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Ear to the Ground

Bush: Protect America, or at Least Its Telecom Companies

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Posted on Oct 10, 2007
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This phone call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes:  Bush chats on the phone aboard Air Force One in this undated photo.

First we had “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Then came the Patriot Act.  And now, President Bush has co-opted another vague term that’s hard to argue with, emptied it of its intended significance, and altered it to mean “let big telecom companies that aided the administration in its dubious wiretapping activities off the hook.” Yes, folks, this latest round of rhetorical gymnastics has brought us “the Protect America Act.”


AP via Huffington Post:

President Bush said Wednesday that he will not sign a new eavesdropping bill if it does not grant retroactive immunity to U.S. telecommunications companies that helped conduct electronic surveillance without court orders.

A proposed bill unveiled by Democrats on Tuesday does not include such a provision. Bush, appearing on the South Lawn as that measure was taken up in two House committees, said the measure is unacceptable for that and other reasons.

“Today the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees are considering a proposed bill that instead of making the Protect America Act permanent would take us backward,” the president said.

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Bonus!:  You, too, can learn more about the Protect America Act, thanks to this informative White House fact sheet.

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By rage, October 11, 2007 at 12:31 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

ATT, your world delivered to the NSA!

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By John Borowski, October 11, 2007 at 2:43 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

There is a video from BBC with Jane Standley reporting that Building 7 has come down twenty minutes before it did in fact come down. Over her left shoulder in the back ground is Building 7 standing tall like a guard at the British palace. This all passed over the Americans’ brains like the bird in the “coo- coo nest”. BBC didn’t have a logical explanation for this discrepancy so they simply swiped it under the rug and shut down the newscast before it did in fact come down.

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By thomas billis, October 10, 2007 at 2:35 pm #
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When a big company commits an illegal act they get immunity. When a member of the administration commits perjury and obstruction of justice they get commuted jail sentences.When the CIA picks up somebody and tortures them for months on end it is the States secrets bullshit. When a small guy commits an illegal act here he gets the book thrown at him.No wonder we have to export our version of democracy at the point of a gun.

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