Why is House Democrat Silvestre Reyes caving to Bush on retroactive telecom immunity?  Sounds like campaign coffers are being filled by these criminal telecoms.

From ThinkProgress: "CongressDaily (sub. req.) reports today that House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) said that he is “fine” with “a Republican-brokered deal to rewrite the nation’s electronic surveillance laws.” The GOP compromise, written by Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), “would leave it up to the secret FISA court to grant retroactive legal immunity” to telecoms that helped the Bush administration’s warrantless conduct surveillance on U.S. citizens. A senior Reyes aide, however, “clarified” that his boss is supportive of the House leadership’s position:

Reyes said he believes enough Democrats will support the proposal to pass it in the House.

But he said House Majority Leader Hoyer told him that House Democratic leaders want to have the liability of the telecoms reviewed in federal district court as opposed to the FISA court.

A senior Reyes aide clarified his boss’ positions by saying that while Reyes thinks Bond’s proposal is a positive one, he remains supportive of Hoyer’s efforts to improve on it."

As Digby points out: "Notably, the GOP language, which was offered a day before the recent congressional recess, would leave it up to the secret FISA court to grant retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have helped the Bush administration conduct electronic surveillance on the communications of U.S. citizens without warrants.

"About 40 civil lawsuits already have been filed against the companies. The administration, Bond and other Republicans had backed a Senate-passed FISA bill that would have shielded the telecom firms from the lawsuits upon enactment.

"There just isn't enough money at stake to explain this. Nobody's suing for the money, they are suing for the discovery. Something bad happened here and the Democrats are helping the Republicans cover it up."  (Underline added.)

These telecoms committed a crime by helping the Bush administration illegally spy on Americans here in the US without a warrant.  Instead of obeying the law, Bush's telecom corporate cronies acquiesced to the Bushite's illegal demands to violate the Constitution and privacy rights.

The telecoms know they committed a crime which is why they are desperate to cover their posteriors just like the criminal Bushite administration is doing.

Qwest refused to comply with the Bushite demand for illegal warrantless surveillance.  AT&T, etc. could and should have done the same.

Even the communications trade group opposes retroactive immunity for telecoms: "In a letter to Congress late last week, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) — which represents groups such as Google and Microsoft — said that it “strongly” opposes retroactive immunity for firms that cooperated with the administration’s warrantless wiretapping."

There should be absolutely no compromise by this Democratic controlled House. What those telecoms did was blatantly illegal.  Silvestre Reyes should be ashamed of even considering a GOP brokered compromise as fine that accepts violation of the Constitution, ignores this crime and buries transparency and the American public's right to know.  Reyes is arrogantly disregarding Americans' right to privacy and warrant requirements.