Today, Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama voted for H.R.6304, which amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (F.I.S.A). In doing so he voted to give telecommunication providers immunity against civil damages that they might incur in the course of enabling the government to execute wiretaps and other types of electronic surveillance. He did so, after an amendment to the bill that would have stripped out the immunity provision, S.Amdt. 5064, was defeated 32-66. In voting for the bill, Obama acted in direct contradiction to his earlier statements. In 2007 Bill Burton, an Obama campaign spokesman, said “To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.”
The original F.I.S.A statute was passed in 1978 in order to protect civil liberties against overly expansive government surveillance, and had clear penalties of $100 per person, per day, plus punitive damages, for telecommunications companies that conducted electronic surveillance without judicial oversight. Given that each day tens of millions of people have their data go across the networks of some of the larger telcos, the risk that these companies faced by working with the government on extra-judicial wiretaps was extreme. In giving companies that work with the government immunity from these penalties, H.R. 6304, and Barack Obama who voted for it, just took away the only reason stopping AT&T, Verizon, and others from helping the government use extra-judicial wiretaps. In voting for the bill, Obama not only helped the telco’s, but also broke his promise to protect the American people from expansive government surveillance.
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Note that TechCrunch endorsed Barack Obama, partially on his policies towards telecommunications companies.
A politican lies.. and we blog. Wow! Seriously…someone should make a blog on the lies that are told and the day it comes to light.. and then video tape the streets. It’s all an act…it’s all B.S. The guy uptop that said don’t expect change from one man.. was completely right.
And the guy that said “you supported him, so its unprofessional to bad mouth him”.. ITS UNPROFESSIONAL TO LIE. He is a re-pre-sen-ta-tive of the people. Sound it out. So when he says here’s my policies.. this is what I believe in.. and he gets votes.. and then the people speak and he says.. yes…I’m going to do that. HE NEEDS TO DO THAT. I don’t necessarily agree w/ the masses.. but democracy=majority rules. Should be pretty simple. And if you think there’s an excuse in “well he would have been labled as a terrorist lover if he hadn’t”. Let the news media talk.. and waste valuable brain cells. That’s all their good for… my politicians are suppose to work for the people. Not shine. I’d rather a guy that looks dirty doing good work.. then looking pristine doing NOTHING.
It’s up to the idiots in the world to see what they’re really about. And all of you out their that pick sides in the beginning..w/out cause, reason, education, etc…You pick them b/c they’re right for the job.. not because of what party they’re from. The idea of partys in this stage of the game is ridiculous.. If they don’t stand to their general ideas…then what’s the point?
And on the last note.. as long as this Michael guy is paying the bills to run this site………he can post whatever he wants. It may not be intelligent or fun or whatever… but he pays.. he can post. Choose not to read it.
Politicians lie. Presidents are made b/c they’re the best at what they do.
Honesty seems to come from anger and guilt when you get that high up. Look at a few things W. Wilson had to say many years after his presidency. Kennedy was honest.. and he’s dead for it. I don’t know what the answer is… but it’s certainly not blind trust.
Oh and one other thing.. politicians shouldn’t change their mind like a housewife does about dishes.. it’s not suppose to be their mind to change. Again, they are a representative of the people. Using judgement is one thing..had he had different ideas he should have presented them to his followers… tried to turn their minds around first.
I don’t think Senator Obama ever changed his mind. He and more importantly, his marketing team just changed the marketing message and provide the product 2.0. And for all of us who are living in the American Idol age and pretend to be a “cool” “dude”, we are basically (Unfortunately, at least in this primary) voting an American Idol, not a President candidate. Sorry, this is the truth. The question is “Can you handle the truth?”
“Granting [telecom] immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect.” –Obama
I agree with Obama (here).
The doer alone learneth.FriedrichWilhelmNietzscheFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche