Dear Friends,

If I didn’t see it with my own eyes on CSPAN, I would have never believed it.
The United States Senate passed a bill Tuesday granting retroactive immunity to telecom companies that helped spy on Americans and all others – without a warrant. Chief Culprits are AT&T, Verizon, Mabell’s babies etc. You know who you are. You read this blog too, I know.

Pretty amazing … Congress just sanctioned the single largest invasion of privacy in American history. In world history really. President Bush and his cunning Dodos gave a free get out of Jail card to all those Evil Big Brother CEOs and law breaking corporations. Think Watergate only massive. Think Richard “Dickie” Mylhaouz Nixon not resigning the highest office in the land hours before impeachment but rather sanctioning the break in and spying by his minions on all American homes. 

The loss of Civil liberty is so massive that everyone has been affected by this. The Telcos after breaking the law massively, rushed to lobby for a reprieve from the law they just burned. They succeeded last Tuesday upon payments to the electoral campaigns of both parties.

Folks, this is much bigger than ENRON, Worldcom, MCI, Tyco and AT&T scandals combined. This is wholesale liquidation of Democracy. Business cannot thrive in a vacuum of Law. Statistics will remind us for ever of this day as the day of Infamy for the Communication companies. Let me be clear. I told You so.

Stalin said: Το kill one man is a murder, to kill a million is a statistic. Interesting times we live in. To paraphrase : When there is eavesdropping in one office it’s a crime. When there is a wholesale eavesdropping in every home of a whole nation it’s a statistic worth a pardon and a new infamous law.

Just when you thought we couldn’t get any lower, our Democracy took the Coup De grase.

Madison is murmuring in his grave: Lame fools Ye shall be thrown to the Dogs.

Where are the presidential candidates on this issue? Where was senator McCain taking a stand on this? Where are the proponents of Fair and Honest Corporate governance?  Where were they then and where are they now, the responsible Boards of Directors of these unjust Telcos? Where are the New Millenium Telecommunication Companies we have been buiding after the age of Scandals? Are we building a fleet of companies that resemble a fleet of seagoing rats?  Are we teaching our CEOs to lie, cheat, break the law willy nilly when convenient, if the powerfull can be offered protection. Is this Democracy for Sale?  Who is protecting this fragile idea of a Democracy? The powerful protectors? Who is minding the protectors? Who is watching the watchers? Who wants to do business like this in a festering environment? Who wants to lecture China and Russia on human Rights? The waterboarding defenders?  We’ve hit rock bottom folks. Wake up and smell the piss before they take that away too. We piss off our rights AT OUR OWN PERIL.

In the face of this defeat of Democracy in America, I becοme even more convinced that old Europe is showing the leadership lacking in the US.

On the Democratic side too, the leading presidential contenders stayed silent. Civil Liberties are smoke and Mirrors for the delegate pacmen.

Only one exception and I am thankful for Chris Dodd’s stand on this issue as there is one cuckoo who might….. or might not bring the Spring.

Now I make an appeal too.
For old times sake, let’s forgive the Telcos and our friendly CEOs in the US but let’s remind  the European Commissioners to pound them hard because Civil Liberties, Privacy Rights and Individual Human Rights are global as perceived by the UN charter of Human Rights and they are still relevant in some other lands. Across the pond the jurists are sharpening their pencils my friends….Crimes such as these do not stop by the water’s edge. Nor by territorial national borders. We live in a connected world remember? Your evil actions are global and punishable in many progressive countries and courts.  We are all interconnected, so let your fingers do the walking across the map…

Does commissioner Redding still read this blog? If so, Viviane please pay attention. Here is where leadership is urgently needed.

P.S. This blogpost will be just as much a surprise to presidential hopefuls as it was to you — so please, let’s make it a pleasant one and retire the debt we all have to the Telcos. Stop paying your bill to them and find alternative providers for your business unless you enjoy the special attention.