Dammit! Another spineless capitulation to a lame-duck preznit sporting an approval rating below 30%. Another step down the road to fascism. This time they are retroactively legalizing dubya's warrantless (i.e. illegal) wire-tapping program, granting immunity to the telecom companies that participated in it.

Under the surveillance agreement, which is expected to be approved today by the House and next week by the Senate, telecoms could have privacy lawsuits thrown out if they show a federal judge that they received written assurance from the Bush administration that the spying was legal.
[...]
Caroline Frederickson, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, said, "The telecom companies simply have to produce a piece of paper we already know exists, resulting in immediate dismissal."

Thirty-some years ago Richard Nixon declared that anything the president orders is, by definition, legal. His abuse of presidential power led that long-ago Congress to draw up articles of impeachment and Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace. But this Congress, this Democrat-controlled Congress, faced with virtually the same egomaniacal and unconstitutional over-reaches, chose to protect their corporate overlords instead of our Constitution. If I could have one wish right now, it would be that I could dig up Nixon's corpse and force every Congressman who voted for this bill to kiss his mummified ass on national television.