While the Senate was ready to vote on the FISA Amendments Act today, Senators Russell Feingold and Christopher Dodd fought to keep them from casting a final vote and jamming the bill through Congress.
In a statement released by Feingold, he says:
"I am pleased we were able to delay the vote on FISA until after the July 4th holiday instead of having it jammed through. I hope that over the July 4th Holiday, Senators will take a closer look at the deeply flawed legislation and understand how it threatens the civil liberties of the American People. It is possibly to protect this country against the terrorists while also protecting the rights and freedoms that define our nation."
For those who haven't read up on the new FISA bill, it would basically give the government the right to peek into the private overseas phone conversations, emails, and even text messages of all Americans. Part of the bill would give retroactive immunity to telephone companies that gave the government private information of Americans.
Feingold says the FISA bill would also allow the government to take all international communications and put it in a giant database. The most outrageous part of the bill states that there does not have to be any court review or evidence that anyone is doing anything wrong before the government intrudes on the person's privacy. The government will simply have complete access to the personal overseas communications of every single American.
Feingold continues to say, "It's a vast power that has no limits. There's no regulation of it."
Obviously, the new FISA bill was created to help the government "track down terrorists"....just like the Iraq War was orchestrated to find weapons of mass destruction. It all makes perfect sense.
It's angering that the government has instilled so much fear in the minds of Americans, that many are ready to hand over precious civil liberties in the name of "protection." In fact, it's sickening. All the Republicans who are avid gun owners and want to protect their constitutional right to bear arms have NO RIGHT to say an American's right to privacy is not as important. This proposed FISA bill simply violates the right to privacy. Fear tactics should not trick Americans into giving up their freedoms. The Senate needs to wake up.
The more the Bush Administration remains in power, the more the United States mirrors the image George Orwell illustrated in his book 1984. Big brother really is watching, and members of our own Senate are allowing it to happen.
Feingold admits that many of the Senators have not completely read the bill and do not know the logistics of it. By holding off on the bill until after July 4th, hopefully the Senate will have the opportunity to think things over and not just hand the Bush Administration exactly what they want.
If you want to watch TYT's interview with Senator Feingold, please check out the video below:
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FISA Bill On Hold!
Posted Jun 26th 2008 8:23PM by Ana Kasparian
Filed under: Iraq, Politics, George Bush, Media, Young Turks
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Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 23)
31. Frankly, I don't see what the problem is. I thought that the Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress, so how could there even be a chance of the FISA bill passing?
Oh, I forgot. The Democrats in Congress are, for the most part, a bunch of girly-men who fold up like cheap tents and abandon their so-called "principles" every time G.W. Bush, the lamest of all ducks, smirks in their direction. They are pathetic.
And this is the bunch y'all are expecting "change" from? Good luck with that.
The Old Ranger at 1:09AM on Jun 27th 2008
32. Obama and many Left Wingnuts believe the best way to fight terrorism is to treat it as a law enforcement issue. Obama has even stated that he would prefer to try OBL in Criminal Court rather than as a terrorist who needs a big bomb planted up his butt. Waiting for terrorists to commit acts as with WTC bombing and other terrorists acts we have seen worldwide, is dumb. You want to stop the killing of hundreds and thousands before it happens, not to wait then have grand juries, arrest warrants, and then sending US Marshalls around the world to make arrests.
Obama then really does not make to much sense when talking about issues anyway. In February, Obama spoke about the multiple gun killing that just happened in Illinois. Obama said " whatever it takes" to end gun violence, nonetheless acknowledged that the Second Amendment secures the right to individuals right to keep and bear arms. The Drudge Report said "Obama supports Individual Gun Rights" Then in the same news conference where Obama was talking about the gun killings in Illinois, Obama stated he supports the Washington DC gun ban, which is a complete ban on having any sort of handgun and readily usable firearm in a persons home. Obama says he supports the 2nd Amendment, then says he supports the complete gun ban in DC, the one the Supreme Court just ruled against.
