Feingold: Senate asked to grant immunity in the dark

[BlueJessamine]

Source: Raw Story

While the final result of what critics call a flawed surveillance bill is all-but-ordained, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) is sticking to his fight to convince colleagues not to retroactively eliminate any consequences for participating in President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, which was conducted outside of existing law.

"This immunity provision doesn't just allow telephone companies off the hook. It will also make it that much harder to get at the core issue that I've been raising since December 2005, which is that the president broke the law and should be held accountable," Feingold said on the Senate floor Tuesday. "When these lawsuits are dismissed, we will be that much further away from an independent judicial review of this illegal program."

He noted that judges who are considering the warrantless spying program have rebuked the Bush administration several times, and that most Senators continue to be unaware of exactly what the program included. Only members of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, both of which Feingold is a member, have seen classified documents fully explaining the warrantless wiretapping, which Bush dubbed his Terrorist Surveillance Program.

"We're considering granting immunity when roughly 70 members of the Senate still have not been briefed on the president's wiretapping program," he said. "The vast majority of this body still does not even know what we're being asked to grant immunity for."



Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/As_FISA_heads_toward_vote_Feingold_0708.html

---

Keep calling your senators offices!
Make sure they know their constituents
want them to vote against FISA.


One easy way to do that with respect to the Dodd-Feingold Amendment is

here:http://tools.advomatic.com/7/fisa

Another easy way to call with respect to all the key amendments & the entire FISA bill is here:

https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?alertId=389&pg=makeACall

[L. Coyote]

1. Bush's Crime: ALL COMMUNICATIONS are routed overseas to circumvent US law and the Constitution

Deja DU: Are ALL COMMUNICATIONS routed overseas to circumvent US law and the Constitution?
Nov-09-07 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2245762

I was told years ago that ALL fiber optic communication traffic was routed overseas so that "everything" was moved outside the protections of the law and Constitution and ANYTHING could be monitored. I thought the idea quite fantastic even though it came from a very reliable source that would know exactly such things. Then, the story of the fiber optic splitters hit my radar. I now see now how easily exactly that, routing ALL COMMUNICATIONS overseas, was accomplished.

Is that Bush's and the Telecom's HUGE crime hidden and covered-up behind this story?

If the telecoms get immunity, will it aid in covering up Bush's crime.
ABSOLUTELY! That is why it is so important to the Rs! Support = obstruction of justice.

Have we arrived at the point in the history of the Bushco junta where
laws passed and people nominated are part of crimes of obstructing justice?

===================
AT&T Whistleblower: Telecom Immunity Is A Cover-Up
By Spencer Ackerman - Nov 7, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004662.php


Earlier today we flagged that Mark Klein, who uncovered a secret surveillance room run by the NSA while employed as a San Francisco-based technician for AT&T, is in Washington to lobby against granting retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies. In an interview this afternoon, Klein explained why he traveled all the way from San Francisco to lobby Senators about the issue: if the immunity provision passes, Americans may never know how extensive the surveillance program was -- or how deeply their privacy may have been invaded.

"The president has not presented this truthfully," said Klein, a 62-year old retiree. "He said it was about a few people making calls to the Mideast. But I know this physical equipment. It copies everything. There's no selection of anything, at all -- the splitter copies entire data streams from the internet, phone conversations, e-mail, web-browsing. Everything."

What Klein unearthed -- you can read it here -- points to a nearly unbounded surveillance program. Its very location in San Francisco suggests that the program was "massively domestic" in its focus, he said. "If they really meant what they say about only wanting international stuff, you wouldn't want it in San Francisco or Atlanta. You'd want to be closer to the border where the lines come in from the ocean so you pick up international calls. You only do it in San Francisco if you want domestic stuff. The location of this stuff contradicts their story .....

=======================
NSA Monitors All Web Traffic, Says Ex-AT&T Employee

NSA Monitors All Web Traffic, Says Ex-AT&T Employee
Tom Corelis (Blog) - Nov 10, 2007
http://www.dailytech.com/NSA+Monitors+All+Web+Traffic+Says+ExATT+Employee/article9620.htm


Felt "forced to the connect the Big Brother Machine" if he wanted to keep his job

Mark Klein, the former AT&T technician and whistleblower who helped kick off the AT&T/NSA eavesdropping scandal, clarified further details regarding what he witnessed while connecting a secret NSA eavesdropping facility: secure room 641A in AT&T’s San Francisco switching center, presumably commissioned by the NSA, received copies of all the traffic its splitters were connected to, including both international and domestic e-mails, web traffic, and phone calls, both from AT&T’s customers as well as other providers.

Previous statements by the government, AT&T and President Bush indicated that the only affected communications are communications relevant to national security, like those of suspected terrorists and suspicious foreign nationals. According to Klein, however, the technology used to connect the secure room was far more democratic, consisting of simple, dumb splitters incapable of any kind of contextual filtering: essentially, room 641A received “a duplicate of every fiber-optic signal routed through facilities.”

Klein, appearing on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann show, told viewers about his personal association with secure room 641A. “When I was a technician, I had the engineering/wiring documents, which told me how the splitter was wired to the secret room … I had to know in order to do my job,” he said, “so I know that whatever went across those cables was copied; the entire datastream was copied into the secret room.”

Referring to the equipment itself, Klein states, “the splitter device has no selective capability, it just copies everything. .............

=======================
Interview: AT&T Whistleblower Mark Klein on Bush's Illegal Surveillance and Retroactive Immunity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0dJJhLueEg

=======================
NSA Pressured LA Times To Kill Domestic Spying Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOI1VGKcgGY

=======================
November 5th, 2007
AT&T Whistleblower to Urge Senate to Reject Blanket Immunity for Telecoms
Press Conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, November 7
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2007/11/05

Washington, D.C. - On Wednesday, November 7, at 10:30am, telecommunications technician and AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein will speak out at a press conference on Capitol Hill, explaining why he is asking lawmakers to reject immunity for telecoms who assisted the Bush administration's spying on millions of Americans.

Klein witnessed first-hand the technology AT&T built to assist the government's domestic warrantless wiretapping program at AT&T's main switching facility in San Francisco. As part of his job at AT&T, Klein connected high-speed fiber optic cables to sophisticated equipment that intercepted communications from AT&T customers and then copied and routed every single one to a room controlled by the National Security Agency (NSA). Klein has provided evidence for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) class-action lawsuit against AT&T for its role in the illegal spying.

"My job required me to enable the physical connections between AT&T customers' Internet communications and the NSA's illegal, wholesale copying machine for domestic emails, Internet phone conversations, web surfing and all other Internet traffic. I have first-hand knowledge of the clandestine collaboration between one giant telecommunications company, AT&T, and the National Security Agency to facilitate the most comprehensive illegal domestic spying program in history," said Klein.

Also speaking at the event Wednesday ...........

=======================
Judge Orders Telecommunications Companies to Preserve Evidence in Government Surveillance Cases
Ruling Advances EFF's Class-action Lawsuit Against AT&T
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2007/11/06


San Francisco - A federal judge today ruled on a preservation motion filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), ordering that telecommunications companies must preserve any evidence of collaborating with the government in illegal spying on ordinary Americans.

In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ordered the telecommunications companies to halt any routine destruction of documents or to arrange for the preservation of accurate copies. On December 14, each party must provide the court with confirmation that the court's order has been carried out. The court order did not require the government or the carriers to reveal whether or not they had any relevant evidence.

The government and the carriers had opposed the preservation motion, claiming that the government's invocation of the state secrets privilege made it impossible to proceed with a preservation order. In litigation, parties are typically required to preserve all relevant evidence.

For the judge's order:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/att/393%20order.pdf

For more on the class-action lawsuit against AT&T:
http://www.eff.org/cases/att

===== MORE ======
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2245762

[BlueJessamine]

2. Thankyou Coyote

for posting this.

The debate over the FISA bill has begun now on the Senate floor and can be viewed at the C-SPAN website.

[defendandprotect]

4. Has it actually begun . . . I have something else on C-span 2 . . are we waiting ...

Btw . . . I haven't been able to get thru to Congress on phone whenever I've tried in two days ...

but I have "contacted" my Senators via the websites.

[BlueJessamine]

8. cspan-

I trying to find it to, I got from Glenn Greenwald/salon that it had begun;
I'll continuing looking for a link and/or an update.

And thanks to all of you that have contacted your Senators!

I called Senator Obama's office and his aide read me his prepared statement and the short of it is:
Obama's voting NO on immunity, but yes on the bill.

Senator Durbin is voting NO on the bill.

I'll try to update as the day progresses.

