In December of 2005, there was no Hanlon’s Razor.
I know, it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. I hadn’t made the site until very early 2006. And what was it that caused the birth of this fine site? Well if you know your timelines, December of 2005 was when the infamous NSA scandal exploded onto the scene. Take a look at the archives, and after a few token articles about Intelligent Design and James Frey, my very first article on a current story was about the NSA.
So you can say that the illegal wiretapping business is a bit of a pet project of mine. Along with religious issues, 9/11, and election fraud, a domestic spying story will catch my attention before most anything else. Predictably, when the Democrats basically folded like origami my blood boiled. The only thing that could make it worse would be if a politician specifically turned his back on us, instead of just the usual cadre of spineless Dems.
Enter: Barack Obama. If you want a great read-up on the situation, spend a little time on Glenn Greenwald’s site. Start here.
The long and short of it is pretty simple. Barack Obama, captain “Let’s Change Politics”, is confronted with what really amounts to the biggest test of that premise and, when faced with a bill that changes jack shit and just gives the President everything he wanted and then some, supports the bill. Sure, he puts up a little token protest, saying he honest injun wants to strip the telecom immunity from it, but he’ll vote for it regardless.
Remember where I sad that a good nugget of wisdom is to ask yourself if you’d support something if the other guy did it? Well there’s a good corollary, and that’s if you’d be so up in arms if your own guy did it. On that front I can guaran-damn-tee you I don’t want Barack Obama or anyone on my side having the kind of sweeping power this “compromise” bill gives. Want to know why? Here’s why.
[A] civil action may not lie or be maintained in a Federal or State court against any person for providing assistance to an element of the intelligence community, and shall be properly dismissed, if the Attorney General certifies to the district court of the United States in which such action is pending that . . . (4) the assistance alleged to have been provided . . . was —
(A) in connection with intelligence activity involving communications that was (i) authorized by the President during the period beginning on September 11, 2001, and ending on January 17, 2007 and (ii) designed to prevent or detect a terrorist attack, or activities in preparation of a terrorist attack, against the United States” and
(B) the subject of a written request or directive . . . indicating that the activity was (i) authorized by the President; and (ii) determined to be lawful.
Read it a few times, make sure you got it. Under this bill, as long as the AG certifies, with no requirement for qualification or oversight, that the spying was necessary for protection against terrorism, that’s it. Now there are no lawsuits, and everything is hunky dory. If you don’t like it, tough shit.
This is the bill Barack Obama is supporting.
Even that bit of resistance he’s putting up is pure posturing. He’s working to woo some swing state voters while still offering the “I’m fighting the good fight” rhetoric to keep the left happy. The problem is, unlike the undecideds, the base on both sides tends to pay attention and in our case that’s a problem for ol’ Brock. We’re not likely to be satisfied with his claim that he’s really truly trying to make this bill good.
We all know what’s going to happen. He’s going to get up on the podium and he’s going to talk about change, about how we can’t play the game the way it’s been played but that we need to stay strong in this age of a new threat. The bill will pass, Obama will say he did he best to strip telecom immunity but it couldn’t happen.
Here’s something I learned by dealing with 5 year olds. When you tell someone that you’ll take them for ice cream if they clean their room, but point out that even if they don’t you’ll take them for ice cream anyway, guess what? Exactly. If Obama doesn’t threaten a complete and total rejection of the bill so long as telecom immunity remains, then it’s going to stay.
Sorry for coming across as a hysteric, but as I said this is an issue I take very seriously.
Hanlon\'s Razor 