Government eavesdropping, a bad idea

President Bush won another political victory this week when the Senate approved the FISA bill he favored to permit government eavesdropping. Whether this was also a victory for the American people and their civil liberties during the war on terror cannot be assumed. Given this administration’s bull-in-the-china-shop record, I assume damage has been done to the Constitution in ways yet to be revealed.
Everybody sane knows that a proper balance needs to be struck between protecting civil liberties and protecting the nation against terrorist attack, but nobody sane could have confidence that Congress has pulled off this trick on the way to pleasing Mr. Bush. I have sadly come to the conclusion that anything that pleases this administration is presumptively a bad idea.
One of the most objectionable features is that the bill immunized telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from eavesdropping done without legal authority. It is pretty clear that the president broke the law and he is now able to get his accomplices off the hook.
Even more amazing, he threatened to veto the bill if immunity were not granted.
Think of it: This bill was vital to national security, or so it was claimed, yet it was not so vital that it could stand alone without immunity being granted to the likes of AT&T and Verizon. An amendment to strip the bill of immunity lost on a 66-32 vote. Barack Obama voted for this amendment (John McCain was absent) but Mr. Obama joined the other sheep in the 69-28 vote approving the final bill with its odious gift to Mr. Bush’s partners in crime.
Late score from Major Political Football in Washington D.C.: Bush Corporate Pals 1, American People 0.