TODAY'S FISA ACTION

In case you're wondering if agents of the Bush Regime are listening in on your calls or reading your e-mails... well, I can't tell you that they are for sure-- but I can tell you that they can for sure. That's because the cowardly Congress-- with a handful of reactionary Bush-oriented Democrats-- have gone along with the regime's rape of the Constitution. I'm talking about the FISA reforms that Congress keeps getting wrong. The Bush Regime has tried every kind of threat-- even warning that there "could be" another 9/11 if Congress didn't act and then it would be their fault. What a bunch of scumbags on one side and pansies on the other side. Today Bush was hectoring Congress again with his threats and calculated deceptions

Bush prodded Congress on the issue of eavesdropping today, warning that he will not sign a new law unless it confers immunity on the telecommunications utilities that helped the National Security Agency eavesdrop without warrants.

...The issue of whether the telecommunications companies should have immunity has emerged as the most contentious point between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. President Bush is pushing hard for the companies to be immunized from civil suits for past actions.

Today two versions came up in the House Judiciary Committee. The Republican rubber stamp version was offered as an amendment by right-wing Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes and it was promptly defeated 21-14. All the Democrats voted no-- Conyers (MI), Berman (CA), Boucher (VA), Nadler (NY), Scott (VA), Watt (NC), Lofgren (CA), Jackson-Lee (TX), Waters (CA), Delahunt (MA), Wexler (FL), Sanchez (CA), Cohen (TN), Sutton (OH), Sherman (CA), Baldwin (WI), Schiff (CA), Davis (AL), Wasserman Schultz (FL) and Ellison (MN)-- and all the Republicans voted to further shred the Constitution-- Smith (TX), Sensenbrenner (WI), Coble (NC), Goodlatte (VA), Lungren (CA), Cannon (UT), Keller (FL), Pence (IN), Forbes (VA), King (IA), Feeney (FL), Franks (AZ), Gohmert (TX), Jordan (OH).

The Democratic version-- "RESTORE"-- passed by with roughly the same votes, although Chabot (R-OH) showed up to vote against the Constitution while Lungren was off getting drunk somewhere. And Hank Johnson (GA) made it back to the House in time to vote for the bill (while Sherman and Watt were off on other business). What RESTORE would do-- if Bush wouldn't veto it, which he will-- would be to update the hastily passed Protect America Act and implement safeguards to protect Americans' civil liberties while providing the tools needed to support U.S. intelligence gathering efforts.

Chairman Conyers pointed out the Republican tactic in opposing the legislation:

"Those who oppose this bill are doing so for one reason: they are trying to convince Americans that those of us who support this legislation are somehow less committed to protecting this country from attack. They will pretend this bill doesn't meet our nation's security needs, despite the fact that it gives the Director of National Intelligence everything he said he needed.

"Americans are willing to make sacrifices to meet true national security imperatives, but they should not give up their rights unnecessarily, just to allow one political party to score points. This bill–the RESTORE Act–successfully provides the national security tools needed to go after terrorists and protects vital rights of Americans. The bill's opponents know this but find it more convenient to pretend otherwise."

If you wonder why Blue America loves Jerry Nadler so much, take a look at this minute and a half clip. And think about kicking in to his re-election fund (which could be used in case he, for some reason, decides to run for an open Senate seat in New York.




And over in the Senate, we've long known that Wisconsin's heroic Russ Feingold certainly knows how to slap Bush back into his place. This is what he said this morning after Bush's duplicitous remarks about the FISA legislation:

"Once again the President is trying to use fear and exaggeration to intimidate Congress into granting the executive branch unchecked power that will put the rights of Americans at risk.  As it works to fix the hastily passed Protect America Act, Congress should stand up to the administration's fear-mongering and correct that legislation's fundamental flaws, such as the utter failure to protect the privacy of Americans at home and abroad, and the complete lack of meaningful oversight.  And it must reject the President's demand for immunity for private entities that allegedly cooperated with his illegal warrantless wiretapping program while the President continues to hide his administration's legal opinions justifying that program from Congress.  Congress can and must produce a bill that provides the tools needed to pursue suspected terrorists aggressively while also protecting the rights of law-abiding Americans."