[defendandprotect]

9. Here . . . Bond speaking now . . .

http://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan2_wm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS2

[BlueJessamine]

11. Thankyou!!

[SharonRB]

15. So it sounds like he will be in attendance for the vote tomorrow

Good. I was hoping he would be.

[BearSquirrel2]

52. This is wormy on the part of Senate Democrats ...

This is a wormy act on the part of Senate Democrats. The fact of the matter is that they control the language of the bill that initially goes to the floor. If Republicans are inclined to filibuster it .... LET THEM!!!! Then you will have Republicans fillibustering a security bill and you can BLAME IT ON THEM!!!

The nonsense in the house is even worse. There Democrats have 100% control over the bill to be voted upon and they only need pass the bill without immunity and send it on to the conference committee WHICH DEMOCRATS WOULD CONTROL!!! And if the Reepubs vote down a compromise bill .... so be it. LET THEM and LET THEM take the heat for rejecting a security bill.

The end of all of this is that there are at least 10 Senate Democrats who WANT warrantless wiretapping and I'm disgusted by this. I also suspect that Pelosi is pro-KGB as well. Oh well. So much for the Republic.

[rucognizant]

37. The link

advotools. has a list of those that support the Dodd Feingold AMENDMENT, 14 only, but Obama is one of them.Clinton & McCaine are both uncommitted.

[AzDar]

3. K & R ....

:kick:

[ooglymoogly]

24. J Rockefeller is selling his soul to get this passed

He is a lying sack of shit trying to scare everybody to vote for this treasonous bill.

[kmac3]

5. Republicans don't read . . . .

they are sheeple with a history of rubber stamp voting. If Bushy says he wants something passed, their actions are automatic . . . no intelligence required. I unfortunately live where my reps are primarily Republican . . . I have written them on many occasions to encourage their vote and why . . . I get form letter responses in return, some do not even relate to my original correspondence. They are a real joke! I am certain this is the case on this particular vote . . . few of them have invested the time to vote wisely with the best results for our country. :banghead:

[RedLetterRev]

18. I don't even bother with Burr and on-the-Dole any more

since every time I do, I get boilerplate back from Rove Press that essentially says, "we don't really care what you think. The oligarchy have determined I will vote in the following manner, no matter how much or how many of my constituents scream. I'm being paid (off) more than well enough to ignore them and to use the Constitution as a floor mat as much as I like." and then they rubberstamp whatever idiocy the Chimpenfuehrer wants rubberstamped.

Adding insult to injury, the second paragraph of their reply-tripe reliably starts out with the infuriating words, "As you know, since September 11, ..." as if that justifies whatever nonsense they're rubberstamping. :banghead: We're pretty sure that Biddy Dole is senile and can't help it, but Burr should know better. We're pretty sure he does know better, but he's crooked enough and well-compensated enough not to care.

The telecommunications industry, according to OpenSecrets.org have thrown an astonishing $6.249,940 at politicians in order both to privatize the intertoobs and to gain amnesty for breaking the law by willingly participating in warrantless wiretapping. That's just in this 2008 cycle alone, and 2008 is barely half over. Gawdamytie. Apparently, it's cheaper to buy forgiveness and keep a-truckin' than it is to do the right thing for one's customers.

I shouldn't be surprised. Well, I'm not, but I am rather disappointed.

[balantz]

21. I stopped with mine too, getting the same kind of responses from McCain and Kyl. n/t

[bertman]

42. I know what you mean about Burr and Mrs. Bobdole. They're both dipshits.

How do they throw that kind of jack at politicians? To their campaign committees or what?? Pardon my ignance, but I thought that shit was eeleegul.

[pleah]

6. K&R

A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.
- Edward R. Murrow

[aquamarina]

7. My letter to Boxer, Feinstein, Pelosi and Campbell (CA-48)

Dear ____

Re FISA and retroactive immunity for the telecoms.

I cannot begin to express my total disappointment with both houses of the legislative branch. I am continually amazed at how disposable our Constitution (except for the Second Amendment) is becoming to MY government.

I would ask you to please read the 4th amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

Now I ask you, how is it possible to give anyone – person or corporation – a free pass to spy on American citizens? When did it become okay to be able to so blatantly break the law and be given a free pass by the government when they get caught? When did the Executive Branch get to start making up the rules to fit whatever momentarily whim they think of? When did the average American citizen become such a threat to the government that their phone conversations could be monitored at will? And when did it become alright for the government to disregard the Constitution and encourage corporations to break the law? Everyday it seems we are moving more and more towards a Soviet style of government where the government can do whatever it want to whomever it wants – all in the name “the ever elusive” national security.

