The Democrats in the House appear set to follow their Senate colleagues into infamy. Give them credit for weathering the storm of two weeks of criticism from the Republicans and a virtual rebellion by the people at large (did you miss that? So did I actually) against their stand in favor of the Constitution. The Republicans have once again battered them into submission. It appears that Pelosi et. al. will engineer a meaningless vote to let the constitutional holdouts cast a meaningless vote in favor of the Constitution, but it will apparently all be a sham. We can only hope that those Democrats who milked campaign donations from us based on their principled stands will continue to stand up for the Constitution. We’ll be watching.
Meanwhile the Trade Association for the industry of which the telecoms are a part is urging Congress NOT to pass retroactive immunity. From its statement:
The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) strongly opposes S. 2248, the “FISA Amendments Act of 2007,” as passed by the Senate on February 12, 2008. CCIA believes that this bill should not provide retroactive immunity to corporations that may have participated in violations of federal law. CCIA represents an industry that is called upon for cooperation and assistance in law enforcement. To act with speed in times of crisis, our industry needs clear rules, not vague promises that the U.S. Government can be relied upon to paper over Constitutional transgressions after the fact.
CCIA dismisses with contempt the manufactured hysteria that industry will not aid the United States Government when the law is clear. As a representative of industry, I find that suggestion insulting. To imply that our industry would refuse assistance under established law is an affront to the civic integrity of businesses that have consistently cooperated unquestioningly with legal requests for information. This also conflates the separate questions of blanket retroactive immunity for violations of law, and prospective immunity, the latter of which we strongly support.
Meanwhile, life goes on, with the Bushies demolishing yet another governmental entity charged with conducting oversight over intelligence crimes:
On Friday, the White House issued a new executive order effectively gutting the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB), “created in 1976 in the wake of widespread abuses by U.S. intelligence agencies.” Under the order, many of the IOB’s investigative powers will now be transfered to DNI Mike McConnell. “Rather than intelligence agencies reporting their activities to the board for review, they will now report them to McConnell,” the AP notes.
At this point, it’s just fun and games for George. The IOB wasn’t doing much oversight anyway, but why take chances when there’s no one to stop you?
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