UPDATE: BLUE AMERICA-ENDORSED CANDIDATES WEIGH IN

The first response we got today was from Sam Bennett who's running for Congress against a rubber stamp Republican hack in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. She gets it-- loud and clear.

"The founders of America understood clearly that for government to fully carry out its duty to protect its citizens, accountability and checks on power must be the rule, not the exception. Right now, Congress has an opportunity to honor that understanding.

"Everyone agrees that eavesdropping on threats and suspected threats is necessary to protect the country. But if we do so without warrants or judicial oversight, outside the Bill of Rights, outside the rule of law, then we have lost the fight for the values we are supposed to be protecting, and bolstered our enemies.

"There is a fully functional, time-tested mechanism in place to balance two critical needs: swift, secret intelligence and law enforcement tactics against suspected terrorists, and the inalienable protections of the Fourth Amendment. The mechanism is called FISA, it has been in place for 28 years, and contrary to President Bush, it works.

"The Constitution also places no one above, below or immune from the law. The House Judiciary Committee was absolutely correct today to reject President Bush's demand for blind and blanket immunity for large telecom companies who aided illegal spying. It should be noted that not all such companies heeded the call for unchecked Presidential power, and those who resisted should be commended. For the others, blind immunity for crimes, especially when not even yet fully documented, is an alien and disturbing idea to Americans.

"Finally, to those who imply that by opposing warrantless, illegal spying in America, Democrats somehow are aiding our enemies: I urge you to take an evening off, turn off that distracting talk radio and Fox News, and spend a quiet evening reading the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution. You may learn something new, and wonderful."

Larry Kissell, who is opposing an even creepier rubber stamp Republican down in North Carolina, is a civics teacher and his answer was reflexive and intuitive... based in a fundamental adherence to the Constitution that binds us together as a nation:

"The Fourth Amendment doesn't exclude lobbyists.

The 'right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures' means George Bush and the other Washington politicans can't grant immunity to law breakers no matter how much they give to campaigns."

John Laesch, the progressive Iraq War vet who helped drive Planet Denny Hastert out of power and politics-- and is now seeking to replace him in Congress-- took some time out from campaigning today to set his thoughts down about Bush's absurd FISA demands.

While Bush clearly showed his contempt for the justice system as a whole by commuting Scooter Libby’s sentence, his recent attempt to give phone companies that broke the law a "get out of jail free card" is an even more egregious example of how this president puts the wealthy friends before the rights of the individual.

Phone companies should not get off the hook for criminal behavior just because they have powerful lobbyists. If a phone company breaks the law, it should be held accountable.

If Bush is successful in ignoring the rule of law and getting corporate criminals off the hook for spying on Americans, Congress would essentially be giving corporations unchecked authority to violate the rights of individual citizens.

Wiretapping authority is granted when law enforcement officials have probable cause and obtain a warrant. This right is guaranteed in the form of the fourth amendment, and we call ourselves Americans because we honor the tradition of a government that respects its citizenry.

And Eric Massa comes in with something I wish more incumbents would say! Hopefully he'll be in Congress next year and help incumbents understand this-- especially dipshits like Hoyer and Emanuel, the worst of the worst.

This proposal to offer amnesty for the telecommunication companies who illegally spied on Americans is just another example of the Bush administration protecting their corporate donor base. Instead of understanding and agreeing that if laws were broken companies should be held accountable, the Bush administration, like moths to a fire, has flocked to protect those who have knowingly and illegally disregarded the Constitution and violated the privacy of law abiding Americans. If the Administration had simply followed the edicts of FISA courts, they would not now find themselves defending those who have so blatantly trodden on the American Bill of Rights. George Bush's reliable rubberstamps team of Republican rubberstamps, such as my opponent Randy Kuhl, will act in lockstep unison with their boss George Bush and that is exactly why we need to build a veto proof majority in the House and Senate in 2008.