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Cracker Squire

THE MUSINGS OF A TRADITIONAL SOUTHERN DEMOCRAT

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Location: Douglas, Coffee Co., The Other Georgia, United States

Sid in his law office where he sits when meeting with clients. Observant eyes will notice the statuette of one of Sid's favorite Democrats.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

I'm with the Senate on this one. It voted to give legal immunity to phone providers that helped in the wiretapping program in pursuit of terrorists.

From The New York Times:

After its first secret session in a quarter-century, the House on Friday rejected retroactive immunity for the phone companies that took part in the National Security Agency’s program of eavesdropping without warrants, and it voted to place tighter restrictions on the government’s wiretapping powers.

The decision [was largely a] party line vote of 213 to 197 . . . .

The Senate . . . passed a bill last month that . . . would give legal immunity to those phone providers that helped in the wiretapping program, and would give the security agency broader discretion in deciding how it goes about wiretapping in the pursuit of terrorist targets.

Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said the Democratic measure would weaken national security and deprive intelligence officials of vital surveillance tools.

That argument had initially held sway with 21 conservative Democrats who are members of the so-called blue dog caucus and signed a letter in February favoring the idea of immunity for the phone companies. But in Friday’s vote, 14 of the blue dogs ended up voting for the Democratic plan to reject retroactive immunity and instead to let the federal courts decide the liability issue.

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