FISA is one of the many reasons why our new slightly Democratic majority Congress has proved itself useless, again. Yesterday, another measure to strengthen FISA was voted into effect. Democrats had a chance to stop this, and they didn't; they've voted in favor of domestic spying before and they keep doing it. The bill was approved 68 to 29–the wide margin of votes in favor of extended wiretapping and surveillance gives you an idea of just how many Democrats are rolling over on this issue, still ceding to the Bush administration.
This bill does a couple of things:
-it extends the governments' rights to tap communications domestically (with the provision that American citizens will not be the targets) for six additional years, assuring that we will be living the legacy the Bush administration long after they've left office.
-it eliminates the need for the government to get a warrant at all in cases where the government deems surveillance necessary.
-it grants a degree of immunity to telecommunications companies for giving the government customers' phone records. Republicans are pushing for even more immunity for companies like AT&T in future legislation.
I want to post this because the big news today is that Barack Obama has finally gained a significant edge in delegates over Hillary Clinton and while this development is exciting and important, this bill is proof that even when while the whole country is talking about change, there are still measures being taken by both the Bush Administration and cowardly Democrats that are setting us back even further.
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