Obama applies the same type of logic in war against terrorism.
Obama says he support a principle or a goal, then says he supports policies that are the direct opposite.
Obama will empower private markets, by increasing government control. He'll preserve our private market health care by having government take it over. He'll lower taxes by raising taxes. He'll cut government by increasing government spending. He'll create jobs by raising taxes and fees on business. He'll protect our results in Iraq by abandoning that country. He'll defeat the terrorists by not attacking them and sitting down to negotiate. He'll support our allies in Pakistan by invading them with military force. He'll do what ever it takes to stop threats to our nation by immediately announcing that he will never use our ultimate weapons and to stop government from listening in on terrorists phone calls.
Obama has shown what he thinks of your Second Amendment Rights by his prior endorsement of the complete DC gun ban and how he wants to fight terrorism . I wonder what he will say next week.
Robert OKane at 1:10AM on Jun 27th 2008
33. Okane:
I really find it to be the height of hypocracy. I mean how ironic can it get.
She writes a rant about civil liberties then uses her position to get my email address without my consent to leave me a hate filled message.
Among other things, not quite journalistic professionalism. I guess she is already qualified to work for the NY post.
I dont agree with her so she calls me a right wing douchebag. Thats fine if she wants to call me that but the irony is that her hero Osama is voting for it. I guess by comparison he can be nothing short of a right wing douchebag himself.
And how old is that bitch anyway. Is that something she inherited from her grandmother, a douchebag. I love it when libs get tripped up in their own ineptitude. basically an everyday occurence.
I think we should report that mindless little twit. what about it Okane, do we have a legit beef? Maybe rush would get a kick out of that. then again he probably wouldnt know ana kas whatever her name is from anna pornikova. About the same intelligence level.
german guy at 1:31AM on Jun 27th 2008
34. german guy, still pretending to be an attorney, writes....
"my great country, if you want to save my life, I wont ask how, i will just say thank you."
--------------------
I don't think your country wants to save your life.
Captain Negative at 2:32AM on Jun 27th 2008
35.
"New rule, from now on atleast some type of high school equivalency.
german guy at 12:37AM on Jun 27th 2008
--------------------
When will you obtain that G.E.D.? Come on back when you get it.
Captain Negative at 2:32AM on Jun 27th 2008
36. german guy, EVERY TIME you or anyone else hits the "add your comments" radio button, the comment is forwarded to the blogger - with the senders email address. EVERY TIME.
Obviously, Ana made a mistake in emailing a psycho like you. But there is no mystery as to how she obtained your email address. YOU SENT IT TO HER.
So come up out of your bunker. Nobody is coming to take you away... unless those commitment papers I filed on you have reached the courts.
Captain Negative at 2:33AM on Jun 27th 2008
37. There are no terrorist?
In a way yes there are none. Terrorism is a method, a technique, not an ideology, having a war on terrorism will be no more effective than having a war on Kung fu(a method of hand to hand combat) or grilling(a method of cooking).
By definition it can never end( how do you wipe out a method?) so any law passed to fight it shall be with us as long as we exist. We are giving away our freedom out of fear of some dark ages idiots who have no hope of overthrowing us or taking over our country unless we give it away.
Then again if they 'hate us for our freedom' not having any will make us safe I suppose. Personally I prefer to be at risk.
Also, when did a huge intrusive government become conservative? How did liberals become the side that wants government to mind it's own business?
tmo at 2:53AM on Jun 27th 2008
38. German Guy
People like you truly amaze me. In your first post, you basically state that because you're not doing anything wrong, let the Gov't take away a few of our hard fought for liberties and freedoms, and justify it under the guise of security. Well mister-man, I haven't done anything wrong either, but by God, my Dad didn't fight in WWII for his childrens' freedoms and liberties, just to have some idiot like you feel we don't need those that don't impact you. In case you haven't yet figured out what it's all about - ALL FREEDOMS AND ALL LIBERTIES BELONG TO EVERYONE, NOT JUST THE ONES YOU FEEL ARE NECESSARY. PERIOD. And stop with the "families of other countries lost to terrorism - that's their responsibility, not necessarily mine, or worth giving up one single liberty or freedom my forefathers fought to ensure. It boils down to, you're a conservative, and your kind is a dieing breed, and someday soon, reason and sanity will once again govern our nation, and you cons are running scared. Get used to it.
