Comments on: Arcuri Intends To Vote For Warrantless Spying On Americans

By: richard

richard — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:18:48 +0000

Right, the Senate has not yet voted on this bill, as I said originally.

By: Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:41:41 +0000

Richard, once again, that’s not quite right. The Senate has voted on this, earlier this year, but the version of the bill that they voted on didn’t match the House version as well as the version that they’re now voting on, so for the sake of sending a bill to the President more easily, they’re voting on the recent House version sent over to the Senate.

The Senate did vote earlier this year on a bill very much like this one, and Barack Obama chose not to be there for the vote.

By: richard

richard — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:29:29 +0000

My point was that the Senate (and hence Senator Obama) has not voted on this, counter to what you implied in various posts above.

By: Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:23:14 +0000

No, Richard, because Obama has announced his intention to reverse his position.

Previously, Barack Obama promised to filibuster any legislation that contained retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.

Now, Barack Obama says that he will vote for the FISA Amendments Act, even if telecommunications retroactive immunity is not taken out of the bill.

First, that’s a broken promise on a top issue regarding our constitutional rights.

Second, you cannot count Barack Obama simple as a “didn’t vote” senator any more. He has now declared that he will vote FOR the FISA Amendments Act. That puts him clearly in the opposite camp from where he stood during the primaries.

By: richard

richard — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:01:10 +0000

Yes exactly. You can vote yeah, nay, or not vote. Obama is down as a “no vote”, i.e., as I said, he didn’t vote on it in February, and no one in the Senate has yet voted on the current bill (as of this morning anyway). So, the diatribes above (numbers 7,8, and 9) are a bit over the top for right now I think.

By: Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:03:56 +0000

Not exactly. What happened is that the Senate passed a bill earlier this year, as you say, and Barack Obama showed up for some procedural votes on attempted amendments. However, Senator Obama did NOT stay in the Senate to vote against the bill’s passage.

There may be enough difference between House and Senate bills for the Senate now to consider the House bill instead of its own, OR there could be an effort to go straight to producing a conference version.

By: richard

richard — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:25:06 +0000

I believe Obama registered a “no vote” earlier this year (February). HR 6304 was passed in the House on Friday and now needs to be voted on by the Senate. If it passes, they’ll produce a conference version that will reconcile any differences in the bills.

By: Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:53:43 +0000

The Senate did vote on it earlier this year. Now, presumably this week, the Senate and House need to create a conference version of the bill, and vote on it one more time.

By: richard

richard — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:44:21 +0000

Folks. I could be wrong but I don’t think the Senate has voted on this yet.

By: Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:11:02 +0000

X, what’s really silly is using a pseudonym instead of your real name and then getting upset when other people use it too.

I’ve been an enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama, but when he promises to continue one of the top three abuses of the Bush Administration (1. Iraq, 2. Torture, 3. Spying on Americans), I become not a supporter at all.

Obama has just proven himself the worst kind of politician. He didn’t need to make this move to win the election. He’s pandering to the fears of Republicans – exactly the kind of politics he said he was going to stand against.

Saying that we don’t have any choice but to vote for Obama anyway is asinine.

By: x

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:13:31 +0000

It’s pretty silly that someone would impersonate me on this blog, but I assure you I don’t use trite teenage abbreviations when I speak or post.

In terms of bashing on Obama…

what was McCain’s position?

It seems voting against Obama, if you are a liberal ,would be one of the most asinine things possible. Not that it isn’t past certain posters here, but asinine nonetheless.

By: Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:55:07 +0000

Yes, Obama too, the rat. I won’t be attending any fundraisers for that man.

People seem not to have grasped that this law removes every level of protection guaranteed by the fourth amendment. Imagine if Congress passed a law saying that the Attorney General could arrest anyone for criticizing the President, if the Attorney General would certify, without providing evidence, that national security issues were involved. That’s how profound an attack on the Constitution the FISA Amendments Act is – and Michael Arcuri and Barack Obama are both supporting it, to pander to what are charitably called “swing voters”.

They have both betrayed their Oath of Office, and have broken trust with the public. It is a sad, sad day for the Democratic Party.