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Police State - The GOP House approves FISA bill to spy on your phones calls and Internet without a search warrant.
- Republicans wrap themselves in the flag and then vote to abolish the Bill of Rights in the name of "national security".
- Ignoring civil liberties, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are expected to rubber stamp the bill before the end of the year.
By Gary;
Seriously, does the Republican Party even exist?
At election time Republican candidates pretend to care about the Constitution. Remember in January 2011 how the new GOP House read the Constitution on the House floor? Well, it was all an act. Pure political Bullshit to keep those Tea Party yokels back home entertained and passive.
I fully expect the Marxist Democrats to eagerly build a centralized Big Brother State. But aren't Republicans supposed to be an opposition party? And if the GOP and Democrats are working together to build a Police State then there is the question: "Is there only one political party in America?"
See our article about both parties joining together and giving the military the power to jail Americans without a trial.
The FISA Amendments Act which is expiring at year’s end, allows the government to electronically eavesdrop on Americans’ phone calls and e-mails without a probable-cause warrant so long as one of the parties to the communication is believed outside the United States.
The communications may be intercepted “to acquire foreign intelligence information.”
The government has also interpreted the law to mean that as
long as the real target is al-Qaida, the government can wiretap purely domestic
e-mails and phone calls without getting a warrant from a judge.
The measure is
sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and the Obama administration has called
its passage a top
intelligence priority.
The bill generally requires the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court to rubber-stamp terror-related electronic surveillance requests that ensnare Americans’ communications.
Only 7 Republicans voted against warrantless wiretapping
The bill generally requires the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court to rubber-stamp terror-related electronic surveillance requests that ensnare Americans’ communications.
Only 7 Republicans voted against warrantless wiretapping
Totals | Republican | Democrat | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Yea | 301 |
70%
| 227 | 74 |
Nay | 118 |
28%
| 7 | 111 |
Not Voting | 10 |
2%
| 5 | 5 |
Required: | Simple Majority |
(www.govtrack.us)
The Government Spying On You
"The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday approved the extension of legislation that authorized a sweeping warrantless wiretapping program started under the Bush Administration. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 gave the government broad powers to monitor international phone calls and emails, and granted legal immunity to telecommunication companies that had participated in the wiretapping program before 2008.
The law was set to expire in 2012, but the Senate bill — passed by a 13-2 vote in the committee — would extend the law for another five years...Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mark Udall (D-CO) both opposed the extension of the law.
The two senators had asked James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, to disclose the number of people whose communications were reviewed by government agents, and whether or not the law had been used to collect communications of law abiding Americans...".
Judge Napolitano
The House voted to extend a statute of the FISA law which allows the federal government to listen to your calls and read your emails without a warrant. Judge Napolitano joined Fox and Friends to voice his outrage at this blatant disregard for the Fourth Amendment.
He said, "This will bring us like East Germany when everybody is watching everybody else and people are afraid to be themselves because they know someone is listening. That's why we have the Fourth Amendment."
FISA Regime: 'US govt admits spooking, to spy more'
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) countered during a more than hour debate on the floor, urging the House to defeat the measure. “I think the government needs to comply with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution all the time,” she said. “We can be safe while still complying with the Constitution of the United States.”
The American Civil
Liberties Union, in a letter
signed by 20 rights groups, urged the House to oppose the measure. The groups
echoed Wyden, saying if the measure is passed, lawmakers should require the
Obama administration to publicize how often the act vacuums Americans’
communications and to ensure that “information collected under the FAA is not
repurposed for government uses unrelated to national security.”
Many Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. John Conyers
(D-Michigan), were willing to extend the spy powers for three years, while
adding in the safeguards that Wyden and the ACLU noted. “That’s a compromise you
can’t turn from,” Conyers said.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said Wednesday he would lift his procedural hold that bars the Senate from voting on the FISA Amendments
Act, which the Obama administration maintains is its top
national-security priority.
The only real issue is for how many years the spy
bill will be extended for and, according to Wyden, whether any transparency or
privacy protections will be written into the spy program that Congress codified
in 2008.
The FISA Amendments Act generally requires the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, a secret tribunal set up in the wake of President Richard M. Nixon-era eavesdropping, to rubber-stamp terror-related electronic surveillance requests.
The government does not have to identify the target or facility to be monitored. It can begin surveillance a week before making the request.
(Wired.com/House) (Wired.com/Senate)
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