Earlier this week the Senate passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 that will greatly expand the government's ability to spy on Americans and giving full undisclosed immunity to the telecommunications companies that help out. A handful of Senators (mostly Democrats) protested this bill and affirmed their roles as protectors of the constitution.
The FISA bill of course is not being mentioned on the main stream media. Correction . . . the main stream media does not bother to spell out the implications that this bill will bring. They treat is as a regular bill that does not warrant any attention since it does not drive up the ratings. Remember, the media is a business enterprise with "money" as their motivator. It is not in the interest of the media to hold the government accountable . . . to be the fourth branch of our government, in order to protect the people. Although, that may have been the benevolent reasons why Thomas Jefferson foresaw as the media's role in society . . . he did not anticipate the influence that capitalism would have on the industry.
Nonetheless, that has not stopped The Nation and the ACLU from filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of New York. The Nation claims that, "Communications critical to their reporting could and would be monitored under the FISA Amendments Act." The issue at hand that I had with FISA was that the Bush administration would not support a bill that did not provide immunity to the big telecommunications companies. This is a major problem! What is that the Bush administration up to that granting immunity to the telecommunication companies overrides "protecting us from terrorist"? Why can't they help the government without breaking the current laws? Actions speak louder than words and if there is anything I have noticed . . . the fight for immunity by the Bush administration foreshadows the nonsense that they are up to.
