FISA postscript

I can't put it any more plainly than this. The American way of justice and governance suffered an incalculable blow yesterday. Here's a great take on the "very darkest day of a very dark decade" . . .

Yet another pathetic day for America

The Senate is in the process of passing the new FISA bill, including all the heinous immunity clauses intact. What we have here, folks, is the gutting of the 4th Amendment, the enshrinement of a royal presidency, and the loss of checks and balances in our system of government. Think I'm being overdramatic? This bill enables anyone in the executive branch to compel private citizens and businesses to secretly spy on anyone without triggering any of the legal safeguards our Constitution provides for us. Every single phone call, email, text, letter, and conversation you have, any TV program you watch, any radio station you listen to, and virtually anything else you do, can now be recorded by the government and used by them to do anything it wants. Lest you be one of the shortsighted ignoramuses who are saying, "If you have nothing to hide, why should it bother you?", think about this the next time you apply for a loan, or are going through a divorce, or are applying for a job, or are arrested, or have to appear in court, or any other freaking thing having to do with anything other than breathing: there's nothing you've ever done that can't have been recorded (without you knowing about it), and held against you (without you knowing what it was), and you don't get any chance to fight it, because no one has to reveal any of it--to you, or your attorney, or the judge trying your case. Legally. Unless, of course, the Supreme Court rightfully rejects it as unconstitutional. I'm sure Scalia, Roberts, and the rest of those tools will save us, right? Uh huh.
All in the name of national security. What a horrible, sad day. You win again, right wing scumbags. I hope you all die painfully and soon, and may you rot in hell for all eternity. Record that, motherfuckers.

FISA capitulation in the House

By a ridiculous margin of 293-129 (which still means a majority of House Democrats voted against it, but not by as much as one might hope), the House passed Steny Hoyer's "compromise" (read: caving in to Smirky and the rest of the Republican scum) FISA bill, which allows for the telecom companies to skate for their part in stripping your 4th Amendment rights from you. Whenever the President, or any of his Executive Branch minions, (such as the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc.) decides to invade your privacy without probable cause or a warrant, he will now have the authority to do so granted by Congress, if the Senate concurs. The fact that that august body had already passed a bill even more craven pretty much seals this deal.
Gee, do you think the Republicans would have ever passed any bills whatsoever that its majority disagreed with when they were in control? Newsflash: they wouldn't, they didn't.
Congratulations to the President, as we prepare to give in to his demands to destroy the country yet again.
If you're not pissed, you're not paying attention. That clicking sound you hear is simply the government tapping your phone line; don't pay it any mind.
"Save me [Senate], you're my only hope!"
Right--this is me holding my breath . . .
Unf&*^ing believable. Land of the Free, my ass.

Steny Hoyer stabs America in the back

Even though no one wants this, Steny Hoyer (D Rep.-Md.) has "negotiated" a "deal" that gives the telcoms immunity. Please call your representatives immediately to tell them to vote against this monstrosity. We do not need any action on FISA at this point, and we certainly don't need to provide prosecutorial immunity to companies who willingly violated our Constitutional rights. This is about illegal domestic spying, folks--the government has been strongarming the communications industry into tapping your phones, emails, and texts and helping them gather data. Seriously. This is not paranoia, but proven fact, and we must put an end to it. Please.

FISA shenanigans

Steny Hoyer is getting under my skin again. The Congressman from my original home state of Maryland seems to be determined to destroy the good work done in the House on the FISA bill by "negotiating" with Senate Republicans in an effort to get something completed by Congress before the Memorial Day recess. As if anything needs to be done at all! Here's the letter I wrote to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi:

Dear Speaker Pelosi,
Please, please, please do not let Steny Hoyer undermine the great work you have done on the FISA fiasco. We do not "need" any action on this before we elect a President we can trust, if ever. Telecom immunity is a bad idea in general, bad for the Democratic Party, and bad for the country. It is obvious to those of us paying attention that the only reason the Republicans and President Bush are pushing so hard for this is that there is a mountain of evidence they are trying desperately to hide—evidence of malfeasance and evidence of illegal and unconstitutional behavior. There is absolutely no reason to give in on this point—to "cave" on it, as Minority Leader John Boehner so disgracefully put it. The House already passed a proper response to the weaknesses and challenges presented by the original FISA legislation; that other bodies and individuals didn't see fit to accord the bill you passed its proper respect is not your problem to solve! Thank you for your past actions on the new FISA bill, and let's see those actions through.
Respectfully,
bryduck
Citizen of the US

House: 1 step in the right direction

Let's hear it for the Democrats in the House of Reps! They took a stand against telecom immunity, rejecting the Senate bill including it and sending their own FISA bill back to that body. And then they went on their scheduled 2 week break! Well played, indeed. Even if the Senate Dems roll over yet again for Smirky--the Republicans are well past being a lost cause--nothing happens for 2 more weeks anyway.
The longer we keep this issue front and center, the more the general public will see that the Republican Party as a whole cares not one whit for their rights, but instead wants to insure that their corporate buddies/funders are kept well fed and quiet. This is all about making sure the telecoms are safe from prosecution, and therefore safe from being forced to turn state's evidence against this Administration's coercive and unconstitutional practices.
If you are in the habit of emailing or calling your Rep to berate them, please remember to email/call them to thank them as well when they do something responsible--I would bet those pleasant congratulatory messages go a lot further than the angry ones!

For the record

I know I haven't been writing lately; the political landscape is far too depressing for me to even rant about it. The Congressional capitulation over FISA, though, goes beyond even my capacity of disgust. The original FISA regulation was embarrassingly weak already, and now our Democratic Congress has decided to weaken it further? For what? This is disgraceful, and when I saw that one of my own Senators voted in favor of this travesty, I finally had to say something. Here is what I sent Dianne Feinstein:
Dear Senator Feinstein,
I've been under the weather lately, so I didn't get the chance to see that you had voted in favor of passing the FISA retooling bill. This, of course, is sickening to anyone who cares about our country's heritage of both open government and civil liberties, and I'm simply disgusted with your support of it. There was simply nothing wrong with the original FISA operation--in fact, I believe it was too lax already in providing proper oversight of executive intrusion into private communications and lives. Broadening its scope--indeed, giving any more power to our executive branch at all at this point--is inimical to the original intent of our Founding Fathers that we should have 3 distinct and separate branches of government safeguarding our civil rights. Indeed, it is supposed to be Congress itself that provides us with security against executive overreach, but ever since 2001, that body, and every one who has served in it, has been failing us repeatedly. 9/11 did not "change everything", and I am far more scared of Republicans than I am of Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organization, because they have done immeasurably more damage to our nation than any other group over the past 27 years. That you would join them in decimating our Constitution on any vote, let alone one that had its genesis in violating privacy rights even further and legitimizing this Administration's wanton lawlessness in regards to its own citizens, makes me question your patriotism, and frankly, your qualifications to hold this office. What is certain is that you have lost my vote in the future, and to what extent I can, I will work as hard as I can to help any Democratic primary opponents you face.
Shame on you.
Sincerely, ******* *******, citizen of California