Harry "No Balls" Reid: Take our privacy, please!

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2008-01-23 07:32pm

Like Jason Voorhees, the bill to grant retroactive immunity to phone companies that illegally spied on people is back. Even though Chris Dodd put a hold on the bill, as per Senate rules, Harry "No Balls" Reid overruled him. When Dodd promised a filibuster, Reid backed down. Until now.

Glenn Greenwald has been all over this for months. Reid has as much of a hardon for illegal spying as the Republitards do! Case in point: When a redneck Senator placed a hold on funding the investigation of the murders of civil rights workers, Mr. No Balls didn't lift a finger to override it, not did he make any effort to override the 90 other bills Senator Coburn stopped. But Reid is trying to give immunity to the same sorts of crimes (illegal wiretapping/spying) that got Nixon run out of office.

No Balls' latest gimmick is to demand an actual filibuster (which is to say, that >40% of the quorum shows up in person to block the bill), when he never demands such a measure from the opposing party! This vote is also timed so any filibuster will annoy the shit out of non-committed senators, who might miss out on vacations, campaigning, etc (terrible, no?).

With Democrats like Harry Reid as Majority Leader, who needs Republitards?

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-23 09:22pm

You know, my natural instinct is to loath these idiots... But sometimes I have to wonder if the Republicans are holding some kind of gun to their head. Think about it. With all this warrantless spying crap, how much dirt could they have dug up on Democratic politicians?

(Yeah, paranoid, sure. But politics is dirty business and the Republicans are a dirty bunch, and I wouldn't put blackmail past them.)

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-01-23 09:23pm

Sadly, Reid isn't the only "national security" wanker in the Democratic party. Hillary is the same way, and she's poised to take a lot more power than Reid.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-01-23 09:26pm

The fallout from decades of 'Liebrals BADE! Conservatives GOOD!'. You get Democrats who are Republicans in all but name.

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2008-01-23 09:40pm

So now the Democrats are trying to transform the US into a police state-- okay, more of a police state than it already is under Bush. Planning to cement the Democrats' hold on power when one of your own becomes President, Mr. Reid?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-01-23 10:10pm

SirNitram wrote:The fallout from decades of 'Liebrals BADE! Conservatives GOOD!'. You get Democrats who are Republicans in all but name.

Well, the Democrats are still more liberal than the Republicans. Unfortunately, that doesn't say much. It's like saying that Twinkies are healthier than pure lard.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2008-01-24 08:19am

How dare you besmirch the name of Twinkies, good sir!

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2008-01-24 10:22am

If they're going to hand out retroactive immunity for illegal spying, why not make it retroactive to 1970? It's just not fair for Nixon's thugs, C.R.E.E.P. and their corporate sponsors to be sued and prosecuted while Dubya's henchmen get a free pass.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2008-01-24 10:49am

These attempts at retroactive immunity strike anyone as a wake up moment for those who have been partying hard on our civil liberties for 8 years? It's like they suddenly looked up from a coke and alcohol binge and realize that next year not only will their godfather not be in power but most likely it will be a damn dirty liberal, not only that but a fucking CLINTON.

So now it's like they're scrambling to flush the smack down the toilet and clean up the apartment before mom gets home and they just heard the car pulling into the drive way.

What's despicable about all of this is that you know they're getting away with this. Even if the bills don't pass and they don't all get what they want no one is going to pay for this because its just too complicated and too dirty and frankly no one in the general public is in too much of an uproar about this. It's truly a low point in American civil liberties history.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » 2008-01-24 01:58pm

Stravo wrote:What's despicable about all of this is that you know they're getting away with this. Even if the bills don't pass and they don't all get what they want no one is going to pay for this because its just too complicated and too dirty and frankly no one in the general public is in too much of an uproar about this. It's truly a low point in American civil liberties history.

Ain't that the sad and sorry truth. Makes me want to tear out my hair and rip my shirt off my back followed by taking these assholes pictures and wiping my ass with them and then tossing said pictures in the street out of disgust.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-01-24 03:48pm

First of several attempts to strip immunity from the bill failed. The Judiciary Committee's version was 'tabled' with no sign of recovery. Dems who voted to table it:

Rockefeller, Bayh, Mikulski, Pryor, Salazar, McCaskill, Nelson, Carper, Nelson, Landrieu, Inouye, Johnson

They're all rather obviously on the telcos payrolls.

(To clear up confusion, the two Nelsons are the one from Florida, and the one from Nebraska.)

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2008-01-24 05:25pm

Mikulski has to be on the payroll. She's in one of the most solidly democratic states which is out there in the range of suing the EPA to get the California emissions standards upheld and yet she resorts to this bullshit.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-01-24 09:32pm

Things uh... Things went all odd.

Following the Judiciary bill being tabled, the Republicans refused to let any amendment go by on a straight simple majority. They wanted their pampered candy asses to get the 60 requirement they want because they know they can kill bills that way. When it wasn't offered, they threatened filibuster. The cloture vote has been punted to Monday evening. The GOP needs 60 votes to get any amendments up. Oh... One more thing.

The previous bill allowing this tomfoolery sunsets on the 1st.

Reid is upset. I don't quite grasp why, his actions hardly show him a paragon of virtue here. But he will vote against cloture, and unless the amendments get voted on, he will be an obstructionist ass and kill the bill.

I wonder who got to him?