Why did they need to pass a bill allowing telecommunications companies to eavesdrop on calls?

Doesn't the government already spy on all forms of communication through the use of the echelon? I'm sure people know about the echelon and how it helped during the Cold War. I'm just surprised. Does this mean that congress has forgotten about the echelon? What does congress passing this bill exactly mean?

By doing this in public, it is simply a control tactic.

The cretins in Washington want to make sure that Joe 6-pack is afraid to say anything or challenge the central authority of the current marriage made in hell of the neo-nazi-neocons and neo-commie-democraps.

So a bill is passed ... "Be afraid, be very afraid. Better yet, be paralysed! And do what we tell you to do."

Whatever you do, don't assert those pesky Constitutional rights of yours.
( / sarcasm )