First let's look at that campaign, that buttload of minutia the media unloads on us every day. For many people my age Barack Obama is a dream candidate. For me, the line between him and waffling, NAFTA-signing Bill Clinton seems to shrink every day. Obama went to an ultra-right Zionist conference where he committed $30 billion to Israel. He endorsed John Barrow, a notorious war hawk. He endorsed chickenhawk Joe Lieberman when he was running against a Democrat. Lieberman, of course, won the election and promptly stabbed his endorser in the back, getting behind McCain and denouncing Obama. All of these things demonstrate terrible leadership. I have no faith in Obama. He has to prove himself to me.
Now, lucky me. There is currently a litmus test in the House of Representatives which is exactly an opening for Obama to display that kind of leadership. Unfortunately it is simply a demonstration of how low this country is getting. The title of the provision in question is "Protection of Persons Assisting the Government." Basically, what it says is that nobody should ever get in trouble for doing what the Government tells them to. No question of whether they followed the law-- the government is always right. Once this passes it will immediately nullify a bunch of trials against telecom companies for illegal wiretapping.
Never before in our nation's history has a group of corporations become so powerful that they submit a bill to prevent themselves from being tried for a crime. Sure, there have probably been cases where courts refuse to hear the trial. But nobody has ever been able to halt a fair trial once it began. If this bill passes, it establishes a precedent for the disassembly of our country into a corporate-owned fascist regime. No exaggeration. The government is always right, the corporation's power is absolute: that's fascism as it was practiced in Italy.
Wouldn't you like it if you had the power to nullify a pesky court trial, simply by giving large donations to all the legislators? Wouldn't you like to have the power to censor your critics and ensure the legislators you have in your pocket get reelected? Okay, enough sarcasm.
In the Senate, Chris Dodd successfully blocked telecom immunity. But House Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, have caved to the telecoms. Some people are calling on Obama to put the traitor Democrats back in line. Such an act of leadership would genuinely please me. He'd get my vote. But I'm not holding my breath... so I donated to the netroots PAC to push against immunity.
I hope I can do something about this when I get to my Congressman's office next Tuesday. If this bill passes by then, I'll be showing up in DC to clean up after the end of the party.
