telecom companies off the hook

any time washington doesn't want you to pay attention to something, they do it on a friday. case in point: congress just passed surveillance legislation that lets the telecom companies off the hook for illegally eavesdropping on our calls & emails in the past, present, & future at the bush administration's request.

this legislation prevents us from bringing suit or finding out how far the wiretapping went or will eventually go. the white house can now monitor our calls & email without court permission or any effective oversight. so try to give'em something entertaining to listen to, okay?

in an example of amazingly poor taste - or outright balls - at&t has this wonderful ad on their billing site: