A disturbing deal cut by Dick Cheney and Senator Arlen Specter is moving through the Senate Judiciary Committee toward the Senate floor. This horrible bill would set government spies loose in new ways that further undermine our constitutional freedoms.
The Cheney-Specter bill would make presidential compliance with federal procedures that help protect Fourth Amendment rights optional. The bill would also vastly expand the government’s power to search and spy on American homes and businesses without any judicial checks. It would allow the government to listen to Americans’ international calls, and to read any domestic or international email message of Americans – if they don’t know that every sender and recipient is in the United States – without any warrant or evidence an American is conspiring with al Qaeda
“President Nixon had ordered warrantless wiretapping of Americans and claimed that he was above the law,” said Lisa Graves, ACLU Senior Counsel for Legislative Strategy. “History – and current events – show us that FISA, although not perfect, is still needed to help protect our Fourth Amendment rights. Congress should not weaken those protections. These proposed changes ignore the very reasons FISA was enacted in the first place.”
The White House has stonewalled congressional attempts to investigate the administration’s circumvention of FISA. And two weeks ago, President Bush personally blocked an investigation by the Justice Department regarding the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program.
The ACLU will be pulling out all of the stops to prevent this “Patriot Act on steroids” legislation from passing – stay tuned in the coming weeks to learn how you can be involved.[/quote]
it’s easy to disparage the ACLU when you haven’t done your homework. the organization is, undoubtedly, one of the most vital defenders of freedom. check out the work they have done for both liberals and conservatives. I think you might have a change of heart.
as the old adage goes: “Sooner or later, everyone needs the Bill of Rights.”
[quote=“Hondu Grease”]
as the old adage goes: “Sooner or later, everyone needs the Bill of Rights.”[/quote]
yessir…and apparently a judge in Detroit agrees with us on that:
[quote]Judge Orders Halt to Domestic Spying
From Associated Press
10:10 AM PDT, August 17, 2006
DETROIT – A federal judge ruled today that the government’s warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency’s program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.[/quote]
[quote]U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor declared that the NSA program violates Americans’ rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, but also the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) passed by Congress.
Judge Taylor summed it up perfectly when she wrote in her decision:
We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no power not created by the Constitution.[/quote]
of course it is being appealed by the criminals in the Cheney admin., but it is a another blow to the Neo-Jacobins…Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, and the spy case against AIPAC’s Rosen and Weissmann being two others.
Perhaps your response is driven by that sinking feeling that seems to permeate the followers of the Neo-Jacobins these days?
hmm…don’t think so. I’m in the US quite often actually. Financial interests require it, and I enjoy it. :raspberry: