FISA: Tell Congress not to give Bush more power

[Eric J in MN]

From the ACLU via email:

As the tide turns against his Attorney General and his NSA wiretapping
program, the president has launched a "fear offensive"
-- a desperate push to change the laws that govern spying. On
Saturday, President Bush told Congress that if it doesn't gut
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) this week, the
Democrats will be putting our nation at risk in a "heightened
threat environment."

The president's proposal to "modernize" FISA is
audacious, manipulative, and a direct assault on the checks and
balances that Congress has tried and so far failed to restore.
Shockingly, it looks like Congress and its Democratic
leadership are about to cave in and give the President what he
wants.


Take Action. Tell Congress NOT to cave in to fear:
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=oLCIlRZS-3Yay1W5rIv4iw

[rodeodance]

1. Democrats Scrambling to Expand Eavesdropping (or weak on terrorism)

Forum Name Latest Breaking News
Topic subject Democrats Scrambling to Expand Eavesdropping (or weak on terrorism)
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2937238#2937238
2937238, Democrats Scrambling to Expand Eavesdropping (or weak on terrorism)
Posted by rodeodance on Wed Aug-01-07 06:59 AM

Source: nytimes




August 1, 2007
Democrats Scrambling to Expand Eavesdropping
By JAMES RISEN

WASHINGTON, July 31 — Under pressure from President Bush, Democratic leaders in Congress are scrambling to pass legislation this week to expand the government’s electronic wiretapping powers.

Democratic leaders have expressed a new willingness to work with the White House to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to make it easier for the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on some purely foreign telephone calls and e-mail. Such a step now requires court approval.

........

In the past few days, Mr. Bush and Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, have publicly called on Congress to make the change before its August recess, which could begin this weekend. Democrats appear to be worried that if they block such legislation, the White House will depict them as being weak on terrorism.

“We hope our Republican counterparts will work together with us to fix the problem, rather than try again to gain partisan political advantage at the expense of our national security,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said in a statement Monday night..........

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/washington/01nsa.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. There is another thread about it here and I can't understand that so few seem to care to

comment on this? It's very upsetting.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1485270

[malaise]

3. Frightening indeed n/t

[Junkdrawer]

4. Indeed. It has all the markings of a scheme to let Gonzo/Bush/Cheney off the hook.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1485270#1485363

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. And this thread is sinking like a stone. I just don't get it????? nt

[bbgrunt]

18. I think maybe everyone is on overload--not ready

to face the implications of such treason.

[Subdivisions]

5. Arlen Spector said to Wolf Blitzer yesterday that

he was not as concerned about pursuing Gonzo because the national intellegence director needs changes to FISA in order to better protect us from terrorists inside the US.

He's MORE CONCERNED about gutting FISA. I knew there was some nefarious stuff going on on AF-1 en route to and from Philly last week as Spector rode with the pResident.

[bdamomma]

6. kick

[Phrogman]

8. Woah! This is an outrage, how dare they!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/washington/01nsa.html

Edited to include the link from the Times story

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Bush is just trying to legitimize what he did in the past.

How can Congress condemn him for his hospital visit to Ashcroft, if they turn around and approve legislation to legitimize why he did it?


Congress has been breached. You KNOW there won't be an impeachment if they sign that law.

[librechik]

20. exactly--this bill is RETROACTIVE TO 2001!

bastards!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. Kick!!!! eom

[mmonk]

11. Sorry, but "triangulation" must continue in order for our

glorious victory in 08 to take shape. Constitution, constimution, we need process.:sarcasm:

[bonito]

12. I'd like to see any reason to vote for this

with everything being done secretly w/o any oversight I can't believe Dem's would further alienate their base by giving them more power.

[ThatsMyBarack]

13. Doesn't * just TAKE power....?

....whether or not someone gives it to *?

[Eric J in MN]

29. Yes. Let's keep Bush illegal activities illegal. NT

NT

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. Another kick!!!! eom

[BlooInBloo]

15. Here we go again: Democrats scared of looking "weak" in republicans' eyes....

.... HEY FUCKWIPES!!!! REPUBLICANS WON'T LIKE YOU NO MATTER FUCKING WHAT!!!!!

[Marr]

22. They aren't scared of looking weak. They don't *want* to win.

Or more accurately, they don't want to push the agenda of their constituents. They want to protect Bush and generally push his agenda.

[bbgrunt]

16. seriously, you think they listen? I am getting a great

big case of feeling "played" by masterful manipulators who all have the same agenda. If the dems have no better sense than this, they need more than a rush of phone calls. The need lobotomies.

[Individualist]

17. It's called complicity

[bbgrunt]

19. and denial ain't only a river in repuke land.

[Eric J in MN]

30. It's about doing our part as citizens.

If they ignore us, shame on them, but we did our part.

[Marr]

21. You know, the Dems have gone far beyond simple triangulation. They're complicit.

The party leadership is so anxious to compromise on *everything*, even when there's no earthly reason to compromise, that the only conclusion I can draw is that their agenda is Bush's agenda, and they want to protect Bush nearly as much as the Republicans did.

[smokey nj]

23. Kick!! I just called my Representatives.

[tnlefty]

24. I may drink a beer and then break the

fucking bottle over my head. Perhaps it will make the incomprehensible seem more comprehensible. Jeeeze.

Thanks for posting this!

[dkofos]

25. Smart thinking to drink the beer first. The full ones really hurt.

[tnlefty]

26. Well, I'm halfway through it and I've about decided that I can't

afford the emergency room visit for the stitches, lol! Although the prescription pain killers might take the edge off of some of this. Unbelievable! :mad:

[dkofos]

27. I know what you mean.

[lala_rawraw]

28. It is a declaration of war on the press...

and I am not going to take this sitting, standing, or laying down either. you cannot let Pelosi pass this thing... I don't care what else she does... if she does not pull this bill, she has to step down!!!!

[Eric J in MN]

31. Harry Reid's stupid quote

Reid said, "There is a problem with the personality" of the attorney general — Gonzales — who would be overseeing the revamped law. But "we're not going to let that get in the way of something that is appropriate."

What could be stupider than ignoring whom you're dealing with?

[mhatrw]

32. Swift Kick! n/t

[chill_wind]

33. And another, n/t

[chill_wind]

34. Here's where the rotten WH "negotiations" stand right now:

(...The administration wants to give the attorney general authority to approve such intercepts without waiting for the court to issue a warrant. Rockefeller's proposal would require the court to review the process that the attorney general uses to determine the suspects are, indeed, overseas.

The White House responded with a counterproposal late Wednesday, endorsed by Senate Republicans, requiring that the director of national intelligence _ not just the attorney general _ sign off on plans for foreign surveillance.

The White House will not accept court review of eavesdropping plans before they are executed, according to a knowledgeable administration official. Instead, the administration is proposing that the court rule within 120 days of the time the director of national intelligence and the attorney general authorize the surveillance....)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080101867_2.html?tid=informbox&sub=AR

Meanwhile, the Unitary Executive with his numbers totally in the toilet is holding everybody and his brother in the WH hostage from appearing on Capitol Hill in front of the Gonzales Senate Judiciary Committee, from even submitting any documents, while fear mongering and DEMANDING Dems give him his terrist "emergency bill"-----

And now we learn a FISA judge has struck him down in recent months for past law-breaking and we can't just let him sweat and swing?

You all SEE THIS already? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1490772

Reid and Pelosi both have to know all this by now if we do--- don't save his neck. No Amnesty. No legislative legal immunization.

LET HIM SWING.

[mmonk]

35. Exactly.

It's the Rockefller way or no way. Again the administration is attacking our system of government. This should be a no brainer for the democrats. Hold your ground. NO to ANY executive branch personnel being able to have this determination.

[Terri S]

36. What is the point of having hearings if you're going to retroactively excuse criminality??

All these hearings are just an exercise in futility if they continue to cave. Is there no one in this party that can stop allowing the * administration to frame the fear message? Is there no one that can speak the truth to these bastards. All the facts are there. Why are the Dems not shouting them from the rooftops at every opportunity. This is EXACTLY the same thing they did when they voted for the Military Commissions Act. They gave the * cabal their 'get out of jail free' card on torture. They will be doing it again with this. If they cave on this.... I am DONE with the lot of them. I keep telling myself that they are working on this, they are conducting the investigations so they can show the outrages of this administration, .... but there's no teeth..they have PLENTY of evidence already.. yet it goes on and on with no results. With this, it's them caving to the 'dems not strong on terrorism' meme. Again. and again, ad nauseum!