I want this man for my president. Chris Dodd's threat of a filibuster caused weenie Harry Reid - who was supposed to be the Democrats "Give 'em hell, Harry", (but, alas! is not) - to back down from pushing through a new eavesdropping bill that would give the Telecom industry immunity for helping the powers to spy on you and me. You and I can't get retroactive immunity if we break the law, so why should the Telecoms? Quest refused to go along with the request to spy on its customers in 2001. The other Telecoms could have, too.
From the New York Times:
WASHINGTON — In a setback for the White House, Senate Democrats on Monday put off until at least next month any decision on whether to give legal protection to the phone carriers that helped with the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping program.
The Bush administration had pushed for immediate passage of legislation to grant immunity to the phone companies as part of a broader expansion of the N.S.A.’s wiretapping authorities. But that will not happen now.
We cannot relax. This is only a reprieve until January. Harry Reid looked shell-shocked in the video of the announcement of the postponement. Good. Maybe hearing from the people of the country will help him grow a backbone. The citizens are so far ahead of some of the Democrats in the Senate that it's pathetic.
Hi Mimi--
ReplyDeleteApropos of travel plans: I fly into MSY on New Year's Eve, and back to California 1/27. I don't have your e-mail; mine's in my profile.
Thanks!
Kirstin, email sent. I'm looking forward to seeing you.
ReplyDeleteThank God for Chris Dodd. I sent him a thank-you e-mail this morning.
ReplyDeleteNow, you two try to behave while Kirstin's in NOLA.
(Why do I even bother to type that?)
Got it, Mimi, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Paul--you're more wicked than both of us!
[grin]
KIrstin, Paul will be in a lower circle in the inferno, no matter what we do in New Orleans. He even uses Latin to post bad stuff.
ReplyDeletePaul, thanks for the reminder. I'll send Dodd a thank you, too.
Yikes. Cast into the lower circles by a Louisiana grandmother. I'd better start repenting while I still have breath. In any case, I might get enough coal in my stocking to hear through the winter--only my fireplace is gas and won't even take one of those phony logs. Since the lowest spot in the Inferno is cold, I might need even more coal.
ReplyDeleteAt least you get very erudite O Antiphons composed just for you. You were expecting love sonnets?
So, Senator Dodd is a hero! And I must say, we need more like him. I hope he doesn't resign if he doesn't win the Nomination for president. I hate it when the best ones leave.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Richard Nixon get retroactive immunity?
ReplyDeletePaul, and you a priest.
ReplyDeleteSusan, he seems not have a chance of being our candidate, and I, too, hope he stays in the Senate. If he does, I hope that he becomes majority leader.
Kate, Nixon's pardon from Ford for anything illegal he may have done as president was retrospective immunity. That was Ford's prerogative as president.
We're talking whole corporations here. It's not a presidential prerogative to pardon corporations - at least I don't think it is.
I'm a Dodd fan, too! The man has guts, style, and tenacity. What's not to like?
ReplyDeleteNina, I had to forgive him for supporting Joe Lieberman, but he's more than made up for that lapse.
ReplyDelete