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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Spy Bill -- Lulling Americans Into False Sense of Security The war on terror and the war on freedom are nonpartisan issues. Both Democrats and Republicans alike have consistently voted for legislation that, through the illusion of protecting our families and our homeland, have actually removed critical components of the U.S. Constitution. Will the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (HR 3773) be any different? HR 3773 recapitulates a series of executive
checks, requiring the Executive Branch to apply to a secret court asking
for a search warrant BEFORE conducting the necessary wiretap.
This sounds perfectly reasonable at first glance.
However, under an “Emergency Authorization” detailed in the
bill, the White House is allowed to conduct warrant-less wiretaps within a
seven-day window before seeking the approval from the FISA court.
In other words, if the President “believes” that an emergency
exists, he then has the authority, under the new law, to conduct
surveillance on literally anyone and he doesn’t need a warrant to do it. Quoting noted constitutional attorney Jonathan Turley from
the new docu-patriotic film, “Washington, You’re Fired,” he states,
“The Constitution says that you need probable cause for a crime, and yet
they routinely ignore it. Why?
Because they want to.” The
Bush Administration has shown a remarkable proclivity to reinvent and
reinterpret laws to their own executive benefit.
Their redefining of “torture”, their removal of the writ of
Habeas Corpus and their willingness to circumvent the FISA courts are just
a few infractions in a long list that is growing every day.
Rep. Ron Paul voted against the bill, making it clear, on the
House floor on Friday, March 14, 2008, that “This bill will allow the federal government to engage in
the bulk collection of American citizens’ communications. In effect, it means that any American may have his electronic
communications monitored without a search warrant. As such, the bill clearly violates the Fourth Amendment.”
Rep. Paul went on to point out that of the 50,000 National Security
Letters issued around 30,000 were issued, NOT for suspected terrorists,
but for Americans. He later added, “When we come to accept that the
government can spy on us without a court order, we have come to accept
tyranny.” [1 No doubt - with much remiss, the President himself admitted
to the existence of the NSA’s illegal wiretap program set into motion on
his direct orders. This
stunning admission coupled with whistleblower testimony from Mark Klein,
dates these data-mining and eavesdropping programs back to mid-2000, well
before any terrorist threat and well before the Bush Administration’s
stated need to blanket data-mine every American citizen… Yet, they did
it. Verizon and AT&T
along with a handful of other telecommunications corporations, willfully
violated U.S. laws at the request of the White House by data-mining the
daily communications of millions of Americans.
We would eventually learn from a Defense
Department document obtained by NBC News, that the Bush Administration was
targeting and closely watching Quakers, peace activists, and anyone who
disagreed with his policies. This
also corroborates a New York Times report released in December 2005, which
states that
President Bush had authorized domestic spying and had bypassed the Secret
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court! These policies of spying go way beyond simply blanket
data-mining every American. The
current administration has shown a certain autocratic willingness to serve
as judge, jury, and executioner and now with HR 3773 the President will
have his seven day window to violate the one fundamental principal that
binds, unites, and defines all Americans, everywhere – the right to
privacy. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by
legislation that promises to fix OTHER pieces of broken legislation.
We need to begin anew. The
only way to do that is to completely remove laws from the books that
violate our U.S. Constitution. Those
laws, evaluated in “Washington, You’re Fired,” are “The
Military Commissions Act” which ended Habeas Corpus; the John Warner
Defense Act, which ended Posse Comitatus; the Detainee Treatment Act,
which protects torture; the Real ID Act rider attached to HR 1268, which
will give us a national ID card; and a half dozen others…These laws
cannot be fixed because they a fundamentally flawed with the notion that
we must relinquish freedom to protect freedom. Our
freedoms and liberties are not derived and assigned by men or by
governments. They are yours
by the very birthright of being born.
Our founding documents refer to these rights as being
“unalienable.” Put
simply, this means that your rights cannot be transferred or removed –
not by a man, not by a president, and not by a law. “If
we permit our constitutional rights to be watered down out of fear, we
have given up our democracy. Congress must stand firm and defend the
Constitution.” -- Dennis Kucinich [2] The only question is... "Will they?" -- Endnotes: 1 Revolution Radio Statement
on H.R. 3773 FISA Amendments Act of 2008 2 Kucinich Opposes FISA Bill That Infringes on
Fourth Amendment Rights House Approves New Eavesdropping Rule |
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