This Is What Bush Thinks Is Worth Fighting For

Since 2001 the US Government has been spying on traffic traveling through US communication circuits. There is a process to do this legally, but the Bush Administration didn't bother to follow those rules, they, with the help of some of the telecommunication companies, just tapped the lines.

When they were found you they got congress to give them some temporary authority to do this. This authority is expiring and there is great debate as to how to extend this governmental authority to spy on communications.

There is a new bill working through congress that would do just this, but Bush is threatening to veto it.

According to his administration, and some on the right, a failure to pass this law would result in attack on the US, hundreds will die, and our nation will fall. All our defenses, security and police forces will be rendered impotent if they can not continue to tap these lines. The trouble is, while the new bill would extend this right, they think it is still to restrictive.

So what is the issue that destroys this bill? There are many points in the bill that are causing debate but only one is drawing the veto threat.

The bill would not provide immunity to the telecoms for past violations of the law.

According to Bush, this bill is vital, this bill is necessary to secure our land (both BS, but let’s let that pass), yet, he has made it clear that he is willing to expose us all to grave risk to assure that AT&T (and other major corporations) will not be sued for their past illegal actions.

This makes two things absolutely clear; that this law is not that vital to our security and Bush's real concern is protecting corporations, not protecting the US.



Tags
Bush Administrtion, FISA, AT and T

The Political Parties May Change

But as long as we have corporations willing to pay, and politicians who are willing to take their money, the game will remain unchanged.

Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping.

There is nothing wrong and nothing new here, right? A politician needs money to get elected, and private citizens have to be allowed to contribute to these politicians, right?

Well, there are a few details that make the story a little more interesting.

It appears that all these politically minded folks from AT and T and Version came upon their passion for the political efforts of Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV) of late. From 2002 to 2006 the total contribution from the executives of these firms came to a bit less than $5,000.00. Then, like a rampaging infection of political activism and altruism, more than 50 senior executives independently decided in a period of about 3 months to fork over big money to Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV).

One is left to wonder what may have motivated this spontaneous generosity, and if there may have been any coordination of the efforts these phone company executives.

Naaa, a corporation would never do anything like compel political contributions from their staff.

I do have to admire this efforts as spin on behalf of AT and T.

“Many AT and T executives work with the leaders of both the House and Senate Commerce Committees on a daily basis and have come to know them over the years,” Ms. Jones said.

She added that although industry executives and politicians might not always agree, it is “commonplace for AT and T employees to regularly and voluntarily participate in the political process with their own funds.”

Of course, this participation, that has been totally lacking for years, may eventually come in massive torrents of cash but only when a Senator is in a position to do the company a huge favor.

And people still wonder what is wrong in DC. Only when we have a politicians who are not so eager to prostitute themselves to corporate interest can we hope to see improved governance.

Sadly, I have grown expect this type of behavior from both parties. While it is an obvious and historic principal of the republicans to protect business interest over everything else, it is also a trait that many Democrats embrace. One of they keys to long term improvement in Government, reducing corruption, development of a more equatable economic policy, improvement of heath care and countless other issues, is radically reducing the amount on influence that big business has in DC. Unfortunately, I see no path that will lead to this.