Senator Norm Coleman, Asshole for sale

I sent an email to my "esteemed" sellout, I mean Senator, in regards to giving immunity to the big telcos that handed out our records to a simple request from the government (a warrent should be required). Here is his response (in italics) followed by my response.

"Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding the proposal for immunity for telecommunication companies included in the modernization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). I respectfully disagree with your view on this matter.

I believe that it is unfair to penalize companies for responding to written assurances from the highest levels of the government that their help is legal and essential for saving lives. The immunity provision will only apply to companies if they have official documents from the government demonstrating the activities were deemed legal and authorized by the President. I would also point out that the Senate Intelligence Committee looked into this matter and found that the telecom companies acted in "good faith" based on the information they had.

Whether the government acted properly is a different question from whether a private person has acted properly in responding to the government's call for help. I have supported efforts to investigate the legality of the wireless surveillance program, and believe that if any wrongdoing is found, measures should be taken accordingly.

As you may know, the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (S. 2248) was introduced by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) on October 26, 2007 . This bill seeks to amend the FISA Act of 1978 in order to modernize and streamline its provisions, which is necessary for our country to enhance our nation's capability to prevent future terrorist attacks. S. 2248 also includes a retroactive liability protection for telecommunication companies that assisted our government in a warrantless surveillance program in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the U.S. The bill was approved by the Intelligence Committee on a bipartisan bas i s and currently awaits consideration by the full Senate.

I support national intelligence activities undertaken by the federal government which are lawful and necessary for the pursuit of terrorists. I recognize that we need to strike a balance between preventing another terrorist attack and defending civil liberties. For this reason I am a strong proponent of Congressional oversight of surveillance activities.

I will continue to follow this important issue. While we may agree on some issues and disagree on others, I appreciate hearing from you and hope you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you.


Sincerely,Norm ColemanUnited States Senate"

So when a company violates my constitutional rights it’s ok. As long as the government did it first. Way to look out for the people who put you in Washington. Verizon, Sprint, AT&T etc. Wait no, that was Minnesotans. Some of whom may've had their rights trampled by an overzealous government with the collaboration of companies that don't care about their customers.

Sadly the only company that didn't buckle like a belt for the Bush administration and their thugs in the justice department was Qwest, who suck for a myriad of other reasons. But hey at least they didn't ass rape their customers privacy