Defeat the Wiretap Bill!

[Pepsi]

Defeat the Wiretap Bill

The Senate will cast its final vote on warrantless wiretapping late Tuesday or Wednesday, so we need to flood Congress with petitions and calls demanding a no vote on the FISA bill.

Sign our petition for impeachment, not immunity:


http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/141?ad=e1

[Pepsi]

Your senators will very likely vote soon on whether to give the U.S. government sweeping new powers that undermine individual rights under the Fourth Amendment. The bill, H.R. 6304, would grant the president authority to spy on individuals without a court warrant and provide immunity to phone companies that broke the law,

The U.S government needs to be able to gather effective intelligence, but this bill goes too far and does too little to protect the privacy of people whose communications are being monitored.

Contact your senators today and urge them to vote no on H.R. 6304.


http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=11574721

[Pepsi]

After the Fourth of July holiday, the Senate will vote on the FISA Amendments Act (FAA), a bill that would betray the spirit of 1776 by radically expanding the president’s spying powers and granting immunity to the companies that colluded in his illegal program. Now that the House has passed the FAA, the Senate is the last front left in the battle against immunity, and every vote -- from cloture, to the amendments, to final passage -- counts.

https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?alertId=389&pg=makeACall

[Pepsi]

Repeal the fraudulent "Protect America Act"

http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=81

[Pepsi]

bump

[Melissa]

I wrote mine are there any updates

[zach]

Wrote to both of my senators.

I'd like to see what their responses are.

[Pepsi]

Bush poised for victory as US Congress nears approval of wiretapping bill

George Bush is poised for a major victory this week as Congress nears final approval of a plan to provide legal immunity to private companies that aided government wiretapping as well as expand those spying powers.

Debate on the wiretapping bill is slated to begin in the Senate today, with a vote expected by week's end. Although civil liberties groups and liberal activists have pressed Democrats to oppose the proposal, its approval is considered a near-certainty.

The bill's most controversial provision gives legal immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the Bush administration monitor phone calls and emails without a court warrant in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

The immunity debate has created particular headaches for Barack Obama, who last fall joined a group of liberal senators in blocking a separate wiretapping bill that contained a liability shield for telecoms.

But after securing the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama veered to the centre and indicated he would support the wiretapping plan even if the final version cancelled lawsuits against the companies. His staunchest supporters on the left protested the sudden shift, even forming a network on Obama's website to castigate him.

Obama attempted to smooth over the rift in a statement posted to that online network yesterday.

"Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I've chosen to support the current compromise," Obama wrote to the backers disenchanted with his move.

"Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my [wiretapping] position is a deal breaker. That's okay. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have."

The wiretapping plan passed the House of Representatives on June 20 by a 293-129 vote, with several Democrats from conservative states joining Republicans to make up the margin of victory.

The bill seemed to face an uphill battle as recently as February, when Democrats in Congress allowed the previous, Republican-written statute on government wiretaps to expire rather than give in to White House demands on immunity.

But the tide turned in favour of compromise this summer, with existing wiretaps set for de-authorisation in August and Democrats fearing election-year attacks on national security issues.

A deal was eventually reached between House Democratic majority leader Steny Hoyer and Republican leaders. Democrats won some concessions from the White House: the new plan prohibits warrant-free spying on Americans travelling overseas and requires a court to evaluate the basis for wiretaps before they go into effect – not after.

Still, the American civil liberties union (ACLU) and other leading civil-rights groups have condemned the bill, calling it a capitulation to Bush and an unconstitutional violation of privacy rights.

"Not only will the [wiretapping bill] allow for the wholesale violation of Americans' fourth amendment rights, it will shut the door on investigations into the administration's warrant-less wiretapping program by closing active court cases," Colleen Connell, executive director of the Illinois ACLU, said in a statement.

"The Senate is the last opportunity for any real improvements to be made to this legislation - senators should fix the bill or vote it down."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/08/georgebush.usa

[INforRP]

Wow I can't hardly believe this is the only thread on this subject, this is huge. Personally I didn't realize this was going on this week. Here is a pretty good interview with Daniel Ellsberg, the guy who leaked the pentagon papers. http://www.dailypaul.com/node/54481

He made a good point that I hadn't thought of before. If they have all the information on everyone, they can blackmail every one of our politicians. This is likely how they have had so much power the past several years. Even those that maybe aren't doing something illegal, may have something embarrassing in their family.

[sluggo]

Email sent. I'll give them a call tomorrow morning.

[riphro]

Jonathan Turley calls it the "evisceration of the fourth amendment."

Tomorrow we mourn.

RIP

[sluggo]

bump.

[sluggo]

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Call them, email them.

[Natalie]

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Call them, email them.

Both of my senator's phone line are conveniently busy.

:mad::mad::mad:

[sluggo]

30 minutes of debate left. Then the vote.

