Despite Claims That America Is ‘Open To Attack,’ GOP Rejects Yet Another PAA Extension
Despite Claims That America Is ‘Open To Attack,’ GOP Rejects Yet Another PAA Extension
Two weeks ago, the hastily-passed Protect America Act (PAA) expired after the Bush administration and its supporters refused to approve a 21-day extension of the law. Since then, President Bush and his allies in Congress have engaged in a fear campaign to pressure the House into passing a Senate-approved update of the PAA that includes retroactive immunity for telecoms.
President Bush continued the fear-mongering in his press conference yesterday, bellowing that “no renewal of…the Protect America Act is dangerous for the security of the country, just dangerous.”
Challenging Bush and the GOP to hold true to their rhetoric, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced a bill today to extend the PAA for 30 days while negotiations between the House and Senate proceed:
As we move forward, there is no reason not to extend the Protect America Act to ensure that there are no gaps in our intelligence gathering capabilities. Even Admiral McConnell, the Director of national Intelligence, has testified that such an extension would be valuable. But the President threatens to veto an extension, and our Republican colleagues continue, inexplicably, to oppose it.
Predictably, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) objected to Reid’s unanimous consent motion, effectively rejecting the extension. Watch it:
Despite their claims that “America is at risk” without the Protect America Act, the White House and congressional conservatives have been unwilling to take actions that would lead to its extension. As Reid noted today, the House and Senate have been working since the passage of the Senate bill to reconcile difference between the two chambers, but “Republicans have instructed their staff not to participate in these negotiations.”
If Bush and his congressional cronies truly believed that America is “open to attack” without the PAA, they’d support a temporary extension and engage in good faith negotiations. Since they haven’t, it’s clear they’re more interested in playing political games than working to protect Americans.
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Got hypocrisy…?
Oh, yeah. Tons and tons and tons of it.
February 29th, 2008 at 5:49 pmOoops…can’t approve the Protect Arrogant A$$holes (Bush et al) without telecom immunity so that their dirty deeds won’t come to light.
I keep waiting for a high level whistle blower to come to light on just who is being spied upon (10-1 it’s our elected officials. Nothing like blackmail to keep them in check!)
February 29th, 2008 at 5:51 pmAnyone who still wishes to claim that government of the people, by the people, and for the people still exists in this country is totally daft.
February 29th, 2008 at 5:52 pmRepublicans talk as if that was the only piece of anti-terror legislation in effect. We’re not “open to attack” any more than before this bill was passed. We’ve been “open to attack” since the White House refused to proceed through Tora Bora in search of Bin Laden and his accomplices.
Political mode A1: Republicans in an election year.
February 29th, 2008 at 5:56 pmIf the PAA passes with the inclusion of retroactive immunity it is most likely that the civil suits will continue anyway and even more likely that the plaintiffs will prevail. It is likely that granting retroactive immunity violates the Constitution.
Interesting piece I found earlier:
February 29th, 2008 at 5:58 pmhttp://writ.news.findlaw.com/sebok/20080129.html
Why are we still debating this? The PAA expired already.
The gov’t still has FISA courts. IF they want to evesdrop, go get a warrant.
Reid needs to send Bush one of his famous letters. It should read:
“Dear Mr. Bush,
You are a lame duck, so fu(k off. Go build your library.”
February 29th, 2008 at 5:59 pm.
America
n Multi-conglomerate Telecommunication Corporationsis/are at risk oflawsuitsattacks.(what you don’t know won’t hurt… that much)
.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:01 pmTelecoms turned over access to phone records and emails to the Bush administration without a warrant. That’s illegal. They got caught. Now, the White House wants to make the decision legal, six years after the fact.
The telecoms weren’t just motivated by “patriotism†during a “difficult†post-9/11 period, but were in fact cooperating with the NSA long before the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The telecoms that were playing ball with the NSA weren’t driven by national service, but rather the corporate desire to secure lucrative contracts that were in jeopardy unless the companies obliged administration requests.
