By Dennis Loo
Obama and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd and the others who introduced/backed amendments to try to strip the [telecom] bill of immunity did so knowing that their efforts would fail and the bill would pass. Obama’s claim that this bill, which he voted for, is an improvement over the existing law, the Protect America Act, is false because PAA is set to expire and the 1978 FISA bill would have then been in effect. This would have exposed not only the telecoms to the lawsuits they so richly deserve, but expose the White House to prosecution for violating FISA.
What Obama, Dodd, Feingold or any of the others who opposed this bill
should have done, as Obama did promise previously to do, is filibuster
the damn bill.
To those who still hold out hopes that an Obama White House will make
a real difference, consider this: if Barack refuses as a Senator to
stand up and do what is right and what needs to be done, then what will
he do as a President when he must stand up individually and do what
is right and what needs to be done. You don’t need to wait and see and
hope for the best. You can see what he is willing to do and what he’s
not willing to do right this minute.
Past, as they say, is Prologue.
The fate of the country and the fate of the planet cannot be left in
the hands of men and women such as these. It is necessary that individuals
take a stand and not leave matters in the hands of those who will not
do what must be done. We the people must stand up and act.
Dennis Loo, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology