The Senate on Tuesday approved new rules for government eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails, giving the White House much of the latitude it wanted and granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that helped in the snooping after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.The House version did not include this immunity but from what the article states they are now wanting to adopt this provision.
Worse, Bush states that the Senate bill provides "fair and just liability protection to those private companies who have been sued for billions of dollars only because they are believed to have done the right thing and assisted the nation after the September 11th terrorist attacks." This "right thing" of course was flagrantly breaking the law for a white House that believes the Constitution is nothing more than a "god-damned piece of paper" and has no respect for the Rights of the Citizenry. The current administration has been hell-bent on reducing the freedoms that Americans have, apparently pursuing a goal of reducing our freedom so that those who "hate us for our freedom" will hate us less.
There is a possibility that the House will fight this provision. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said Tuesday he still opposes retroactive immunity, also writing "There is no basis for the broad telecommunications company amnesty provisions advocated by the administration." But I think that longtime observers of our Government know full well that they will give in.