So Congress appears inclined to grant immunity to the telephone companies for any violations of law they may have committed in aiding and abetting the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program. Cause, you know, they were motivated by patriotism. So it's OK.
Extending immunity to powerful and favored industries is a relatively new phenomenon. In 2005, when the firearms industry sought immunity from meritorious suits aimed at negligent manufacturers and dealers, a Republican-controlled Congress gladly acquiesced.
That so many Senate Democrats are willing to go to such lengths to demonstrate fealty to an Administration that won't tell them the truth about anything is simply breathtaking.
But now it's time to take the breath away from the telephone companies. It's time to give consumers immunity.
My legislative proposal has a simple proposition. Telephone companies that blatantly violated the law should be held accountable to their victims - all of us.
For those of us who simply choose to shirk our obligations to pay telephone companies for the services that they offer, Congress should grant us all a reprieve. Under normal circumstances, if we failed to pay our bills, the telephone companies would have a legally enforceable right to seek paymnet, late fees, and even damages in court.
But if Congress can suspend ther rule of law for telephone companies, surely it can do the same for their customers, right? Look, I know this sounds unreasonable and politically unpalatable.
But in this brave new world ushered in by this Administration (with Democrats in Congress as willing co-conspirators), is it so unreasonable to give the rest of us some immunity?
Even if Congress foolishly immunizes the telephone companies, there should be some measure of accountability here.
So I'm waiting for a progressive to introduce a bill.
Grant us immunity from paying our bills for three months.
If I don't pay my bills, I'm taking a patriotic stand for our Constitution - just like the ostensible patriotic stand taken by the telephone companies on behalf of this Administration.
Don't ask questions. Pass the bill now.