If You Call Grandma to Say Hello, You Could Be al-Qaeda

Last Friday the House of Reps. voted 293-129 in favor of the FISA Amendment Act. While the MSM was simply calling it an overhaul of the 1978 domestic surveillance law, in essence it's further destruction (if that's possible) of the 4th Amendment. Not only does the law grant telecomm companies immunity for warantless spying, it gives them retroactive pardons for all past felonies committed against the American people.

Any phone call, email, IM, or text message is fair game. No warrant necessary to listen to your neighbor have phone sex with his secretary or your cousin fight with her boyfriend. After all, anything said could be al-Qaeda code words and a threat to national security. Bush openly admits that in 2005 he ordered the shadowy NSA to intercept any communication between residents who are suspected of terrorism. Of course these days that includes 9/11 Truthers, anyone who references our Constitution, anyone who questions the government, and on and on.

The Bush Administration until now had refused to share any records of this program with the courts. Now the courts will be able to review records, but what's the difference? If they let Bush get away with not sharing up to this point, why would they all of a sudden care who is being spied on?

The justification for the telecomm immunity is that the companies have been so cooperative in the war on terror that we must protect them from lawsuits. After all, it's not like they've committed a felony each and every time they've lawlessly spied on U.S. citizens. So basically their pandering to the Neo-Cons has earned them a free pass. Not unlike our cherry picking of which dictatorships around the world to foster and which to annihilate.

The Dems don't get off the hook here though. First off, Nancy Pelosi voted for this, and thinks it's just grand. Senate majority leader Harry Reid runs around acting like it's a travesty, meanwhile admitting that he won't make a commitment one way or the other until he gives the law a full review. Complete posturing.

Unfortunately, Ron Paul had a prior commitment last Friday and was unable to cast a vote. However, he did get up on the Hill this week and said, "I have strongly opposed every previous FISA overhaul attempt and I certainly would have voted against this one as well." The congressmen also pointed out that this is ex post facto law and that such is clearly prohibited in Article I Section 9 of the Constitution. So, there's another amendment violated by this "law."

The current incarnation of this treason is set to expire in 2012. By then, corporate interests will probably be able to rape, pillage and murder with immunity. Wait, they already do.