Holt blasts Bush’s surveillance fearmongering.
By on Feb 13th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Holt blasts Bush’s surveillance fearmongering.
Earlier this morning, President Bush used his bully pulpit to pressure the House, saying they should “immediately” adopt the overreaching Senate surveillance bill that passed yesterday or “jeopardize the security of our citizens.” On the House floor today, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) responded, saying the President wants legislation that “regards the ordinary American with suspicion” and that the House already passed legislation that balances security and civil liberties. Watch it:
Both the ACLU and Firedoglake are urging people to contact House members to tell them to keep retroactive immunity for telecoms out of the final bill.
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too late…..
Boehner is already leading a charge against it like they did in the senate.
powerless and impotent….your representatives are working against you. stop listening to words…start watching their ACTIONS…
GET ANGRY
February 13th, 2008 at 3:50 pmThis is our most desperate hour.
Help me, Obi-Rush Holt, you’re our only hope.
All kidding aside, our next line of defense is the House of Representatives. Contact yours and express your outrage at retroactive immunity.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:50 pmCongress is digging it’s own grave here.
The wiretapping, that the administration engages in, is SOLELY designed to spy on political and media adversaries.
PERIOD… END OF STATEMENT!
Contrary to all the bullshit propaganda, the FISA laws DO NOT inhibit investigative agencies from IMMEDIATELY pursuing any leads. They are allowed 36 hours, after the start of a wiretap, to secure a warrant.
They only reason they want to bypass FISA, is that they would NEVER be granted warrants for their ILLEGAL politically motivated wiretaps.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:54 pmThere is a big difference between monitoring the activities of suspected terrorists and spying on anyone with no accountability. What’s wrong with surveillance with a warrant? If the process for getting warrants makes them all but useless, it seems that problem needs to be fixed instead of extending obscene amounts of power for the President.
When our leaders can spy on anyone they want to with impunity, what’s to stop them from spending more time spying on political enemies than on terrorists? I feel far more “jeopardized” by the enemy within than I do from Al-Qaeda.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:55 pmJust sent off some mail to my rep…Jim McDermit, he tends to vote for the rights of the public and how his district feels about issues.
Buck Fush
February 13th, 2008 at 3:55 pmFace it we lost.
We tried.
but these fascists are winning.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:55 pmMcDermott I mean, what was i thinking.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:56 pmI think he means our CORPORATE citizens.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:02 pmComment by RUCerious — February 13, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
The Farce Is With You, obviously!
February 13th, 2008 at 4:02 pmPLC, Oy!
February 13th, 2008 at 4:07 pmAccording to Bu$h, Americans are in jeapordy AS WE SPEAK unless this bill is passed. However, we will not accept a bill that does not have telecom immunity.
So, immunity for corporations is more important than protecting Americans.
Surreal.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:11 pmFace it we lost.
We tried.
but these fascists are winning.
Comment by overlap — February 13, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
No we haven’t
No we didn’t.
No they aren’t.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:15 pmI called Sam Johnson Tx-03. He would not say his Telco position on the phone.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:22 pmSo Bush seems to be saying that an attack is imminent. If that’s so, what is he doing to stop it? He has all the authority he wants to spy on the “terrorists”. He will still have the authority he needs to spy on the “terrorists” if this bill expires.
It’s all just a bunch of BS and hopefully the Democrats have had their belly full and will not roll over and play dead again.
Bush and the Republicans seem to think that if there is an attack between now and the election, it will be good for the Republicans. I disagree. All that the Democrats need to say is “look, he has all these extra powers he took by attacking our rights to privacy and he still couldn’t keep us safe”.
I can see the ad now, 911 – They (the Republicans) didn’t keep us safe then and XXX – They can’t keep us safe now. Do you want more of the same?
February 13th, 2008 at 4:26 pm“GET ANGRY”
Comment by rastaman — February 13, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
Oh, I’m ANGRY alright… Today I called Senator Casey’s office and gave his aide an earful… Sadly I couldn’t speak directly to Casey because I’m quite sure that my message will be truncated. ;)
Unless you think he’ll pass along my suggestion that the senator should grow a nutsack and stand up and against this criminal administration?
February 13th, 2008 at 4:27 pmThey only reason they want to bypass FISA, is that they would NEVER be granted warrants for their ILLEGAL politically motivated wiretaps.
Comment by JPV
It also doesn’t seem to occur to them that if they can spy on the Democratic representatives under the guise of this law, then the Democrats will be able to spy on them when Obama is President. I hope that they don’t do it, but it would serve them right if they did.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:27 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs
John McCain’s inspirational video. Had to share it with you guys. Enjoy it ‘my friends!’
February 13th, 2008 at 4:45 pmFunny, I distinctly remember George Bush saying after 9/11 that if we change our daily routines, living in constant faer and always looking over our shoulder, “the terrorists have won.”
Ever since, it has been one violation of our freedoms after another, and when Democrats stand in the way, they raise the spectre of terrorism to intimidate people into signing away those rights.
And now Bush and McCain both have made statements that the Democrats, if they win the Presidency, will “undo all these [freedom-violating] programs” and “return to a pre-9/11 mindset” when we lived without a healthy dose of fear and without looking over our shoulder every minute of the day.
Funny that.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:00 pmAt what point, will the Joint Chiefs of Staff take the President and Vice President into custody? Will that be after BushCo has nuked an American city and blames it on the Iranians?
At what point will the media become interested that the current administration has no plans of leaving the White House? Will that be after BushCo has nuked an American city and blames it on the Iranians?
At what point will anyone in our intelligence services get off their ASSES and do something about this current administration before something catastrophic happens? Will that be after BushCo has nuked an American city and blames it on the Iranians?
At what point, if ever, will we be done with Bush and Cheney? They are trying to tie the next Presidents hands (if we actually get a new Presient) by getting this FISA-telecom immunity passed now, so it can cover what they intend on doing to us Americans in the future from a technological standpoint.
Couldn’t the telecoms just stop it all now and tell the Bush Administration to shove it up their ass?! You know, if you stop and think about it, they are probably just as sick of Bush/Cheney as we are.
Little boy king george is having a tantrum and the Dems just cave every time.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:33 pmJust a different train of thought here:
Could it be that the telecoms have been duped like the rest of us about the war on terror, Iraq and illegal spying? Stop and look at it from the telecom’s point. ATT & Verizion were approached prior to 9-11 about this. It’s not like the Administration said “hey in a few months, our country will be attacked.” They couldn’t say that even though the 52 PDB prior to 9-11 were showing the warning signs were there. In the end, the WH didn’t ignore PDF’s, but were treated as if they were ignored to the American public. (Remember what Condi said, “we had no ideal they would use planes.”)
So what exactly did the WH tell the telecoms to justify what they were doing, even though it was before 9-11? My point is that it is understandable if they were approached after 9-11, but they weren’t. I bet we are going to find out that the congressional offices of all the Dems have been wiretapped all this time and that is what BushCo has on them.
So if I were ATT & Verizon, I’d be getting sick of their crap by now. Remember that just recently, one of the telecoms cut off the wire-tapping capabilities to the DOJ becasuse they hadn’t paid their bill.
Can’t have it both ways GeoDick. I bet the teleco’s are putting all kinds of pressure on Dick Cheney about now. Was ATT&Verizon part of the Cheney Secret Energy (&Telecom) Task Force?
February 14th, 2008 at 12:02 am