To all visitors, my views are my own. I do not speak for anyone, but myself.
I have opined that the 2012 elections would be about privacy, but should the Senate pass the FISA legislation, privacy will be a moot point. Obama had said a few months ago that he would filibuster, however, he is now waffling. For more on all this, please watch the link below.
Per EFF:
Make a call to Senator (D-Maryland) Barbara A. Mikulski's Office
Phone: (202) 224-4654
District Phone: (410) 962-4510
Make a call to Senator (D-Maryland) Benjamin 'Ben' L. Cardin's Office
Phone: (202) 224-4524
District Phone: (410) 962-4436
...when the FISA bill comes to the Senate floor on Tuesday, July 8th:
Vote "YES" on the Dodd-Feingold amendment, which would strip telecom immunity from the bill entirely.
Vote "YES" on the Bingaman amendment, which would delay implementation of telecom immunity until after Congress has received the Inspectors General report on the president’s warrantless surveillance program.
Vote “NO” on the cloture motion to end debate on the FAA,
And finally, vote "NO" on the FISA Amendments Act, an unconstitutional and dangerous bill that would radically expand the president's spying powers and immunize the companies that helped him break the law.
Yes. Though I had to ultimately leave a messages with an assistants. If there is an upside, the nice lady at Mikulski's office said they were getting a lot of calls about it.
Mor Grendel
If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy.
hey you know if you make a call from the us to in the us they cant tap it.
and also you are imune from prosicution for any info obtained, but they can drop a cruise missle on you for using a cell phone to pinpoint us forces.
we did this to the germans and japs in ww2 but they used short wave our current enemies use throw away cell phones (you need a warrent for each #) so our troops will be waiting for a judge 4000 miles away to make a decion on a warrant wile ied's and mortars are blowing up around them before they can intercept enemy comunications.
the people who block this bill will endanger us troops. wether you belive in why we are at war or not at the time the congress voted we sent them they are there and like it or not they will not be safe until they have won. if they just leave it will be a blood bath. so i say give them the tools let them win.
It’s not arrogance when you’ve bled for it.
Ahrimen Rex - Former Warlord of Galatia
Article I, Section 9 say, No Bill of Attainer or ex post facto law shall be passed. Giving immunity to companies that break the law after being bulling them into illegal action is in effect unConstitutional. Sorry I have more, I just have not had time to write it.
Mor Grendel
If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy.
My only question is why can't they get a warrant? If you're watching a number, then clearly you must have some reason for doing so. Just get the warrant. They even set up a special court that issues warrants just for these types of case. Just get the warrant, obey the constitution, the bad guys get caught, and everyone is safe and happy. If a split second decision is required I may not even have a problem with a warrant being issued after the intelligence is gathered so long as they started the process concurrently with tapping the line. It would really depend on the situation, but the point is if you know to be listening to a line, you can get a warrant. While I am more inclined than Jeff to trust the agents that choose which lines to tap to not abuse that power, it is a slippery slope. Don't make me bust out the Ben Franklin quotes.
Oh and Dan these tapped calls really don't do anything for the troops. Calls going to and from the continental US typically concern attacks against civilian targets. For example, that big bust in Britain about a year ago was the result of this kind of intelligence. The calls that affect the troops tend to take place outside the United States altogether. We've always listened in on those calls with no need for a warrant. Every country does it to everyone else and everyone works to make sure it doesn't happen to them. It's part of the constant worldwide intelligence tango.
As a side note, I highly doubt this bill will not pass, especially since the democratic party leadership worked very hard to get some concessions out of the Bush administration. As much as the left wingers and libertarians may scream about the bill, the democratic leadership has no interest in looking weak on the war on terror this election. Passing this bill almost takes the issue off the table entirely.
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
