Wow! Great tool from MoveOn.org ! Automated LTTE Form!

[rpgamerd00d]

political.moveon.org/lte/lte_t.html?zip=77326<e_campaign_id=46

Zip = Find your own zipcode and replace.

I am not sure what the lte_campaign_id is, but I assume (with high degree of confidence) that it has to do directly with the Wiretapping issue. I probably should not claim that this could be used for other issues you might want to write to your newspaper about, as it might mess up MoveOn's database. But for this issue, I feel safe posting the link.

Copy of MoveOn Letter:

The push for a real investigation into the president's illegal wiretapping program is picking up steam. Yesterday, the first Republican right-wing Rep. Heather Wilson, called for a "painstaking" review of the program.1 It's especially significant because Wilson heads a House subcommittee that oversees the NSA. Today, we learned that two judges from the secret intelligence court warned that the program "ran a significant risk of being declared unconstitutional."2

It's obvious to members of both parties that the president is breaking the law with his domestic spying program. The question is: are they going to let him get away with it?

The only way Congress is going to continue to take this seriously is if they hear from concerned Americans now. Can you write a letter to the editor of your local paper?

You can write and send a letter in just a few minutes through our online tool, at:

The op-ed page is often the most-read page in the newspaper and politicians pay special attention to it to understand how their community is responding to important issues. Seeing letters from concerned Americans will send them the message that we're not going to let the president off the hook. Our tool allows you to find papers near you and submit your letter online. We even provide talking points.

Here are some basic points you can use, but please remember that when you write your letter, it's really important to speak from your heart.

* The president is breaking the law. If Congress doesn't hold him accountable, they are telling us that the president is above the law.

* The president already has the power to immediately wiretap suspected terrorists. The law offers the president the flexibility to wiretap suspected terrorists immediately and get a court order up to three days later.3

* The domestic spying program is a dragnet that has led to innocent Americans. The Bush administration insists that the illegal wiretapping program is only applied to suspected terrorists.4 Now, both the New York Times5 and the Washington Post6 have reported that the program is a fishing expedition that often leads to innocent Americans. On Monday, the attorney general would not confirm that the program didn't eavesdrop on innocent Americans. 7

* Opposition to the president's power grab is bipartisan. Despite Karl Rove's desire to turn this into an election issue, even threatening to take electoral revenge on Republicans who break with the president,8 Republicans and Democrats have questioned his authority.9 As Congresswoman Wilson points out, the administration's reluctance to come clean, "has deepened her apprehension about whom the agency is monitoring and why."10

The president knows he's breaking the law so he's desperately trying to change the subject, using misleading terms like "terrorist surveillance program" to describe illegal spying on Americans in the United States. He's in dangerous waters right now, and he knows it. With momentum building against him, it's important to turn up the heat.

The ad you're helping us air on CNN this week is one important part of this fight—it reminds people what happened the last time a president thought he was above the law. The next step is take our personal voices to the public. One of the best ways to do that is to write a letter to the editor of your local paper.

Can you take a few minutes to write one today?

Together, we can make sure this president doesn't get away with undermining one of the core values enshrined in our Constitution—protection against abuse of power by a system of checks and balances.

[savemefromdumbya]

1. Did everyone sign the petition?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x338199

[zbdent]

2. Great.

:sarcasm:

So, moveon.org is advocating astroturfing? BLATANTLY?

[rpgamerd00d]

3. Here is mine.

The Bush Administration claims they are not breaking the FISA law. Their defense claims three things.

1) Bush claims that FISA is not the exclusive law on wiretapping, citing the phrase "except as authorized by statute" in section 1809.
2) Bush claims that the Authorization to Use Military Force against Afghanistan (AUMF) is exactly that statutorial exception.
3) Bush claims that the reason they didn't just use FISA was because its not fast enough.

These things are patently untrue. The AUMF is not an exception to FISA. The AUMF does not include any language regarding wiretapping, nor does it imply the involvement of any military or government forces inside the USA. In fact, Bush asked the Congress to add "and in the United States" to the AUMF, and this request was specifically denied by Congress. That makes it clear that no operations of the AUMF are allowed to occur in the US. Remember, the AUMF was passed to allow the invasion of Afghanistan, and only covered the force allowed to be used in doing that task.

There is also no way a more general statute such as the AUMF can override a more specific statute like FISA, this is settled law by the courts. In addition, all prior declarations of war occurred before FISA even existed, so no other declarations of war can be used as an examples, even though Gonzalez implied they were.

Lastly, it is clear that FISA could have been used. It could have been modified as needed if Bush had just asked for Congress to modify it. It has already been modified many times since the Sept 11 attacks, by exactly such requests from Bush. There is no plausible reason for Bush to think that another such request would have been denied.

The most devastating part of this entire scandal, is that a few, brave, honest Republicans totally agree that Bush has violated the law. This is in addition to every renouned legal scholar in the country, prior administration officials, judges and lawyers around the country. This is a clear sign that this activity is completely illegal.

Hardline Republicans are now trying to cover up Bush's felony. They are trying to get FISA changed to make this illegal wiretapping, legal. This is hardly surprising given the culture of corruption in the Republican party. A party that just elected John Boehner to clean up lobbying even though he has ties to the Jack Abramoff scandal and ties to lobbyists, and put Tom DeLay, who is under criminal indictment, to a submittee overseeing the Justice Department. Tomorrow I expect the Republicans will appoint John Gotti to head up a task force to "clean up" the mafia.