But that’s only the perspective from the telecom companies’ side of it.
For the Republican Party’s part, telecom immunity isn’t about national security; it’s all about protecting Bush, and those in his administration who broke the law, in a blatant and prima facia way.
If the telecoms had to defend themselves in court, they’d have to drag the White House into it as their only justification for knowingly breaking the law.
The lawsuits filed against the telecoms don’t concern the administration because of potential financial damage to the companies themselves. It’s because the suits will do what the Democratic Congress has failed to do: initiate discovery proceedings against the actions of the administration with regard to impeachable offenses.
This effort to grant immunity to the telecoms is a piece of legislation that has no public interest. It isn’t for the people. It’s for the president.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:01 pm.
One of the defining characteristics to what it means to be an American, is the freedom from a form of Government that needs to spy on it’s own people; FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY. Thus The Fourth Amendment.
R E M E M B E R:
THEY(sic) HATE US FOR OUR FREEDOMS…
And so, THEY(sic) lobby and debate the merits to undermining that characteristic, that freedom, that Right.
When Americans and America lose that Right and freedom, who wins?
.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:03 pmThis effort to grant immunity to the telecoms is a piece of legislation that has no public interest. It isn’t for the people. It’s for the president.
Comment by getplaning — February 29, 2008 @ 6:01 pm
February 29th, 2008 at 6:05 pmamen!
Smoke, mirrors and BS.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:07 pm(10-1 it’s our elected officials. Nothing like blackmail to keep them in check!)
Comment by Ms_Joanne — February 29, 2008 @ 5:51 pm
Have you ever seen or read Pelosi try to explain the
February 29th, 2008 at 6:11 pmlack oflogic behind her reasons for “Impeachment off the Table”?semi on-topic:
i’m waiting for my contract to expire with verizon (have 4 phones with them and i refuse to enrich them more by cancelling). anybody know of a cellular provider besides qwest that refused to be bullied? we all should pull our business from these enablers. just like using your vote to oust a useless politician. thanks in advance for any help.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:12 pmIt is plain as day that Republicans want another terrorist attack, because they think they can exploit it for political advantage.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:16 pmThis effort to grant immunity to the telecoms is a piece of legislation that has no public interest. It isn’t for the people. It’s for the president.
Comment by getplaning — February 29, 2008 @ 6:01 pm
amen!
Comment by leftcoast —
February 29th, 2008 at 6:22 pmAMEN!
Bush has 10 months and 21 days left…It appears to me he is desperately stalling this issue until after he leaves office including prolonging our big crash with these ridiculous cash give aways. Where will it be for him… Dubai or Paraguay…where he can then join Ken Lay and live happily ever after on investments made by robbing our treasury.
Comment by Tstatguy — February 29, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
Qwest is it.
Even the major cable ISPs are getting sued, like ATT & Verison for the same thing.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:22 pmWho do you use, comcast, time warner, charter……?
cablevision
February 29th, 2008 at 6:26 pmRepublican Instigators.
Instigators usually wind up getting their asses kicked.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:26 pmHave you ever seen or read Pelosi try to explain the lack of logic behind her reasons for “Impeachment off the Table�
Comment by Wayne — February 29, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
Blackmail (via FAA) is the only thing that makes sense to me. I think this spying thing is Watergate on a much grander scale. Nothing else makes sense.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:27 pmIt is plain as day that Republicans want another terrorist attack, because they think they can exploit it for political advantage.
Comment by VerbalKint
February 29th, 2008 at 6:28 pmLet’s hope that their want another terrorist attack remains as just that. Absolutely nothing surprises me.
Comment by Marcus Aurelius
only if the people your instigating against have some balls.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:28 pmComment by Tstatguy — February 29, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
This is going to be a tough one. The three initially accused of spying for Bush were AT&T, MCI, and Sprint. However, due to mergers and name changes, the waters have been muddied a bit. Cingular, Verizon, and Nextel have now been tarred with the spy brush because of mergers, takeovers, and name changes.
