits for aiding U.S. spy agencies.
The bill was approved in the face of a veto threat from President Bush, who has campaigned to have Congress expand the government’s powers to intercept international e-mails and phone calls that pass through the United States and to compel telecommunications companies to cooperate.”
The Bush administration wants to retroactively grant immunity to telecommunications companies to justify their illegal activities by… well, by making it legal for them to violate American citizens rights of privacy.
As if that’s not bad enough, Americans have been scared to death by a series of commercials claiming that each millisecond the nation goes without wiretapping it’s citizens brings us closer and closer to being hit by a terrorist attack.
These ads are not only fear mongering, but they themselves seem to be daring the enemy to act now while there is a so called lull in America’s intelligence gathering programs.
While many out there don’t understand the significance of this bill, I suggest you look at the following links. It’s certainly not a stretch to believe that even without legal authority the government is and will continue to gather information, not only on terrorists but on innocent American citizens.Let’s be honest here. If the claims in these commercials are valid, then the President should just sign the bill and get America’s intelligence gathering programs rolling again for the sake of the well being of the American people. Is the safety of America really worth risking to appease the telecommunications companies… Only if the administration knows the risk from terrorism is far less than what the public has been and is currently being told.
For more information on this topic, please check out the following stories.
Total Information Awareness — the all-seeing terrorist spotting algorithm-meets-the-mother-of-all-databases that was ostensibly de-funded by Congress in 2003, never actually died, and was largely rebuilt in secret by the NSA, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Siobhan Gorman.
Creeping totalitarianism: The NSA, personal data and you | Rational rants | ZDNet.com
F.B.I. Gained Unauthorized Access to E-Mail - New York Times
AT&T Invents Programming Language for Mass Surveillance | Threat Level from Wired.com
My Way News - More FBI Privacy Violations Confirmed
Democratic Lawmaker Pushing Immunity Is Newly Flush With Telco Cash
Top Spy Opposes House Spying Bill, Thinks Spying Truth Commission Redundant
Is Retroactive Telecom Immunity Unconstitutional? |
National Dragnet Is a Click Away
Source: Surveillance bill passes House despite Bush veto threat - Los Angeles Times
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