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Member Since: 8/2006

AT&T;, Other Telecoms, Buy Victory in Lawsuits

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:37 AM EDT

Let's just describe very factually and dispassionately what has happened here. Congress -- led by Senators, such as Jay Rockefeller, who have received huge payments from the telecom industry, and by privatized intelligence pioneer Mike McConnell, former Chairman of the secretive intelligence industry association that has been demanding telecom amnesty -- is going to intervene directly in the pending lawsuits against AT&T; and other telecoms and declare them the winners on the ground that they did nothing wrong. Because of their vast ties to the telecoms, neither Rockefeller nor McConnell could ever appropriately serve as an actual judge in those lawsuits.

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hamid.nyc
The primary obstacles to such reform are not technical or financial, but political and human. Rule-of-law reform will succeed only if it gets at the fundamental problem of leaders who refuse to be ruled by the law. Respect for the law will not easily take root in systems rife with corruption and cynicism, since entrenched elites cede their traditional impunity and vested interests only under great pressure.

Democracy or Plutocracy? I mean really...

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Reply#1 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:43 AM EDT
yasmin

This is just low. Great seed. I just hope something can be done on time.

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Reply#2 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:11 PM EDT
hamid.nyc

I wouldn't count on this Congress to get anything done right yasmin. They've done nothing but cave to virtually every Bush request thus far. Here's hoping...

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#2.1 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:16 PM EDT
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Aine MacDermot

Well, the precedent was set when the courts intervened in the election of 2000 and appointed a president. Since then, there is hardly a separation of powers between the three branches of gov't. And Cheney's declared he's not in any branch.

What is needed is a complete overhaul of law to reverse this trend.

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Reply#3 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:11 PM EDT
hamid.nyc

That seems to be the case Aine,

Our entire system of Law and Government needs a major overhaul. I'm not entirely convinced that a Democrat as President will do anything to change it either. They would have to be genuinely noble and I don't see career politicians fitting that bill.

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#3.1 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:19 PM EDT
Frank Scott

We have a president who is openly violating the Constitution, we have a right wing dominated Supreme Court who use narrow ideological interpretations of the Constitution to promote their own political agenda, and we have members of Congress trying to subvert the rule of law in this country to reward those who provide campaign donations. What the hell is happening to this country, and what can we do to stop it?

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#3.2 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:06 PM EDT
Djehuty

Frank, you forgot: and the public is too anesthetised by poisonous food and the television set to care.

That complacency has to change, but I don't see how.

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#3.3 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 6:45 PM EDT
hamid.nyc

Frank and Djehuty,

Those last two comments really sum up the ultimate American Question. It makes me wonder: Do they (Americans) know this is happening to their country, or do they simply not care enough about it? How can such atrocities be carried out right underneath our collective noses without evoking a firestorm of massive protests?

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#3.4 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:20 PM EDT
Djehuty

I have been wondering about this question in a more general way. When do people protest evil -unless it affects them personally? That's the thing about the 60s, protest was fuelled by conscription. Well our lords and masters have learnt that lesson...

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#3.5 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:33 PM EDT
hamid.nyc

Djehuty,

I just left this post on Eric Albert's seed Interview on Alex Jones Program: Interview with a former neocon, now international lawyer. I think it's relevant here as well:

Really, the evil they're doing in our name, what will we claim later? Will we claim innocence: "It was our government, not us."? From a government of the people, by the people, if we don't do something now, we are all complicit.

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#3.6 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:39 PM EDT
Frank Scott

I've been thinking the same thing since our war of aggression started against Iraq. We the people are the United States - it's not just the geographical land mass we occupy. Many of our representatives in Congress are complicit in these illegal acts, and we elect and reelect them, so we are also complicit.

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#3.7 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:00 PM EDT
hamid.nyc

Frank,

That, my friend, is the bottom line!

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#3.8 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:14 PM EDT
Djehuty

I've protested this war from the beginning. Holding placards, organizing rallies... but I'm still upset that this crap gets done in my name. Search for "Good German" on this site - there have been a couple of interesting articles just recently.

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#3.9 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:33 PM EDT
Frank Scott

Djehuty, the only one I read was oldfogey's excellent article here. I'm going to have to read The Dagda's article.

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#3.10 - Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:50 PM EDT
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