The geldings have it, 68 to 29. The U.S. Senate voted today to give uncounted officials in the Bush administration and their telecommunications company co-conspirators free passes on spying on American citizens.
Why do Republicans and so many complicit Dems disdain freedoms we used to take for granted? They passed FISA (S. 2248), expanding wire tapping and other spying virtually without effective limits or other controls. Civil libertarians were not only outraged by such brazen disregard for citizens' rights, but also by the immunity from prosecution and lawsuits for telcos and government employees.
This goes to conference with the House and is likely to pass in today's form.
Freedom? You get the freedom from search and seizure the President and intelligence agencies decide to let you have. You just won't know what that is unless they tap your phones, intercept your internet communications or otherwise invade your privacy. The undefined tactics in the vague war on terror trump our Constitution, Bill of Rights and case law now.
Not surprisingly, zero Republicans voted nay on this disgrace and sell-out. The Dems who love liberty and respect Americans did. The other geldings let the wingers harness them up and hitch them to the plow.
The roll call was:
| YEAs ---68 | ||
| Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Barrasso (R-WY) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) | Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Inouye (D-HI) Isakson (R-GA) Johnson (D-SD) Kohl (D-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) McCaskill (D-MO) McConnell (R-KY) | Mikulski (D-MD) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Roberts (R-KS) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) Webb (D-VA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wicker (R-MS) |
| NAYs ---29 | ||
| Akaka (D-HI) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) | Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Harkin (D-IA) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) | Menendez (D-NJ) Murray (D-WA) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Wyden (D-OR) |
| Not Voting - 3 | ||
| Clinton (D-NY) | Graham (R-SC) | Obama (D-IL) |
Note that the Presidential candidates are there. McCain voted nay to freedom. Clinton and Obama blew off the vote.
Before today's vote, calls, visits and emails to Congress beat back the attempt to provide immunity three times. Now we are left living in a lesser America, closer to repressive and undemocratic regimes that routinely spy on their citizens.
Any Dem on that list of yea votes needs to find another line of work and voters in their states should feel duty bound to expedite that. This is one of the lowest of the low points of the past seven dreadful years.
Tags: massmarrier, FISA, U.S. Senate, domestic spying, civil liberties, immunity, telcos
1 comment:
Interestingly, it appears (via comments at BMG) that Obama did vote for the Dodd amendment. Commenter Marc Davidson says Obama voted against telecom immunity in other votes too, so it's surprising that he didn't vote on the final passage of S.2248.
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