Didn’t Ben and Jerry’s have a phone service once upon a time? Working Assets, I believe. Oh wait — that’s for land lines, not wireless. They need to come up with a wireless service.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:29 pmGuess that rules the Democratic leadership out.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:29 pm.
#14 Comment by VerbalKint — February 29, 2008 @ 6:16 pm
I don’t think PAA has anything to do with impending “TERRORIST” attacks. I do suppose this has everything to do with usurping The People’s Rights and Bush has got the Congress doing his bidding.
OLD FISA LAWS used to thwart the bomb plot in Germany last September.
See, FISA 1973 works!
I M P E A C H!
.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:30 pmDubai or Paraguay…where he can then join Ken Lay and live happily ever after on investments made by robbing our treasury.
Comment by had enough
Umm, I don’t think Ken Lay is in either Dubai or Paraguay, unless Mrs. Lay took the urn with her………..
February 29th, 2008 at 6:31 pm#25, are you saying Ken Lay took a *urn* for the worst?
February 29th, 2008 at 6:34 pmComment by Marcus Aurelius — February 29, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
gotta agree with you on that one. what you & i were addressing only happens in the real world, i guess.
Comment by missmolly — February 29, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
thanks for the info. bad news all around.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:35 pmthanks in advance for any help.
Comment by Tstatguy
I’m using Virgin, I have no idea whose infrastructure they use though. I’ve heard that from an employee standpoint Cingular is the best. they’re union and treat folks well, or so I’ve read. We could just go back to writing letters…
February 29th, 2008 at 6:39 pmOff Topic
Anyone see this on Yahoo! News? IF ONLY IT WERE TRUE!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/ s/ ap/ 20080229/ ap_on_go_pr_wh/ white_house_plagiarism;_ylt=ArVVpOVZA8VFBqc.oM_LUYZ34T0D
February 29th, 2008 at 6:40 pmWhat difference does it make. Bushco, PNAC, Illuminati, Bohemian Grove, Bilderberg and Carlyle groups are going to blow something else up in America sometime before the election. They’re not building all those internment camps for nothing. Then Bush can declare martial law and suspend whatever he wants because no one in this country has the balls or backbone to challenge him and his criminal cronies.
Waxman and his empty subpoenas, Reid and Pelosi are complacent marshmallows and still around 50% of the gullible American public believe Iraq had something to do with 9-11.
On paper this country truly stands for something that could even exceed greatness. The sad reality is that Bush thinks our constitution is “only a piece of paper.”
February 29th, 2008 at 6:40 pm#26….. a fortunate *urn* of events for the other (unindicted) guilty parties…..
February 29th, 2008 at 6:41 pmBy the way,
February 29th, 2008 at 6:46 pmwhere does
Ken lay?
The GOP is siding with the terrorists?!
February 29th, 2008 at 6:46 pmLOL@CZ-1’s article and tagline! Guess the Yahoo News folks botched their headline. It’s been fixed now, though.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:50 pmNevar, you are so naive. Of course Ken lay is alive. Oh, sorry, I meant to say that Ken Lay’s hithertofore unknown secret twin brother Kevin Lay is alive and plans to marry Ken’s wife in keeping with the Judeo Christian tradition of Marriage we all hold so dear. Ken Lay dead. Hillarious.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:50 pmComment by Mr. Evil — February 29, 2008 @ 6:40 pm
sure hope i don’t get to say “i told you so” to all the people i know that scoffed when told of this possibility. the american people have become so complacent that it’s almost gonna be like taking candy from a baby to accomplish it.
can’t blame anybody (trolls excluded) on this site though for most here go through life with their ears & eyes open & are independent thinkers that arrive at their own conclusions.
of course i’ll get rebuffed by the usual (you know who you are) sheeple for this opinion. some just wanna believe everything their half wit leader tells them.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:52 pmBy the way,
where does
Ken lay?
