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  2. Democracy can be a beautiful thing. But strange.

Democracy can be a beautiful thing. But strange.

By tqa on December 17, 2007.

One of the first pieces of legislation on the United States Senate's agenda for today will be the revision of the FISA wiretapping bill. The Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, is planning to move forward a bill that would retroactively grant immunity to the telecommunications companies who allegedly assisted the government by illegally handing over the phone records of millions of Americans. The "get out of jail free" provision in question is favored by the White House and Republicans, but opposed by many Democrats.

In bringing the bill to the floor, Reid is disregarding longstanding Senate tradition by disregarding the hold placed on the bill by Senator (and Presidential candidate) Chris Dodd. Dodd, however, is holding his ground. He's planning to filibuster the legislation - the old fashioned way. If you tune to CSPAN-2, you should shortly be treated to the sight of the Senator talking. And talking. And talking. And talking.

I've got no idea if this will accomplish anything significant, but it's still good to see someone from our side of the aisle actually standing firm on an issue for a change.

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Politics

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Sadly, it amounts to mere grandstanding. Nobody in the telecoms will ever go to jail.

If Congress gets uppity, Bush will grant the telecom people blanket pardons for all past, present, and future crimes. It worked for Papa Doc, and it will work for Baby Bush.

By Globle Warren … (not verified) on 17 Dec 2007 #permalink

If Congress gets uppity, Bush will grant the telecom people blanket pardons for all past, present, and future crimes. It worked for Papa Doc, and it will work for Baby Bush.

Actually, can he do this? The trick is, the current suits are being filed in CIVIL court...

Harry Reid pulled the bill when it became clear he could not circumvent Dodd's filibuster, it will be brought back up for consideration next year (although with or without the retroactive immunity provision, is hard to say). It would seem that in the short term at least Dodd scored a significant victory.

Democracy can be a beautiful thing. But strange.

Yep,
The great experiment continues! Even though it is likely to take "Strange" to new heights as it continues, I am still thankful for it! Trying to live out ideals in an environment with 300 million opinions has got to have a few bumps in the road!
Dave Briggs :~)