FeedsWyden's poison pill on Bush's bad bill
Do you know what FISA is? The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act? It's from 1978. It basically says that if the government wants to do surveillance on a foreign person, the administration has to go to a special commission to get a warrant from them. The Bush administration has decided that they don't need to do that. The Democrats are trying to reform the law to say that no, the administration actually has to go to this commission to get a warrant before spying on people. The administration is demanding retroactive immunity for the telecoms that went along with the completely illegal act of doing warrant-less surveillance on foreign citizens. At least, We hope just foreign citizens. Turns out that there has probably also been a lot of spying on Americans.
So, you may have heard that this "compromise" passed the House and is now in the Senate. Chris Dodd, a new goddam American Hero, swore to put a hold on it (which is, basically, an intent to filibuster). Yay! Unfortunately for us, Harry Reid has no balls, as evidenced by his decision to ignore the hold. Can you even DO that? His balls are most likely kept in a jar in Bush's desk, who probably has pet names for them, like he does for everything else around him.
However, there is still hope.
Ron Wyden, who is on the committee that worked on the FISA compromise (and, along with Russ Feingold, is the only one who voted against this pathetic caving-in) got an amendment through that the administration will likely consider a poison pill. In fact, it's so awful, the administration claims, that if it reaches Bush's desk with the amendment intact, Bush will veto the damn thing. God, I hope so.
What does the amendment do?
It says that if you're an American, your rights cannot be infringed no matter what your geographic location is.
Huh, funny. You would have thought that it would be something clever, maybe even deceitful. But no. It simply says, "You have to follow the goddam law."
The New York Times has a really good article on this that includes this choice quote from Wyden:
"The individual freedom of an American shouldn’t depend on their physical geography."
No shit.
I think we can all count ourselves lucky that at least we have one senator who still has his testicles.
Thank you, Ron Wyden, for actually representing Oregon and doing your job. Maybe one day the people around you might.
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Comments from site editors have a darker background than comments from everybody else.hooray, now they can ignore the law for Americans ACROSS THE GLOBE!
nice compromise, fuckstick
hahaha, we have ALL THE CARDS and you have none.
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Oh yeah. He's the fuckstick. Sure.
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Wow, a first-post that's a troll.
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The US Government cannot magically make their surveillance legal in other countries. Please read the wikipedia article that my name links to.
The apparently widely-accepted notion that violating non-US-citizens' civil rights is somehow less bad than violating citizens' rights is pretty morally indefensible, when you think about it. Maybe it is best not to think about that too much. Wyden is a hero! Yay!
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That's a very good point.
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Wyden may have voted against Bush this time, but Democrats have been a huge disappointment - betrayal really - to their Democratic constituents. They will likely be successful in forcing this legislation through just like they did with similar legislation a few months ago and continued funding for the occupation of Iraq before that.
Democrats need to be fired in the next election. All of them. Their consultants who are telling them that they need to be Republicans need to be fired too - that means you too Kari. Democrats in congress this session have been completely complicit with the Bush administration's attack on our Constitution. Voting in favor of Democrats will be seen by our congressmen and their idiot consultants as a mandate to move further into Bush's lap.
Sure, Wyden voted against this bill. And many Democrats in the Senate might vote against wiretaps - after they ensure that the legislation passes. They will fight Chris Dodd's vote to hold this legislation to ensure that it passes. Then some will vote against it, some for it, and the legislation will pass, due to the procedural maneuvers of the Democrats, and saps like Kari will hail their failed opposition. What hypocrisy. In my 50 years I have never seen the Democrats behave so poorly. That is why I say that ALL Democrats on the '08 ballot need to be fired. That is the only message they will understand. Even that is iffy.
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Fire all the Democrats, eh?
And who would you suggest we put in their place? I'm not happy about the way things are playing out in Congress either. And I agree that a Democratic leadership change is needed BADLY! But For you to say that we need to kick out ALL THE DEMOCRATS, without mentioning that the only alternative is HIRING REPUBLISCUMS, is complete B.S.
Sure, I say that if there is a challenger to a sitting Dem, which is more likely to vote more liberally, I say SUPPORT them. I am all for kicking out the so-called, Blue-Dog Democrats! And of course the Republican-Lights, such as Lieberman, but there are MANY very fine Dems too, Kucinich, Dodd, Feingold, Wyden... They are not alone in their struggle to restore America to its former glory. So don't issue blanket calls for removal of all Dems. And don't even issue calls for removal of thoise who don't always vote as they should, UNLESS there is a MORE PROGRESSIVE candidate in the wings to take his or her seat.
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As an American overseas, I'm glad Wyden got this amendment tacked on. I live in and teach in South Korea and pretty much assume all my calls are being monitored when I call the US. It will be interesting to see what happens next.
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Probably the same thing that's always happened until we get a new president.. and even then..
Yeah, I kind of assume ECHELON is tracking everything I do electronically. Which is why I try and be as bad as possible.
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Yeah, the NSA watches a lot of YouPorn...
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Interesting. I wonder if this is really true, that Bush would veto it.
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I think we should form a search part for Reid's spine and balls.
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My God man. Anybody going after them is risking certain death! That's suicide!
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Sounds messy.
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what an ass wyden is - would he please just come out of the closet already? Wyden is for principles, in spite of the risk of a suitcase nuke right here in ole river city. Noooo, the arabs sympathetic to the terrorist cause(s) could never, ever buy loose nukes! Its not like they have Trillions of $ in oil money- Woops, they are sympathetic and they do have the money.
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I approve of your satire. What a clever impersonation of a stupid person.
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Yeah Bill, let's just line everbody in Oregon up and count 'em off by twos with every second citizen responsible for monitoring and reporting on all "suspicious activity".
To paraphrase Patrick Henry:
"Give me Liberty or give me unlimited surveillance."
Try reading the damned Constitution sometime. Don't read the Bill of Rights though, it's subject too spin your head right off of your neck.
You can be sure that your DC Daddy and his henchmen have read it and heartily disapproved of those pinko/commie/terrists/ that founded this nation. Even before 9/11 they were at work like a bunch of demented mutant termites, undermining the Republic, but hey as long as they wear their damned flag lapel pins and torture "the other guy" instead of you, where's the problem right?
A nation made up of people so cowardly that they'd give up their rights for a reassuring pat on the head from an authority figure, don't deserve the liberties that our predecessors shed their blood for.
And guess what, with the help of you cowards, they are already mostly gone.
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Bravo, Ron! Thank you for standing up to these cowardly White House traitors.
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