Dear Sen. Webb
I worked hard for you in 2006.
I signed a petition to draft you to run for US Senate. I gathered signatures to place your name on the Democratic primary ballot in 2006. I hung signs along the roadways near the Shad Planking in 2006.
I donated money and time because I believed in your leadership and judgment.
You are a hero.
I never deluded myself into thinking you would vote my way on any given issue. I trusted that you would vote your conscience at every turn.
But I believed that your moral values were in line with mine; on war, peace, economic fairness, and civil liberties.
That said, I am baffled, angry, dismayed, and, frankly, betrayed by your vote on telecom immunity.
I give you the benefit of the doubt, but not without an explanation.
Why did you vote to give telephone corporations an ex post facto whitewash of their criminal collusion with an oppressive government to violate the 4th amendment?
Please submit your answer in any form you see fit.
Though, I would not advise calling me at the telephone number I cited. It is a Verizon cell phone, and may very well be tapped!
Disappointedly,
Thaddaeus Toad
I signed a petition to draft you to run for US Senate. I gathered signatures to place your name on the Democratic primary ballot in 2006. I hung signs along the roadways near the Shad Planking in 2006.
I donated money and time because I believed in your leadership and judgment.
You are a hero.
I never deluded myself into thinking you would vote my way on any given issue. I trusted that you would vote your conscience at every turn.
But I believed that your moral values were in line with mine; on war, peace, economic fairness, and civil liberties.
That said, I am baffled, angry, dismayed, and, frankly, betrayed by your vote on telecom immunity.
I give you the benefit of the doubt, but not without an explanation.
Why did you vote to give telephone corporations an ex post facto whitewash of their criminal collusion with an oppressive government to violate the 4th amendment?
Please submit your answer in any form you see fit.
Though, I would not advise calling me at the telephone number I cited. It is a Verizon cell phone, and may very well be tapped!
Disappointedly,
Thaddaeus Toad
posted by Thaddaeus Toad at
10:17 PM
8 Comments:
You're retarded.
It is not too wise to play party partisanship with national security.
The Senaters who voted to extend FISA and allow for full cooperation from telcom understand this.
Stop being so paranoid and look at the bigger picture.
This was not a vote to "extend FISA". It was an extension of the "Protect America Act", which was an after-the-fact pardon of the illegal violations of FISA's judicial review provisions. That the President is willing to veto extension of the act unless there is telecom immunity is a testament to the duplicity of his seriousness about defending this country.
As Sen. Kennedy put it: "The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retroactive immunity. No immunity, no new FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he is willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies."
yeah just what we would need. the court system overloaded with crap cases when the telecoms were obeying goverment orders.
Webb is strong on national security -- i trust he knows more than i do. I want a democratic leader who is strong on national security - we all should. he has made careful and deeply thought out decisions in the past and trust he did here. nuff for me
What happened to the WoS readership? Since when did they all turn so facist?
Remember: 9/11 happened because the FBI didn't do their job: didn't listen to their people and ignored leads they had authority to pursue. It happened, not because law enforcement "didn't have the tools they need to protect America", but because they're a bumbling bureaucracy.
I'm sure it would make cops' lives a lot easier if they could just spy on us whenever they want, but there's nothing wrong with demanding that the people who have powers to shoot to kill and throw people in jail and ruin people's lives at least do their homework first.
This is what Webb said about Telecom immunity and the Bill:
http://webb.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=292788
"“I also supported two amendments which sought to limit immunity for telephone companies in proper situations. These amendments would have allowed consumers to move forward with legal action in certain situations, for example where companies have acted in bad faith in aiding government surveillance. Unfortunately, both of these amendments failed as well"
And what he wants to do going forward:
"However, I plan to urge my colleagues who sit on the Senate-House conference committee to adopt House provisions that better protect Americans from Executive branch overreach"
So if I'm reading this right, Webb thought it was necessary to get a bill, but still wants to have the provisions (which I beleive the House bill does) to limit TelCo immunity.
Don't count on a response. I wrote him directly about another vote a few months ago and I never even got a form response.
I love comments like this:
"Anonymous said...
You're retarded."
Which do nothing to further the conversation at hand.
Regardless, great post.
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