Setting aside our Constitutional rights to fit a particular whim – even in the name of national security - is for COWARDS and is COWARDLY. Our Constitution reads, “We the People” NOT “We the Government” and FYI, “We the People” have NOT amended the Constitution to remove the rights we are entitled to under the 4th Amendment and until we do, you have NO authority to change those rights or allow anyone to violate those rights. And the fact that this is even up for debate sickens me.

kesasso

[BlueJessamine]

10. WOW!

Great letter kesasso!:toast:

[groovedaddy]

12. So 70 of them have no idea of what they would be granting immunity for

if they vote for this? Isn't that just peachy!?!
Sounds like a Patriot Act or NAFTA vote.

[mdmc]

13. vote in the dark, fool!

Do whatever Obama wants you to do. Do whatever Obama wants you to do in order to elect him in the fall.

Someone has got to protect America!

[humbled_opinion]

31. LOL

Whatever Obama wants???.... Wait till he comes back from Iraq and tells us how there is light and even though Bushco screwed the pooch he can get it done better by making some changes or haven't you been paying attention to the new Obama meme.... seems like he is Bush Light.... He won't support feingold on this mark my words... Obama = more of the same old politicians....

[mdmc]

48. Obama will bring us home with honor

He won't admit defeat and cut and run.

He states that he will task the Joint Chiefs to get us out of Iraq. They will reply that they can't without putting America at increased risk. We will stay the course, only "smarter".

Obama has pretty much said this. Everyone knows that there are no easy answers in Iraq. I opposed the war because I knew it would commit America to a 50 to 100 year occupation ("engagement").

[humbled_opinion]

53. Hillary stated unequivocally....

That regardless of the Generals counsel getting us out of Iraq was her position and she would live with the consequences of action.... How die Obama manage to hoodwink those of us who see this as the number 1 issue in this election. If 1 soldier dies under an Obama presidency because he lacked the courage of conviction to do what he told us he would do then I will protest very loudly....

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Poor Arlen...

it was a shock to see him today. I hope the chemo is working.

Kit bond is a traitor, and a rove bot.
He is saying the companies would be subject to attack if they were not immune?
He's a B-hole.

[BlueJessamine]

16. More

republican fear mongering.

[Better Believe It]

17. K&R

[MiniMe]

47. We'll see if he sticks to his vote to strip the immunity tomorrow

He usually talks tough, but votes with the party.

[Zorra]

19. At least the republican Senators have an excuse.

Most of them are illiterate Pavlovs' dogs that have been programmed to do whatever Bu*h tells them to do.

Good doggie! Here's a bone!

The Democrats have no excuse; all of them know how to read.

[undeterred]

23. They just consider doing their jobs optional.

[BlueJessamine]

20. From mcjoan @ dailykos:

Does anyone really want a President McCain to have the expanded surveillance powers this bill confers? Or even a President Obama? Do these Democrats want to be responsible for dramatically weakening both their and the courts' power vis-a-vis the executive? That's what they're about to do.

Call them (https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?alertId=389&pg=makeACall) and tell them to vote for the Bingaman amendment and vote against final passage of the bill if Bingaman doesn't pass.

[BlueJessamine]

22. Here's a quote

from Kevin Bankston, an EFF attorney who specializes in surveillance law about those in congress that are for the FISA bill: "They want to finish up the last of the cover-up of the government's illegal, warrantless wiretapping program," Bankston said.

The quote is from a Wired article that can be read in full @

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/07/telecom-amnesty.html


And here's a link to a wiki that has a lot of great info/tools to use and you don't have to join to use it:http://get-fisa-right.wetpaint.com/?t=anon

I called Senator Obama's Chicago office and inquired as to whether or not he would be voting on the FISA bill, I was then referred to his Washington office where I got his voicemail (due to high volume of calls),and the same @ his campaign office.

[ooglymoogly]

25. J Rockefeller is selling his soul to get this passed

He is a lying sack of shit trying to scare everybody to vote for this treasonous bill.

[BlueJessamine]

26. Rockefeller

needs to be replaced with a BETTER DEMOCRAT!

[jeff30997]

27. I'm sure that every English speaking Americans have heard this one but...

I say: Rockefeller = Motherfucker! And it goes back to good old dimes giver oil and war profiteer John D.(As in Dipshit)Rockefeller.

