Sidecut Reports

Great post from Glenn Greenwald over the weekend, adding up the figures to find out that AT&T, Comcast and Verizon have spent $13 million on lobbying so far this year, partly to help Congress see its way clear to offering the providers amnesty from the FISA lawsuits they are facing.

It’s a longish post but there is good stuff at the bottom too, about prospective Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s ties to — surprise! — lobbyists from the telco arena. Guess which way McCain is voting on amnesty.

Who says telecom issues aren’t mainstream? Check out what MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has to say about President Bush’s obfuscation of facts in the FISA fiasco.

David Isenberg, whose blog has been All FISA All The Time lately, boiled it down to a simple statement, one that’s hard to disagree with.

If there is a valid reason for the telcos’ behavior, let it be judged in a court of law — and not by an executive branch which receives political contributions from the same companies.