[Melissa]

This guy from W.V. says don't look at little parts of the bill look at the whole thing...right there should be the clue that there is not great stuff in there

[HOLLYWOOD]

30 minutes of debate left. Then the vote.

ALL in the name for NATIONAL SECURITY and to PROTECT YOU!

Oh, It's the usual spin on the floor... we need to pass this because of all the TERROR in the WORLD and this Country...Ah, that we the government have created! More FEAR!

Yeah, FISA IMMUNITY for Corporations (PAST n PRESENT) spy on anyone... what part of the 4th Amendment don't they get?

I emailed the 2 worthless Nevadan U.S. Senators... HARRY REID & JOHN ENSIGN.

Grassroots in NEVADA is STRONG and we'll log their votes... Career FLOUNDER HARRY REID is on his way out in this state!

Amazing 30 minutes left... but the eliminated a whole day (yesterday 07/08/08) to WORSHIP a DEAD BIGOT SENATOR in North Carolina, Jesse Helms... AMAZING the ROMAN EMPIRE and it's U.S. Senators have ARRIVED!

Look at this FLIP FLOPPER:

Reaffirmed Obama's Senate office in December: “Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies and has cosponsored Senator Dodd's efforts to remove that provision from the FISA bill. Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Senator Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same...Senator Obama will not be among those voting to end the filibuster.”

NOW: Barak 'POS' O'bama ..."the FISA Bill is a GOOD Compromise and I will be voting in favor "

Just like his energy immunity legislation for EXCELON power, watering down the bill on nuclear disasters:

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/barack_obama_/2008/02/obama_and_excelon.php (http://www.samefacts.com/archives/barack_obama_/2008/02/obama_and_excelon.php)

[Pepsi]

They voted down the the Dodd-Feingold amendment, which would strip telecom immunity from the bill entirely.

[Melissa]

Now voting on the 2nd amendment

[Pepsi]

they voted down all three amendments

[HOLLYWOOD]

They voted down the the Dodd-Feingold amendment, which would strip telecom immunity from the bill entirely.

H.R. 6304, THE FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008 (6/19/2008)

H.R. 6304, which grants sweeping wiretapping authority to the government with little court oversight and ensures the dismissal of all pending cases against the telecommunication companies. Most importantly:

• H.R. 6304 permits the government to conduct mass, untargeted surveillance of all communications coming into and out of the United States, without any individualized review, and without any finding of wrongdoing.

• H.R. 6304 permits only minimal court oversight. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court) only reviews general procedures for targeting and minimizing the use of information that is collected. The court may not know who, what or where will actually be tapped.

• H.R. 6304 contains a general ban on reverse targeting. However, it lacks stronger language that was contained in prior House bills that included clear statutory directives about when the government should return to the FISA court and obtain an individualized order if it wants to continue listening to a US person’s communications.

• H.R.6304 contains an “exigent” circumstance loophole that thwarts the prior judicial review requirement. The bill permits the government to start a spying program and wait to go to court for up to 7 days every time “intelligence important to the national security of the US may be lost or not timely acquired.” By definition, court applications take time and will delay the collection of information. It is highly unlikely there is a situation where this exception doesn’t swallow the rule.

• H.R. 6304 further trivializes court review by explicitly permitting the government to continue surveillance programs even if the application is denied by the court. The government has the authority to wiretap through the entire appeals process, and then keep and use whatever it gathered in the meantime.

• H.R. 6304 ensures the dismissal of all cases pending against the telecommunication companies that facilitated the warrantless wiretapping programs over the last 7 years. The test in the bill is not whether the government certifications were actually legal – only whether they were issued. Because it is public knowledge that they were, all the cases seeking to find out what these companies and the government did with our communications will be killed.

• Members of Congress not on Judiciary or Intelligence Committees are NOT guaranteed access to reports from the Attorney General, Director of National Intelligence, and Inspector General. <====LOVE THIS ABORTION of the 4th Amendment

[Pepsi]

Since about 7 this morning I have sent 100 faxes, and made dozens of calls, I guest that was not good anothe. Since this all thing started, I have sent in over 5,000 messages, combo of e-mails and faxes, I guest that was not good anothe.

[freelance]

Since about 7 this morning I have sent 100 faxes, and made dozens of calls, I guest that was not good anothe. Since this all thing started, I have sent in over 5,000 messages, combo of e-mails and faxes, I guest that was not good anothe.

It's a done deal. It's self preservation for TPTB. Consider every communication public.

[Pepsi]

I am going to send even more faxes and make more calls telling them to vote No on the bill, that is now with telecom immunity.

[HOLLYWOOD]

ALL 3 Amendments Defeated! :(

I would love to see the "SPIKE" and association in Telecom campaign donations and these SLEAZEBALL Pandering Political Senate WHORES!