George Bush's latest powers, courtesy of the Democratic Congress

[babsbunny]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/19/telecom/index.html

(Updated below - Update II - Update III - Update IV - Update V - Update VI)

CQ reports (sub. req.) that "a final deal has been reached" on FISA and telecom amnesty and "the House is likely to take up the legislation Friday." I've now just read a copy of the final "compromise" bill. It's even worse than expected. When you read it, it's actually hard to believe that the Congress is about to make this into our law. Then again, this is the same Congress that abolished habeas corpus with the Military Commissions Act, and legalized George Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program with the "Protect America Act," so it shouldn't be hard to believe at all. Seeing the words in print, though, adds a new dimension to appreciating just how corrupt and repugnant this is:

The provision granting amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms, Title VIII, has the exact Orwellian title it should have: "Protection of Persons Assisting the Government." Section 802(a) provides:

[dflprincess]

1. What we need are judges in the Federal court system that will find these actions by Congress

unconstitutional.

It takes a 2/3 vote of the states to amend the Constitution - the legislative and executive branches are not suppose to be able to change it themselves.