Senate MUST block FISA bill!!!

House Approves Unconstitutional Surveillance Legislation
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/35740prs20080620.html




I sent this email out to every Democratic Senator on Sunday. Today is the day to bombard them with emails, faxes and phone calls.

The House leadership led a march to shame by passing the FISA pretend compromise. If the Senate is truly the saucer where the issues of the day go to cool this is one time when that is desperately needed. Please, block this horrible FISA stab in the back to the Constitution.

Some quotes from Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office:

"In March we thought the House leadership had finally grown a backbone by rejecting the Senate’s FISA bill. Now we know they will not stand up for the Constitution...

No matter how often the opposition calls this bill a ‘compromise,’ it is not a meaningful compromise, except of our constitutional rights. The bill allows for mass, untargeted and unwarranted surveillance of all communications coming in to and out of the United States. The courts’ role is superficial at best, as the government can continue spying on our communications even after the FISA court has objected. Democratic leaders turned what should have been an easy FISA fix into the wholesale giveaway of our Fourth Amendment rights...

This immunity provision will effectively destroy Americans’ chance to have their deserved day in court and will kill any possibility of learning the extent of the administration’s lawless actions. The House should be ashamed of itself. The fate of the Fourth Amendment is now in the Senate’s hands. We can only hope senators will show more courage than their colleagues in the House."

You all swore an oath to protect the Constitution. You need to honor that oath now. We are all counting on the Senate to show we are heading in the direction of 'Change we can believe in'.

I received this response, the only response, from my once home state Senator from Illinois...

Dear Mr. Ken Wells:

Thank you for your message regarding the surveillance of American citizens by the National Security Agency (NSA). I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue and share your concerns.

Protecting both the security and the freedom of the American people is among my highest priorities. We must ensure that the federal government defends the people of the United States from external threats while preserving the civil liberties that have helped make the United States the greatest and most enduring democracy in the world.

President Bush authorized the NSA to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance of communications made by American citizens living within the United States. At the time of the President's authorization, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) required the government to seek a warrant from a special court in order to conduct electronic surveillance of communications between American citizens and anyone outside the country. The NSA did not obtain approval from the FISA court or from any other court before initiating its domestic surveillance program.

For most of its existence, the NSA's program has operated without meaningful oversight. Few members of Congress were briefed about the program until its existence was revealed by the media, and those members who were aware were sworn to secrecy. The majority of the members of Congress still have not been fully briefed about the program's operational details. The Administration also has shut down its own Justice Department investigation into the NSA's program. In essence, the Administration has attempted to operate this program without any supervision or oversight. The lack of a mechanism for correcting potential abuses in the program undermines our Constitutional system of checks and balances and raises serious concerns about the possibility of excessive intrusion.

Congress has tried to work with Administration officials to update FISA in light of technological advances in communications. Too often, however, the Administration has taken advantage of the program's secrecy in its negotiations with Congress. In August 2007, the Administration proposed amending FISA through legislation known as the Protect America Act. I voted against the measure because I believed the bill provided too much opportunity for abuse by the NSA and other intelligence officials. Nonetheless, Congress passed the bill and the President signed it into law.

Congress currently is engaged in a debate about the appropriate scope of FISA. At the center of this debate is the issue of whether telecommunications companies that assisted in illegal surveillance should receive retroactive immunity from prosecution.

I oppose retroactive immunity for these companies and supported an amendment to the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (S. 2248) that would have prevented them from obtaining retroactive immunity. This amendment, however, was unsuccessful. After the amendment failed, I voted against the bill, but it passed by a vote of 68-29.

The House of Representatives has refused to support any similar bill containing a retroactive immunity provision, and negotiations on this matter are continuing. Any legislation amending FISA should hold telecommunications companies responsible for their unlawful actions. The legislation should bring to light the role telecommunications companies played in the Administration's unlawful attempts to listen in on the communications of American citizens.
When the President and his Administration order surveillance of American citizens, these actions must be conducted in a manner consistent with the rule of law and the Constitution's commitment to civil liberties. I am deeply concerned about the manner in which the Executive Branch has initiated and conducted the NSA surveillance programs. I will keep your thoughts in mind as Congress continues to debate this issue.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please feel free to keep in touch.

Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

Feingold, Dodd planning filibuster of wiretap bill

Dodd Filibusters FISA

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more from Countdown and Jonathan Turley...

Dems Give Bush FISA Bill

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an unfortunately pretty good explanation/arguement from Randi Rhodes...
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Why do YOU think Democrats don’t support IMPEACHMENT?
http://forums.therandirhodesshow.com/index.php?showtopic=2497
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Whistleblower: FISA ‘compromise’ advances police state agenda
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Senators voting against Cloture (to keep the debate going-block)...

Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Wyden (D-OR)

Five Senators did not vote. Two who are seriously sick and need get well prayers and three who are up to their necks in the campaign...

Byrd (D-WV)
Clinton (D-NY) - I guess she was planning Unity with Obama - and whatever else.
Kennedy (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)
Obama (D-IL) - from all the rhetoric you would think he voted for cloture; he just didn't fight it.
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Keith Olbermann: Then and now
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/26/olbermann/index.html

Olbermann on FISA and Obama

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Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Barack_on_torture.html
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