mercurious

Is this any way to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday?

We are appalled with Congress. In a huge victory for the Bush Administration, the Senate passed the revised FISA bill to grant sweeping government spying powers and shield the telecoms, especially AT&T and Verizon, from the legal action they deserve for breaking laws to build a universal Internet and telephone “wiretap” for government agencies with impunity.

These Democratic Representatives are still on the fence with the House version. If you’re also outraged, check the list and see if you know anyone from these states, and ideally, these districts and have them make their voices heard.

There are several moments in very recent history that we will later reflect upon in total disgust. These laws of fear will come to emblematize our national degradation towards fascism. This will be one of them. In the meantime, we can elect as many change-agent presidents as we want. Until we dump all the Senators and Representatives who voted for this criminal bill, having a brave new president is just the start of any effort to prevent us from moving towards the fear-driven desecration of our national values.

We warned about the dangers of the AT&T secret server rooms earlier. Today, we take a step closer towards the police state of China with its Great Firewall that censors and monitors telecommunications traffic. A big win for corporate power, a big loss for the 1st Amendment and the principle of privacy.

Just imagine how this post has been cataloged, indexed and red-flagged for being critical of the government its favorite corporations. Is this really what we want?