Truly a sad day for America when our elected officials feel the need to grant retroactive immunity for illegal activity without any explanation other than "national security"

Just remember: back when these Democrats were running for office they had to support the GOP's policies on national security, otherwise they wouldn't have gotten elected! And thank God they got elected, because once they got into office, they changed everything.

I'm so glad the Democrats took over Congress in 2006 -- they ended the war in Iraq and they held the Bush administration accountable. They just checked-and-balanced the hell out of that place.

Above all, I'm glad Democrats have finally abandoned their usual strategy: lots of ineffectual whining followed by a complete cave. Because if they did that at this point -- with the most unpopular president in history and the GOP on the verge of total meltdown -- well, that would really be a sight, wouldn't it?

I'm done with the Democratic Party. This is the day I change my party registration to un-enrolled. I will never donate to the Democratic Party again. I will not vote for Barack Obama, but will vote third party or not at all. Both political parties and their respective leaderships are equally corrupt and responsible for this mess. Congress has just formally announced that citizens are not constituents, it is corporate charters who they represent.

I will donate to any serious congressional challenger who might upseat any of the congresspersons who voted for this constitutional obscenity.

I believe it is now time for a General Strike to demand our constitutional rights back from this crazy government. Economic chaos is the only legal lever citizens have left.

i'm with you maynard - and i made that stance clear to my congressman at the july 4th event he attended (he was a rockstar on the floor of the house on this issue - and he said 'FISA was the low point of the session' (considering how pathetic this congressional session has been - that's saying something)

It's obvious that moveon is ineffective, that 'the change you can believe in' is in my right pocket next to my keys, and that our modern equivalent of 'democracy' is broken. I will vote for Lloyd because he rocks - but otherwise I've finally given up on politics in this country (meaning i'll probably be around here a lot less - because, really, what's the point)

This is really pathetic. Anyway, here's the roll call of the vote for shaming purposes:

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00164

Obama and Hillary voted to strip. McCain and Kennedy were absent.

I emailed all the democratic congressional leaders and advised them that with their votes today, I will activley work to see them outed for their support to strip me and all americans of their civil liberties. I will continue to support Obama for president but congress is our real threat to our freedoms.

Pelosi is the worst speaker of the house ever and she and Hoyer are opposers of freedom!

Please do NOT forget that the bill went to the Senate FROM the HOUSE. Pelosi ,HOyer, Emmanuel, Reyes ALL should be defeated. ESPECIALLY Pelosi;what better message to send the Dem 'leadership' than to elect Cindy Sheehan? Take the money you would have sent Obama and send it to Sheehan's campaign.

I actually have sympathy on this for both parties and all sides. Crossing the enormous US telecoms in the US government is not a wise thing to do. Remember that since deregulation, ALL US communications are now controlled by just 2-3 very, very large companies.

Their lobbyist don't need to just lure politicians with $$. All they have to say is ... vote my way and we will not tell ANYONE about who speak with, how many times, and where they are from.

This is very, very freightening and you need to realize that they control not just wiretapping on landline phones. But also wireless and Internet traffic as well! They can see EVERYTHING we do as well as what Congress does & says!

From Sen Edward Kennedy's floor speech of December:

"I oppose granting any form of retroactive immunity to these companies, and I urge my colleagues to support the amendment to strike Title II from the FISA bill. Amnesty for telecommunication companies may help the Administration conceal its illegal spying, but it will not serve our national security, and it will further undermine the rule of law.
Let’s not forget why we are even talking about this issue. At some point in 2001, the Bush Administration began a massive program of warrantless spying. New reports suggest that the Administration began its warrantless spying even before 9/11. The Administration never told Congress what it was doing. In clear violation of the FISA law and in complete disdain for the 4th Amendment, it also never told the FISA court what it was doing.

Because the Bush Administration secretly ignored the law, we still do not know how deeply this program invaded the privacy of millions of innocent Americans. The push for immunity by this Administration is a push to avoid all accountability for a wiretapping program that was a massive violation of the law."
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The Executive very likely broke the law repeatedly -all felony offenses against the existing FISA statute and this started before Sept 11, 2001.

The civil suits, in many people's opinions, were never about collecting monetary damages from the poor, patriotic, much-abused telcoms. They were solely to get on record, without having to face states secrets defenses, the extent of the telecom cooperation with the Executive.

A real disappointment, no question.
I was surprised to see Obama voted for the amendment, given his "reluctant" support for a "flawed" bill, but we'll probably never know whether he considered it a "safe" vote or he actually had convictions that immunity was a bad idea.
MSNBC (Olberman/Maddow) seem to think that the bill does not protect anyone from criminal liability, only civil. Has anyone heard that from any other sources?
Sorry to go off-topic here, but Oleeb, I love your picture/artwork.