In response to the recent court decision ruling against D.C.'s handgun ban, I think it's important to tie this up with the recent vote to provide immunity to telecoms who spied on American citizens--at the behest of the Bush administration--WITHOUT A COURT WARRANT. Why are these two important? Because the very same conservatives who seem to have no problem with what Bush is doing are the very same who--thus far in our recent posts--have been unwilling to say they would give up their right to own a gun to fight terrorism. Hypocrisy? Of course. Let me say first off that I don't oppose the right to own a gun, although I've been more than happy to support restrictions in certain senses. Regardless, I don't see any reason why responsible people can't own firearms. And so here's the question you need to ask yourself now:

How many rights are you willing to give up in order to fight terrorism?

So far, the Bush administration has spied on Americans WITHOUT A WARRANT. This is a violation of the Fourth Amendment of our Bill of Rights. (The Bush Administration has also violated the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees due process, but we'll get to that some other time).

Here are your remaining rights:

 
First Amendment: Free Speech. Are you willing to have your speech limited in order to fight terrorism? Since 9/11, there have been free speech issues across the country, tied mostly to the patriotism of those involved. Does this concern you?

Second Amendment: The right to bear arms. Are you willing to give up your guns in order to fight terrorism? Are you willing accept limitations set out by the president in order to "keep this country safe"?

Third Amendment: The quartering of troops. If there's another attack, will you allow the president to place a soldier in your home? Okay, I'm being a little humorous here, but given what's happened already, the scary part is this could possibly happen in some distant future where John McCain is president.

Sixth through Eight Amendments - The rights of the court system. President Bush is already authorizing the detention of "Terrorist suspects" indefinitely with absolutely no regard for any U.S. or international law. You say it's okay because only the bad people are there, but already over a hundred have been released from Guantanamo alone ... so how many innocent people are there right now?

If support the president's abuse of the Fifth Amendment, then you should have no problem supporting these as well. After all, there's nothing more frightening than a terrorist with a gun who has the same rights in court as an American citizen, right? Right?

You'd think so ...
 

The House passed a bill today that provides retroactive immunity for all telecommunications companies involved in President Bush's domestic spying program. You know why they need retroactive immunity? BECAUSE THEY BROKE THE LAW. The Bush administration, with the help of multiple telecoms, spied on Americans WITHOUT A COURT WARRANT. And now, the House has finally given in and decided to side with the most unpopular president in American history.

And where are the conservatives during all this? Where are the true conservatives who favor PRIVACY among all else, the ones who HATE it when government eschews the law in order to pry in on the lives of individual citizens? Why, they're all backing telecom immunity, too!  That hardly surprises me, given that the conservative movement has grown so limp in the face of the neoconservative minority that few if any have the backbone necessary to actually stand up for their original values. Why follow any laws when they can use the "Terrorist Bogeyman" to do anything they want?

Click here to read the case AGAINST retroactive immunity for telecoms. 

We should be proud today to be citizens of Wisconsin, to be represented by one of the few brave senators left in Congress: Russ Feingold. The guy with the guts to oppose the "Patriot Act" is the only one truly speaking out against this bill:

“The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation. The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home. Allowing courts to review the question of immunity is meaningless when the same legislation essentially requires the court to grant immunity. And under this bill, the government can still sweep up and keep the international communications of innocent Americans in the U.S. with no connection to suspected terrorists, with very few safeguards to protect against abuse of this power. Instead of cutting bad deals on both FISA and funding for the war in Iraq, Democrats should be standing up to the flawed and dangerous policies of this administration.”

We can still fight this. There are two things we can do right now to change things:

1. Contact Russ Feingold and express your support.

2. Contact Barack Obama and tell him to stand up and urge the Senate to vote down this bill. He has the power in the Democratic Party right now to kill this bill in its tracks.

Ken Brosky
 

It's nice out, so spend some time outside. But it's going to rain this weekend, too, and before you turn on your TV set and kill a few more brain cells, catch up on these particular treats (I even included a video to help you cope with all the words!)

House passes FISA legislation -- And not only that, it DOES NOT include immunity for the Telecom Companies. Immunity was almost a guarantee until people started getting active and making phone calls and sending out emails. If you were a part of this, then pat yourself on the back. It's a good start.

Climate Protections killed -- by President Bush, of course. Because he believes that a FREE MARKET can regulate pollution on its own without government standards.