Comment by Nevar — February 29, 2008 @ 6:46 pm
Uhm…under the boardwalk…(out by the sea)?
February 29th, 2008 at 6:52 pmKen Lay dead. Hillarious.
Comment by fletc3her
It was all so conveniently sudden, wasn’t it?
February 29th, 2008 at 6:53 pmThey even used the classic “CIA heart attack” to throw us all off…
under the boardwalk
Comment by Ms_Joanne
I guess that’s why he was so pale there towards the end………….
February 29th, 2008 at 6:55 pmfrom my inbox:
Please join the emergency petition to STOP TELECOM IMMUNITY, and if you have not had the chance, check out the video of Americans speaking out that we produced with our allies at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
http://www.pfaw.org/go/StopImmunity
Nearly 15,000 activists have already signed, and the video has been featured on many of the nation’s leading progressive blogs like DailyKos and Crooks and Liars, but we need more signatures before we deliver the petition to Congress.
Our Contempt of Congress petition that made such a difference had 45,000 signers. Help us match that with this petition. Sign today and ask your friends to sign as well.
– Your Allies at People For the American Way
February 29th, 2008 at 7:01 pmNevar, you are so naive.
Comment by fletc3her
Thanks!
February 29th, 2008 at 7:07 pmIt’s rather easy, actually; however I do give it some thought…
;)
Dubai or Paraguay…where he can then join Ken Lay and live happily ever after on investments made by robbing our treasury.
Comment by had enough
Umm, I don’t think Ken Lay is in either Dubai or Paraguay, unless Mrs. Lay took the urn with her………..
Comment by Nevar — February 29, 2008 @ 6:31 pm
February 29th, 2008 at 7:28 pmAs far as I am concerned Ken Lay’s death+cremation all happened a little too quickly and the timing was too convenient. With all the corruption we have seen, I personally feel a faked death giving closure to Lay’s part of the energy scam is more likely than Lay’s sudden death followed by an all too sudden cremation.
Interesting piece I found earlier:
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/sebok/20080129.html
Comment by leftcoast
Wow, that is an interesting read!
February 29th, 2008 at 7:28 pmUmm, I don’t think Ken Lay is in either Dubai or Paraguay, unless Mrs. Lay took the urn with her………..
Comment by Nevar
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. No one say Ken Lay dead since he was instantly cremated. That’s a good way to fake a death. You do remember, he was on his way to jail when he “died”.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:30 pmIt is plain as day that Republicans want another terrorist attack, because they think they can exploit it for political advantage.
Comment by VerbalKint
If it were to happen, I think it will seriously backfire on them. First, we can say “look, you didn’t keep us safe by protecting our borders, ports or airports” and second, you allowed the FISA act to lapse because you didn’t get your retroactive immunity for the telcoms.
He will have a very hard time pinning another attack on the Democrats.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:44 pmHe will have a very hard time pinning another attack on the Democrats.
Comment by bilbobaggins — February 29, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
well, he has been unable to pin 9/11 on anybody but his own stupid self, and he will go to his grave with that as his major accomplishment, followed by Katrina and Bin Laden. History’s laughingstock, the Bush name.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:26 pmIt is plain as day that Republicans want another terrorist attack, because they think they can exploit it for political advantage.
Comment by VerbalKint
If it were to happen, I think it will seriously backfire on them. First, we can say “look, you didn’t keep us safe by protecting our borders, ports or airports†and second, you allowed the FISA act to lapse because you didn’t get your retroactive immunity for the telcoms.
He will have a very hard time pinning another attack on the Democrats.
Comment by bilbobaggins —
Ya gots to remember, those folks ain’t talked to us and are not wondering what what we will accept. they are talking to the folks who that bush and his posse didn’t have any complicity in 9-11 or any other of the problems that have happened in the last eight years. they don’t care what we say, until election day. Then they either have to do a #51 or try and do a diebold on us.
