Who are you, and what have you done with the House of Representatives?

[KukriKhan]

I don't like telco immunity. But with the passage of all these sure-to-be-vetoed-and-not-overridden bills, the cynic in me (looking at the timing) thinks it's dem election '08 strategy for Sep-Nov this year.

Whichever 'guy' they select will need fresh ammo going into the fall campaign, and I can just see the TV ads now: "Immigration Reform: Vetoed", "Social Security Reform: Vetoed", "FISA Reform: Vetoed." "And how did Sen McCain vote?" "The Republicans have thwarted all efforts at bi-partisan blah-blah-blah"... etc.

I'd like to think the Legi's have found their cajones, but I doubt it. More likely this is positioning for 6 months from now. In my humble opinion.

We do better 'deals' here in org mafia games.

[Lemur]

Reminds me of an amusing billboard hack:

[drone]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews
So the House showed their true colors and caved. The precedent is set, a company can do whatever it wants as long as it shows it's "get out of jail free" card from the president.

In 7 months, we will have a significant Democratic majority in both houses, and probably a Democratic president, who now has all these new-found powers. Think on that carefully before you say it will keep us safe from terrorists. First scandal involving wiretapping rival political opponents: 3.5 years.

And yes, I hate freedom.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Geez, what a bunch of useless sods. A great year to be a democrat running for election, a super unpopular president, and they can't find the spine to do anything about what they complained so much about.

CR

[PanzerJaeger]

They were going to end the war in 2006 too...

[drone]

They were going to end the war in 2006 too...

And then they realized that most of them were complicit in putting the troops there in the first place, and to pull funding from the military would be an actual stab-in-the-back that would be used against them for years.

This is just too good:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) gave a lengthy floor speech that included a litany of reasons to oppose the legislation. She said the telecommunication companies "come out of this with a taint" for their actions and should not receive immunity.

But, Pelosi argued, the bill also firmly rejects President Bush's argument that a war-time chief executive has the "inherent authority" on some surveillance activity necessary to fight terrorists. It restores the legal notion that the FISA law is the exclusive rule on surveillance.

"There is no inherent authority of the president to do whatever he wants. This is a democracy," Pelosi said, announcing her support for the bill.

Which is countered by the fact that Bush has already ignored the "exclusive rule" clause on the previous FISA, saying it's an unconstitutional limit on his duty.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/con...exclusive.aspx

What really scares me is that Pelosi is currently third in line. Someone so clueless and naive should not be that close to the White House (even if it's not really that "close").