[Infinite Hope]

28. I hope he's successful. Thank goodness for Feingold. I'd be happy with Obama/Feingold though

I realize that's not the most electable ticket.

[dflprincess]

38. We need Feingold in the Senate

Vice presidents may be more active than they used to be, but they are still muzzled.

[shellinaya]

45. Feingold not interested in VP

Obama/Feingold?? I doubt that very much. Obama is FOR this compromise. He's as bad as Pelosi and the rest of them. I like how everyone is blaming Rockefeller when the new leader of the Democratic Party, BARACK OBAMA, is for this compromise capitulation on FISA and has said so repeatedly.

Obama is perpetuating the secrecy and the wiretapping because he wants those powers for himself, not because he's got some secret magical plan.

[ut oh]

29. Unfotunately, Pelosi is my Senator.....

Sad as that may be right now... I'm highly skeptical that calling her office will affect anything, Bush appeaser that she is become...

[Bluenorthwest]

30. That is not the case

Nancy Pelosi is in the House of Representatives. She may represent your district in that body. If you live in California, your Senators are Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, as Senators represent the State at large.
Call all three of them. It's fun and easy!

[BobRossi]

33. Three of the biggest shrub enablers that there is.

Three fucking stooges that all need to get their skanky asses back in the kitchen.

[Bluenorthwest]

34. That is not usually Boxer

DiFi and Nan well...not that they should go to any chauvanist kitchen, they can just go to Hell as far as I'm cocerned. Boxer on the other hand is not as bad as the other two.

[KoKo]

35. I just called her office on her trying to stop Conyers on Rove Immunity and got the answer

that "...if you are a constituent of Speaker Pelosi's you may leave a message...others should leave their name and phone number."

I left a message, anyway...but, I'm sure it didn't get through the phone system since I live in NC and not CA...but I did say I was a Dem Precinct Vice Chair from District 0142 in NC...but the phone was dead when I read that in and my "urge to support Rep. Conyers to uphold "Contempt of Congress" about Karl Rove refusing to testify.

Maybe as one of her constituents you would have better luck than me here in NC. You can say that Cindy Sheehan has your vote...or something like that. But...sadly...Nancy would only listen if you have access to her "private line" where her PAC Money High rollers get FIRST DIBS at her.. :puke:

[BobRossi]

32. Fuck the incumbent shrub enablers

I will never vote for anyone, Dem or repuker that enables the little cock-sucker in the Whitehouse.

[omega minimo]

36. When did the Sheeple get so lame, to NOT GET THE CONCEPT?

"It will also make it that much harder to get at the core issue that I've been raising since December 2005, which is that the president broke the law and should be held accountable," Feingold said on the Senate floor Tuesday."

[RedLetterRev]

39. And just FWIW, let's not use the Repig gloss-speak

"retroactive immunity" which makes this atrocity sounds so Madison Avenue nice-y. Shall we please for once throw one of their terms for something they don't like back in their teeth and call it what it is: amnesty for lawbreakers. They were certainly ready to use the term in the name of bigotry when it suited them to gain election points by bashing undocumented workers pointedly and all people with an accent by inference. Have we still not learnt to lift pages from their playbooks?

Throw their shyte right back in their teeth. It makes their heads explode. It's the only time I get a rise out of Burr and I just love doing it -- especially when the sorry mf'er knows I'm right and he's been caught out red-handed.

[defendandprotect]

40. This vote is now on for tomorrow . . . ???

[lonestarnot]

43. Yes it is, unless something else happens.

[NBachers]

41. So are these people getting scads of calls in FAVOR

of this FISA?

I find it hard to believe that there's a huge groundswell of people contacting them to PASS this FISA bill.

[Voltaire99]

44. Russ and Dennis K: the last two Dems worth a damn?

Rock on, brave upstarts!

Last of a dying breed. Either would make a better president than the go-along compromiser who's secured the nomination.

[jtt]

46. Amen!

Its looking as if we were completely fooled.

[redqueen]

49. Keep calling... toll-free numbers here:

1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437
1 (800) 459 - 1887

[MrBlueSky]

50. Hey, RedQueen...

You wouldn't happen to know if any one of our members are there at the FISA debate in the Senate right now liveblogging, would you????

[redqueen]

51. DUers? Don't know of any... firedoglake has one...

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/09/omnibus-liveblog/#more-27659