Renewing The Protect America Act
Posted January 25th, 2008 by Da King
First, a little background.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was passed in 1978. It prescribed procedures for the collection of physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between or among "foreign powers" on territory under United States control. Basically, this meant that the government had to go through the FISA court for a court order to monitor such communications.
Fast forward to September 11, 2001. We all know what happened on that day. Okay, MOST of us know what happened on that day. A few are still trying to figure it out, like the 9/11 Truthers, who can't even understand something they saw live with their own eyes. What can I say, there are slow learners in every class. Anyway, following 9/11 our president thought it would make sense to try to protect our country from further terrorist attacks, since it is precisely his job to keep our country safe. Good thinking, Mr. President. In the pursuit of this worthy goal, it appears on some occasions our president didn't require the National Security Agency (NSA) to go through the FISA courts to monitor international communications from suspected Al Qaeda members when one end of the communication was inside the USA and the other end was in a foreign country. Then, an unknown somebody inside our intelligence community leaked this tidbit to the New York Times, who plastered it all over the front page like the patriots they are, exposing what Bush calls the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) to all of america (and the terrorists too !). Though the exact details of the TSP are still classified, and though some members of Congress were briefed on the program, a firestorm ensued. Some people thought Bush was acting to protect the country against terrorists (good idea). Others thought he was (cue the left wing hyperbole machine) - a fascist, unitary executive, civil rights destroying, constitution shredding, super criminal running a totalitarian regime who was prying into the private lives of every american citizen at his whim and he should be impeached and thrown in prison ASAP. Not coincidentally, many of the people in this latter category are also 9/11 Truthers, if you get my drift. They think Bush brought down the World Trade Center towers too, apparently so he could justify his plan to spy on your aunt Martha, and also to invade every Middle Eastern country, so that oil would rise to it's highest price in history be stolen by america. They seem to think Bush is the Dr. Evil character in the Austin Powers movies, or that Bush is the puppet and Dick Cheney is the Dr. Evil character pulling his strings. I'm not kidding either. Just ask them. You'll be absolutely amazed at the abject stupidity of it all.
All this brings us to the year 2007, when the Protect America Act was first passed by the Democratic-led Congress, which granted the Administration a six-month extension of it's expanded FISA powers to fight terrorism. Apparently, most of the Democrats aren't really buying into the Dr. Evil theory, though they pretend they do when they talk to the mainstream media, just to keep up appearances. It's good to know the Democrats aren't really traitors, they just put on the airs for purposes of partisan gain.
It should be noted that the ACLU, who are evidently taking a little time off from their core mission of removing every reference to God from the universe (except the Muslim God, Allah, he is "protected free speech"), HATES the Protect America Act, which they have cleverly renamed the Police America Act. In case you are confused, policing america is a BAD thing to the ACLU. Go figure.
The reason I brought this issue up in the first place is because the Protect America Act is set to expire on February 1, 2008, and Congress is kicking around what to do about it. The Republicans just voted down a one month extension of the law offered by Harry Reid, because they want something more lasting. The Democrats want more information on the program so they can investigate more Republicans be more informed about the correct course of action, so Bush is releasing some classified NSA documents to Congress. Hopefully, the bipartisanship Congress displayed yesterday on the tax rebate diversion (here's a shiny new toy america ! Don't worry your pretty little head) will manifest itself once again on this surveillance issue. Communications have changed quite a bit from 1978. Back then, there weren't cell phones or the internet, for instance. Let's come up with a sensible plan that will enable us to monitor suspected terrorists without totally trashing the Constitution. It can be done. It isn't even that difficult. A key idea here is - foreign terrorist actors are NOT protected under the US Constitution. That's why spying on foreign agents and foreign lands has always been legal, without going through the courts. Terrorism is a new kind of enemy. We need new kinds of powers to effectively fight it.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
As misguided fear took over the brains of, roughly, 30% of Americans….false narratives about why Junior was acting like he was acting became more and more prominent.
The most prominent of all these false narratives is contained in what King says here.
It is a fact that Junior went to telecoms BEFORE 9-11 for the sole purpose of gaining their cooperation to illegally collect the communications of Americans INSIDE the U.S. Qwest is one company that rejected the Bush/Cheney illegal plan. Qwest received no government contracts for refusing to cooperate with lawlessness. AT&T didn't refuse to commit crimes with the president.
Without doubt or equivocation….Junior has repeatedly and ongoingly broken the FISA law passed by Congress in 1978….not because, as King wrongly states, that technology has changed….but because Bush Junior said, as CinC, he had no limitations upon him to obey ANY law while he was protecting the country in a time of war. Torture, Guantanomo, secret rendition are all part of this lawless package which includes spying on Americans without warrants.
This, of course, is unapologetic lawlessness.
The argument since 2005, when we learned a bit about the White House lawlessness, has been muddied and distorted, like King's piece here, and in reality is about whether the president of the U.S. can violate the law and the Constitution without recourse.
The GOP says yes, the president is above the law. Many Dems say no.
To add insult to crime…..Bush doesn't simply want a FISA re-write clearing up foreign to foreign communications that pass through American equipment. Everyone already agrees on that point.
Bush wants immunity for all involved in the lawlessness. The reason he wants immunity for crimes committed by AT&T and others is because HE WOULD BE IMPLICATED HIMSELF in their criminality. If telcos have to face court cases over this stuff, Bush's criminality will become public knowledge.
And since EVERYTHING is about The Leader….that can't be allowed.
Bush wants, along with the immunity stuff, NO OVERSIGHT in the area of spying on Americans. No FISA oversight, no Congressional oversight. No accountability. He is a rogue president. That's how we would expect a rogue president to act.
Hopefully Chris Dodd, Russ Feingold and others will filibuster the unAmerican, unConstitutional and totalitarian bill Bush wants passed so desperately.
Protect America Act……I mean….how craven ARE these guys?