I'll give you one guess as to for whom?
"Key Senators Raise Doubts on Eavesdropping Immunity" by ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 — The leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that they had serious concerns about a plan for legal immunity to phone carriers that participated in the National Security Agency domestic eavesdropping program after the Sept. 11 attacks.
There goes the lying, myth-promoting MSM again.
For the last time, it was BEFORE 9/11!!!!!
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the panel, said at a hearing that the immunity proposal amounted to “an after the fact free pass” for utilities that might have violated customers’ privacy rights.
Which is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!
Article I, Section 9: "No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed."
Their opposition to the immunity proposal, while not unexpected, complicates the Bush administration’s hopes for passage of a bill to insulate the carriers from legal liability for participating in the eavesdropping.
AT&T, Verizon and others face some 40 suits over their reported role in the program. Administration officials say they worry that the suits could cost the utilities billions in damages and compromise national security secrets.
A federal appellate court is now weighing the government’s contention that the suits should be stopped on the grounds that they would reveal “state secrets.”
WTF is the United States now? Soviet Russia? China?
The administration has said the carriers’ cooperation was vital to the program but has said little else publicly about their participation.
Kenneth L. Wainstein, an assistant attorney general, testified on Wednesday that the companies should not be punished financially for their cooperation.
“There were letters that went out to these companies that said very forcefully this is being directed, this is directed by the president, and this has been deemed lawful at the very highest levels of the government,” Mr. Wainstein said. “
And that’s a pretty strong assurance.”
So Sig Heil and give the asshole whatever he wants, right?
Officials also released a letter to the committee this week from former Attorney General John Ashcroft and three former aides urging Congress to approve the immunity provision. Immunity, the letter said, “provides a just and fair protection for companies that allegedly responded to a call for assistance from the president in a time of national crisis.”
Sig Heil!
The letter was also signed by three former aides to Mr. Ashcroft, each raising concerns about the legality of the eavesdropping. The signers were former Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey, Jack L. Goldsmith and Patrick F. Philbin.
Mr. Ashcroft’s consulting firm, the Ashcroft Group, is registered as a federal lobbyist for AT&T. A spokeswoman for the firm, Juleanna Glover Weiss, said Wednesday that Mr. Ashcroft did not take part in lobbying for AT&T."
But he didn't take part in lobbying!!!
Then what is his name doing on the immunity letter?
So Ashcroft is working for AT&T, huh?
How INCESTUOUS!!!!
