Okay, I vented the other day because I was upset that so many were slamming Senator Obama regarding FISA. