AT&T: 55 (*611) Folsom Street Room 641-A San Francisco
Several years ago I heard
A story that did disturb-
Of how a telecom giant was able
To split the internet-phone-optical cable
And divert this massive information flow
About which the government just wanted to know
Into a small San Francisco Room
Providing it with an information boom
Total information awareness we were told was dead
As the government had disingenuously said
But lo and behold its here today
Well ensconced in room 641-A
At AT&T San Francisco on Folsom Street
Where our liberties are in rapid retreat.
All totalitarian states open mail and listen
For signs of budding opposition
For loyal citizens pointing out flaws
In the way the regime breaks the laws
For signs of independent thought and action
With the potential for eliciting a reaction
And homegrown critics able to lead
The voiceless masses who rarely read
And go about the daily tasks
Never thinking to ask
Or question the status quo
Who are never in the know.
No, the tyrants really need to know
About who might end their illegal show.
Indeed a class action suit is before the courts
Claiming an egregious public tort
But the administration and congress is proactive
In making immunity retroactive
And thereby with impunity
Giving the lawbreakers immunity
But more importantly this chicanery
Makes our constitution a mockery.
And democrats are there in force
To propel us on this dangerous course.
They vote; AT&Ts off Scott free
And there as plain as you see
Is AT&T at the Demos Convention
Passing out goodies for all to see
Howard P. Charman, MD 10-09-2008 and 06-15-2010
The technician, Mark Klein, blew the whistle on AT&T in 2002 and was interviewed on Democracy Now. Bush’s illegal wire tapping almost led to mass resignation of the Justice department lawyers during Ashcroft’s illness when Andrew Card and Attorney General Gonzales tried to get him to sign a document. In 2006 Congress granted the telecoms retroactive immunity–evidence of the 2-tiered legal system described by Glenn Greenwald in the book With Liberty and Justice for Some. And also evidence of Bush’s shrewd blackmailing of the colluding democrats like Nancy Pelosi who were made aware as an insurance policy against future prosecution.