Bpers2001 at 3:08AM on Jun 27th 2008
39. How are domestic communications wired into America? Are they routed overseas and back into America? If this just happened to be the case, all calls would be subject to wiretap without warrant or probable cause. Software could be run against everyone looking for "Code Words." Are domestic calls routed outside the US and back? Ever follow this e-mail transmission?
Cecil Jones at 3:46AM on Jun 27th 2008
40. Congress shall pass no law abridging the Freedom of Speech. What makes this law sneeky is it intentionally targets "overseas" calls. Routing could make all calls come from "overseas." This law should be unconstitutional due to this loophole.
Cecil Jones at 3:55AM on Jun 27th 2008
41. German Guy
I did not like the e mail she sent to my e mail address because I believe if she has something to say, say it here and not at my e mail address.
CN
Yes, everytime you post on this news blog you use your name and e mail address. Then again, you are posting on AOL Blog site and is the rest of the personal information available to Ana along with your name. Does she has access to telephone or your address that AOL has on file???
When I send a post here I do not expect my e mail address to be used by Cenk,Ana etc to send nasty me e mails to me without my given consent for that information to be given to her.
Where does it end? What liberties can Ana take with your e mail adress and any other info she can get her hands on about you?
But pissing up a tree about her to AOL is not worth it. The News Blogs she puts out stink, even worse than Cenk's. Maybe if she were to take a course on Journalistic Ethics she would do better.
robert okane at 6:28AM on Jun 27th 2008
42. #26
"Help arrived, rather quickly in fact, (I think, I haven't actually seen much actual assistance yet). Along with W's gentle assurancce of "You'll come back better..." Why the banal platitudes? Because come November, their votes WILL matter.'
It's kind of hard to compare the two events. While Katrina wiped out one major city and a lot of smaller ones in one big blast, the flooding in the Midwest is something that developed and moved much more slowly over a number of days and weeks. It's a lot easier kind of "disaster" to respond to, both on a local and national level. And actually the effects of it are still just now being felt in some areas as the water moves down the Mississippi.
As for the banal platitudes, there were no less of them during Katrina. It's always political posturing, regardless of who does it.
BTW, our Democratic Governor decided he'd rather spend the day at a golf outing/fund raiser rather than visit the site of lake that disappeared and took a number of homes with it when a barrier separating it from a river broke under the strain of the storms. Frankly, I don't care. It's not like he was going to help out with the sandbagging efforts downstream. But if we're going to make an issue of stuff like that, it's worth noting that no particular party holds the franchise dropping the ball when it comes to taking advantage of political photo-ops.
Regarding the causes and responses to disasters (natural and otherwise) and their implications, you folks should really make up your minds. Dastardly conspiracy or rampant incompetence. It gets a little hard to buy into it being both simultaneously.
bob at 6:28AM on Jun 27th 2008
43. "Does she has access to telephone or your address that AOL has on file???"
No, she wouldn't have access to what AOL has in your account file.
bob at 6:39AM on Jun 27th 2008
44. GG,
On the up side:
A) You've managed to rattle her cage to the point where she actually took the time to contact you. Consider that a point in your favor.
B) You now have one of her email addresses. I'll betcha mac would pay a pretty penny for that.
bob at 6:49AM on Jun 27th 2008
45. German Guy
I think you have a legit bitch with her to where AOL would not be happy with her sending you a nasty personal e mail
robert okane at 7:11AM on Jun 27th 2008