No, the Free Market Can't -- An article by Greg Palast about Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who argues that free markets CANNOT regulate their own pollution and are INEFFECTIVE in producing research.

Thom Hartmann -- He's in Darfur following the genocide in progress. He's a liberal talk radio host, but of course Milwaukee doesn't have a liberal talk radio station. We're stuck with Mark Belling the Racist and Charlie Sykes the God-Knows-What. You can listen to Thom Hartmann LIVE for free on airamerica.com 

Once you're done with those articles, please enjoy a short video compilation:

 Have a great weekend,

Ken Brosky 

Telecommunications companies do NOT deserve retroactive immunity for breaking the law just because the Bush Administration needed to spy on us illegally. Let me tell you something flat out: Telecom companies have PLATOONS of lawyers whose sole job is to determine what is legal and what is illegal. FISA was set up to provide Telecom Companies with a legal way of cooperating with the government. If the Telecom companies STILL need retroactive immunity even with all of these aspects already implemented, then there is NO DOUBT they broke the law with the help of the Bush Administration.

Click here to contact Gwen Moore.
 

Congratulations, Wisconsin, on choosing Barack Obama. It's good to see that Hillary Clinton's recent populist rhetoric isn't sucking too many people in ...

Don't get me wrong, though. Clinton is definitely not a bad candidate, but her insistence that she's an economic populist is an entirely new thing, and it's beginning to show. No matter who wins, it'll be easy to support either candidate against John McCain. Speaking of which, why don't we take a look at some homework readings for the weekend?

John McCain's lobbyist connections -- In case you haven't noticed, there's a lot of brew-ha-ha regarding McCain's cozy connections with one very pretty lobbyist, as well as others. When even HIS aides are getting nervous, there's definitely some substance to the story. Don't be fooled by Fox News ... McCain's lobbyist connections have existed for a long, long time. Whether more evidence surfaces or not ... we'll see. Keep an open mind.

Rick Renzi (R-AZ) indicted --  Yes, he does have connections to John McCain. Muckraker has more.

"A Trade Transformation" by David Sirota -- Read about Hillary Clinton's history on NAFTA.

 Turkish Troops in Iraq -- Following Kurdish separatist rebels, and of course this is making things a little sketchy in northern Iraq.

Al-Sadr will extend his ceasefire -- Do you still honestly think the "Surge" quelled the violence in Baghdad? Or was it the fact that the leader of the largest militia in the country called for a ceasefire? He's now calling for an extension to the ceasefire, which will make the "Surge" look even more successful. By the way, for those of you who remember Bush saying there was going to be a troop drawdown, that's not happening anymore, either.
 

The Senate has now officially passed a bill for retroactive telecom immunity. Why do the telecommunication companies need immunity? Because they helped the Bush administration break the law. They broke the law by spying on the American people without a warrant. This is an impeachable offense for the president and vice president. For the telecoms, this is a clear example of corporations breaking the law and violating our Constitutional rights to privacy. This immunity was accomplished with the help of the Democratic Party, which is led by a man by the name of Harry Reid who seems to have the backbone of a one-celled organism.

Who fights for us? Apparently, the only two senators in Congress who actually care about our rights are Christ Dodd and Russ Feingold. They're the only ones who have gone out an actually attempted to stop this ridiculous deal for companies that have clearly violated the law. And where does it end? Exactly where are the other members of Congress willing to draw the line? How many laws MUST BE BROKEN BEFORE THIS CONGRESS DOES WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO DO? How many laws must be broken by the Bush Administration and its loyalists before something is actually done?

Retroactive immunity is an attempt to prevent President Bush from continuing using fear tactics to scare the American people, plain and simple. The problem is we are quickly becoming immune the very fear tactics that have destroyed this country over the past seven years. Congress is caving to pressure from the Bush administration because the Democrats are being led by a coward who is unable to stand up to fear mongers who are now shoving an authoritarian policy down our throats.

The FCC will not investigate because it's stacked with Bush loyalists. The telecoms refuse to comply because they know they broke the law. This should OUTRAGE you. 

Click here to watch Keith Olbermann's special comment.

Click here to visit CallCongress. Find your member of Congress and call them and tell them this is wrong. Or call Russ Feingold, and tell him to continue fighting on the side of law.