I’m looking forward to see what is going to happen in the next couple of months.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:36 pmthe GOP: Because it’s not treason if we do it…
February 29th, 2008 at 10:42 pmThis is what the party of civil liberties and personal freedom has sunk to. “If we can’t tap your phones at will without having to answer for it to anyone at any time, well we won’t play!” Pathetic.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:02 pmComment by bilbobaggins — February 29, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
you forget the media that serves as a mouthpiece to the GOP. They will join in the chorus blaming the Democrats for allowing FISA to “expire.”
March 1st, 2008 at 1:57 amLEFTCOAST: Ken Lay is dead…. or was that your point???? *VBG*
March 1st, 2008 at 8:41 amHey Bert, you forgot the Yippie Ki Yay again. So what was it you were saying about blind partisanship?
March 1st, 2008 at 9:30 amHey Bert. How do you figure I am a “pro-beheader”? So as a 100 percenter you could never have any beefs with the USA correct? By the way you seem to have mispelled my name. Excellent job with the Yippie Ki Yay. It is great
March 1st, 2008 at 9:59 amThe next attack on this country will take place, not on Bush’s watch, none has, but on the next president’s and that will be the result of the leaders YOU have wrought upon this nation .
Comment by BERT CONVY — March 1, 2008 @ 9:40 am
Setting aside the anthrax attack, the greatest National Security Failure in American History occured on BUSH’S WATCH.
And American voters aren’t buying the myth that Democrats can’t protect America from terrorists. Even Bert must think John McCain’s chances are not so good.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:36 amHey Bert.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:07 amI really dig made up kooky people but you need to try to be less obvious. Anyway, when you get a chance could you provide me a link to support the idea that Mr Obama wishes to disband the military. I am interested in that as I sort of think it is interesting that I hadn’t heard about that. Thanks. I realize that you are about as real as the muppet of the same name but still, it might be helpful to try to support your oddness with some sort of evidences. Ernie makes stronger arguments by far. Oh and a simple pair of tweezers will solve that unibrow problem
cheers
The right-wingers are always going on about any talk of withdrawing from Iraq “emboldening the enemy”. They say the same thing if you even suggest timelines for finally withdrawing.
Now, how can telling our enemies we are “open to attack” not embolden them? Republicans like to use that “emboldening the enemy” line with us, so I think we should shove it right back in their face when they go around saying things like we are “open to attack”.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:58 pmNothing is ever “so important” that the R’s won’t play political games with it. Nothing.
Convy - you’re a psychotic - seek help before some innocents at a mall have to pay for your illness.
Flag this sicko out of here. He makes my laptop smell funny.
March 1st, 2008 at 2:28 pmBush is a LIAR, TRAITOR to the USA, WAR CRIMINAL, and a COXUCKEr little PUNK who is about to be tried for WAR CRIMES in 2009.
AMERICAN JUSTICE coming BACK to AMERICA!!
March 1st, 2008 at 4:05 pmWe just have to be careful Putsch-Chicanery don’t start another war and declare martial law here at home before the 2008 Election. If that happens then we shall (mostly) all truly be royally screwed (if not blued and tattooed…).
GOP Mess America
====
March 1st, 2008 at 4:27 pmThe GOP is truly the sickest bunch of “humans” to rule a developed country in the last, oh, say…70 years. Their rhetoric, and actions, speak of a truly depraved corrupt “value” system. If they, as a party, gave a damn about the American people or our Constitution, they’d cooperate with the democrats and impeach BushCo, convict, and through the whole gang in the slammer.
Hey, Bert - let’s talk about the “lefty media”, shall we? Have you ever looked at who owns the MSM in this country? Rupert Murdock is certainly a well known lefty. GE, of course, is part of a huge leftist conspiracy to subvert the country. The rest are damned nearly as bad. Yet another of the right wing’s tactics, spreading such total crap. “Faux News is leftist!” - them being the now largest network (how f’ed up is that?), that’s what you’re saying. If you think that, wow, you really are a right-winger!
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:08 am