Category: Media

Hooray for Democracy!  Democratic Senator’s have introduced a bill that would repeal telecom immunity from civil suits for their part of Bush’s warrantless wiretapping.  

Four Democratic senators have introduced a bill that would, if passed, repeal the legal immunity afforded the telecommunications industry for their participation in President George W. Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.

Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) announced the measure Monday. In a release, they said the bill “eliminates retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that allegedly participated in President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.”

The four senators, all liberal Democrats, emphasized that they believed granting the industry immunity violated the law and due process.

Don’t jump for joy.  Don’t break out the champagne.  This is the next PR blitz of, “Hey, look what we did“, you want to miss because it means absolutely NOTHING…

H.R. 6304, Sec 802

‘SEC. 802. PROCEDURES FOR IMPLEMENTING STATUTORY DEFENSES.

‘(a) Requirement for Certification- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a civil action may not lie or be maintained in a Federal or State court against any person for providing assistance to an element of the intelligence community, and shall be promptly dismissed, if the Attorney General certifies to the district court of the United States in which such action is pending that–

‘(1) any assistance by that person was provided pursuant to an order of the court established under section 103(a) directing such assistance;

‘(2) any assistance by that person was provided pursuant to a certification in writing under section 2511(2)(a)(ii)(B) or 2709(b) of title 18, United States Code;

‘(3) any assistance by that person was provided pursuant to a directive under section 102(a)(4), 105B(e), as added by section 2 of the Protect America Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-55), or 702(h) directing such assistance;

‘(4) in the case of a covered civil action, the assistance alleged to have been provided by the electronic communication service provider was–

‘(A) in connection with an intelligence activity involving communications that was–

‘(i) authorized by the President during the period beginning on September 11, 2001, and ending on January 17, 2007; and

‘(ii) designed to detect or prevent a terrorist attack, or activities in preparation for a terrorist attack, against the United States; and

‘(B) the subject of a written request or directive, or a series of written requests or directives, from the Attorney General or the head of an element of the intelligence community (or the deputy of such person) to the electronic communication service provider indicating that the activity was–

‘(i) authorized by the President; and

‘(ii) determined to be lawful; or

‘(5) the person did not provide the alleged assistance.

Hold on… no popcorn for you… wait for it…

Crossposted at Daily Kos

    Beck’s new book “Arguing on behalf of with Idiots” is a real gem, which includes this piece where Beck explains why SLAVERY is good and Uhmerican, just like the Founding Fathers wanted it.

    Provision Beck praised actually “barred Congress from ending the international slave trade before 1808.”

    Beck praises “Migration or Importation” tax provision in taking cheap shot at “immigrants.” In the chapter, Beck reprints and then praises Article I, Section 9, Clause 1 of the Constitution. Beck specifically highlights in yellow the phrase “ten dollars for each person”:

from page 278 “Aguing with Idiots”

mediamatters.org

    Oh, and by gem, I mean AssNugget

More below the fold  

Crossposted at Daily Kos

    Remember once upon a time when only a traitor would seek to damage the President or the Presidency?

    Apparently once upon a time ends when Democrats are in charge of the Government.  

O’Reilly     “The conservative media is winning now. They’re winning. They’re damaging the president of the United States”

     The hypocrite meter is now broken. Full transcript and commentary below the fold.

“The preparations for Hate Week were in full swing, and the staffs of all the Ministries were working overtime. Processions, meetings, military parades, lectures, waxworks, displays, film shows, telescreen programmes all had to be organized; stands had to be erected, effigies built, slogans coined, songs written, rumours circulated, photographs faked..”.

– George Orwell

The angry, shrieking hordes came forth this weekend in the nation’s capitol, waving their racist placards, their bagged birth certificates, their Gadsden flags and their Nancy Pelosi Nazi signs. The were legion and they got media coverage, unlike the massive antiwar demonstrations during the darkest days of the Bushreich when these phony patriots, aggrieved citizens and authority worshipping swine were content the ‘Bomb Em All and Let God Sort Em Out’ foreign policy of their Jesus kissed emperor. It was a gathering of blistering hatred, many smaller ‘tea parties’ were being staged across the fruited plain on that marvelous day, the day after the hallowed 8th anniversary festivities that marked the coming of the glory of the lord on that historic Tuesday morning when the American Reichstag Fire dragged us kicking, screaming and swaddled in the almighty stars-n-stripes into the New American Century.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

Hello, my dearest Dharma Bums. My name is Jesse LaGreca.

and I have ridden the mighty moon worm that is American talk radio

and let me tell you, Rush Limbo, Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs really suck at their jobs. Either they suck at their jobs or they work very, very hard at sucking as much as they do.

Well, let me just say, on behalf of Progressives and Liberals everywhere that I came, I saw, and I YELLED LOUDER.

    You can listen to the entire broadcast here

More below the fold