The corruption connected to the warrantless wiretapping Total Information Awareness spy system runs throughout the centers of power in the United States – including the former and current presidency, the Congress, private communications giants, lobbying firms, and our nation’s most powerful newspaper.

Obama’s decision to follow the Unitary Executive legal theories of the Bush Administration makes Americans powerless to stop federal government spies from invading their privacy at whim. President Obama, like George W. Bush, is attempting to place himself in a position above the law.

Senator Whitehouse represents Rhode Island – a progressive state. There is no plausible argument for the claim that Whitehouse needed to vote for the FISA Amendments Act because of constituent pressure. Whitehouse merely capitulated to George W. Bush for personal reasons. For that reason, Sheldon Whitehouse has been declared the sorriest senator ever.

The FISA Amendments Act establishes the Attorney General as a spymaster beyond the reach of the law, with powers to target American citizens within the United States for political or personal reasons. Any senator who votes to approve the FISA Amendments Act may be fairly considered a traitor to the cause of freedom.

The FISA Amendments Act is corrupt beyond amendment. So, Rhode Island, it’s time to call Sheldon Whitehouse at (202) 224-2921 and tell him that you want him to defend the Constitution and vote NO on the FISA Amendments Act.

Please, let’s hear no more about how Barack Obama needed to support the FISA Amendments Act in order to get the support of red state America. Voters in Alabama wanted change, and they believed in the message of Barack Obama, until they saw that Obama plans on giving America the same old dirty politics of fear that Alabamans have been stuck with for generations. Red state Americans oppose the FISA Amendments Act too, and they see through Barack Obama’s crass maneuvering to pander to the right.

I want to make sure that we’ve got all the people that have bent the law for their own benefit and taken advantage of the people, I want to make sure that we don’t allow those people to slip away again. Quite honestly, I have a feeling that the immunity through the telecom is more of a potential cover for the Administration than necessarily for the telecom community.

Thanks to Representative Abercrombie for his important defense of the fourth amendment and its guarantee that we shall all be protected from unreasonable search and seizure of the sort that have been typical of the Bush warrantless wiretapping program.

Congress still doesn’t know how far President Bush went in violating the law to spy against American citizens. Why then, is Congress granting Bush permission to keep on spying against Americans? Where is the oversight that Congress is supposed to pursue?

Pete Visclosky, a Democrat who represents the first congressional district of Indiana, was not able to make it to Capitol Hill for the vote on H.R. 6304. He has, however, registered an official statement in the congressional record that if he had been able to be present for the vote, he would have voted against the bill.