Of course, you have to look at the flip side of this and acknowledge that if our elected officials and other people in power were Honest, had Integrity and kept to a code of Ethics, saying and doing nothing illegal that could be used against them; then the telecom companies would not have had any leverage to affect the outcome of the FISA debacle.

George Orwell studied the history of the rise and fall of great nations and saw the U.S. going in the same direction. He didn’t need a degree in Rocket Science or a Crystal Ball to extrapolate what path the US would end up following.

I must encourage my fellow Americans to think more deeply about wiretapping. I worked for a big, fast moving wireless telecom. They, in collusion with the government have been listening forever. Most are to young to know they should not have forgotten this history.

Understand that the most valuable telecom data that is intercepted are the communications of elected officials, bank executives, etc …

If there is gold in the middle of a field, this data, then somebody is going to try and steal this golden data, any thought to the contrary is childish. That’s why we have powerful laws to protect our confidential and private communications and data.

For a political machine, blackmail is an important tool in persuading elected officials to do the bidding of those that can and do intercept communications from powerful people.

We invaded and blew up Iraq, they listen to everything, of course, they are terrified of their crimes.

This looks like all stops, all dirty laundry was whipped out. Arms were twisted and cracked.

And then Obama’s plane almost wrecks out of the sky on monday, folks ! Get a clue. Wake up.

But I still have to vote for Democratic leaders because I think it’s still a long road back and the other routes are impassable. However, the slightest centrist leaning red candidate could make me vote against Republican Jim Matheson.

I agree.

If anyone had any inkling that Obama was sincerely about “change” this should squarely disabuse them of that notion.

If there ever were a time to vote for non-Establishment candidates, like Ron Paul, Bob Barr, or Ralph Nader, the time is now.

That was already the case. In fact, it’s right here:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/50/usc_sup_01_50_10_36_20_I.html
It was a felony before FISA, and it’s a felony after FISA, so the only thing that happened today was that you excused the felony actions of the presidential office and private telecommunications industry without so much as an investigation. You granted the government and private industry “retroactive immunity” from the law.

So please explain again how this in any way supports your belief in the constitution or the rule of law.
jake

PS – I feel utterly betrayed.