seafan

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Fri Feb-15-08 01:18 PM
Original message

The only things set to expire tonight are telecom immunity and coercion to assist Bush's crimes.

Edited on Fri Feb-15-08 01:36 PM by seafan

Our original FISA laws of 1978 will be the law of the land once again at midnight tonight. Americans' Fourth Amendment rights will be legally protected, just as they were before Bush started spying on us. From the legal standpoint, Bush will be twisting in the wind tonight, for what he has done since he first seized office in January, 2001.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Bush is trying to shield himself from his own crimes here, by insisting on rescuing his *Protect America* Act. Pure and simple.

This is the definition of the Protect ~~America~~ Bush Act. Bush is hopping up and down, shouting Congress Putting US in Danger!!!

Bush is lying.

February 15, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush said Friday that "our country is in more danger of an attack" because of Congress' failure to extend a law that makes it easier for the government to spy on foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States. ..... Bush argues that without the extension, the intelligence community will not have the tools they need to protect the nation from terrorism. Democrats, equally adamant, accuse the president of fear-mongering and say he has the authority he needs to intercept terrorist communications, even if the law expires.

.....

Behind both sides' rhetoric, the issue of what the government can and can't do is complicated by a quirk in the temporary eavesdropping law adopted by Congress last August. It allows the government to initiate wiretaps for up to one year against a wide range of targets. It also explicitly compels telecommunications companies to comply with the orders, and protects them from civil lawsuits that may be filed against them for doing so.

But while the wiretap orders can go on for a year from the time they started, the compliance orders and the liability protections go away when the law expires Saturday night, says Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell.
"There is no longer a way to compel the private sector to help us," he said Thursday in an Associated Press interview.

Even if the law expires, the government can get an order from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to compel their cooperation. That court was created 30 years ago for just such a purpose. But McConnell rejects that option. He says the process of getting a court order ties intelligence agents up in red tape.
The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requires court permission to tap wires inside the United States. Changes in technology since then mean much of the world's computer and phone traffic passes through the United States, much of it on fiber-optic cable. Successive court cases say court orders are needed to listen in on any of them, McConnell said.

To get a court order, intelligence agents have to prove they have "probable cause" to believe a target is foreign agent or terrorist before being allowed to tap a line inside the United States, even if the communication originates and ends in a foreign country.

.....

The easy solution, say Democratic congressional leaders, is to extend the current law long enough to allow the House and Senate to work out the differences in their respective surveillance bills. The House finished its version in October, but the Senate did not finish until this week, pushing Congress hard up against the deadline.
The law had been set to expire on Feb. 1. The White House reluctantly agreed to a 15-day extension but refuses to approve any more, and has appealed to House leaders to simply approve the version approved by the Senate, which includes the legal immunity for telecom companies the president wants.

The immunity provision protects phone companies that helped the government in its warrantless wiretapping program conducted outside the authority of the FISA court, a feature the House intentionally left out.
Unable to muster the votes to extend the current law, House leaders say they'd rather let it lapse and operate under the old FISA rules than be pressured by the White House into accepting the Senate bill. House Republicans protested with a walkout Thursday.

Media Matters:

February 14, 2008

Fox's Goler falsely claimed FISA will expire February 15

Summary: On Special Report, Wendell Goler falsely asserted that "the president is trying ... to get the House to pass a permanent extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)" and that "(t)he president threw down the gauntlet, said he's not going to accept any more extensions, that this act must be permanently renewed before it expires in two days." In fact, FISA is not set to expire February 15; the Protect America Act's revisions to FISA are set to expire.

To reiterate:

In fact, FISA is not set to expire February 15; the Protect America Act's revisions to FISA are set to expire.

And what are those revisions that will expire?

Why, just that little "immunity" part and the "forced telecom compliance" part.

This is why Bush is screaming and throwing punches so loudly. After tonight at midnight, there is no legal immunity for what the telecoms have done AND there is no longer any forced compliance that they continue to do Bush's criminal bidding. After midnight tonight the original tried-and-true FISA laws are back in effect. And Bush's illegal activity is exposed to prosecution.

Bush's continuous lying and criminal actions are endangering us all. How much longer will the people of this country tolerate this warmongering charlatan?