Amnesty

The Village is closing ranks to protect one of their own. Fred Hiatt is the latest of the Village Stenographers willing to give blanket amnesty to telecommunication corporations for illegal activity:

[...]
There is one major area of disagreement between the administration and House Democrats where we think the administration has the better of the argument: the question of whether telecommunications companies that provided information to the government without court orders should be given retroactive immunity from being sued. House Democrats are understandably reluctant to grant that wholesale protection without understanding exactly what conduct they are shielding, and the administration has balked at providing such information. But the telecommunications providers seem to us to have been acting as patriotic corporate citizens in a difficult and uncharted environment.

At one time I believed that people like Fred discussed matters too great for me to comprehend, mainly because what they said or wrote was indeed totally incomprehensible.

I now realize they are just that stupid. Shame on Hiatt for declaring illegal activity is somehow patriotic. Perhaps Fred is simply unaware that Corporations are amoral entities that exist merely to maximize shareholder profits. Profitable contracts that would have been revoked had they not undertook this criminal enterprise.

Fred's own paper, the day before he wrote this junk, revealed this criminal activity began before 9/11/01, and as everyone now knows, has continued for years.

Is Mr. Hiatt suggesting that Government officials should habitually grant unto themselves immunity as well as their Corporate enablers each and every time they get caught involved in criminal activity?

The amnesty clause being heavily lobbied by the Telecoms extends to everyone involved, including Government officials.

Or is Mr. Hiatt the arbiter of when amnesty meets the "patriotic threshold?" Does a flag lapel pin automatically protect dope smokers as "sufficiently patriotic?"

There are currently lawsuits working through the courts by customers of the Telecoms and it is there that the issue should be resolved, by an independent judiciary. These laws have been enacted by the people, through their representatives, and if they have not been violated certainly these huge Telecommunication firms have the wherewithal to defend themselves.

But they are using their money and influence to pressure the congress to grant retroactive amnesty instead. Mr. Hiatt, as part of the Village, declares them "patriotic corporate citizens", who willingly, blatantly and repeatedly violated the law for years.

If we are indeed a Nation of Laws, how can breaking them become patriotic? To give a retroactive blanket amnesty to everyone involved only encourages future criminality and demonstrates to the electorate that we do indeed have a two-tiered judicial system.