16 SENATE DEMOCRATS SHAMEFULLY VOTE TO GIVE TELECOMS IMMUNITY

How could the U.S. Senate vote to give telecom companies immunity from possible violations of the FISA Act which prohibits spying on Americans without a court order or warrant?

William Branigin and Paul Kane report on-line for The Washington Post that:

"Senators voted 67 to 31 to shelve the amendment offered by Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.). A filibuster-proof 60 votes had been needed for the amendment to move forward.

"The vote represented a victory for the Bush administration and a number of telecommunications companies -- including AT&T and Sprint Nextel -- that face dozens of lawsuits from customers seeking billions of dollars in damages.

"Approval of the amendment would have exposed the companies to privacy lawsuits for helping the administration monitor the calls of suspected terrorists without warrants from a special court following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."

Here is the link to the roll call vote showing who voted for the final bill and who voted against. Sen. Clinton did not vote. Sen. Obama voted nay. All the Republicans and some 16 Democrats voted yea. Among the Democrats voting yea were Sen. Feinstein, Sen. Casey, Sen. Inouye, the two Senator Nelsons, Sen. McCaskill, Sen. Landrieu, Sen. Salazar, Sen. Lincoln, Sen. Conrad, Sen. Johnson, Sen. Kohl, Sen. Webb, Sen. Rockefeller, Sen. Pryor and Sen. Mikulski.

Shame on all these Democrats voting with Bush and the Republicans.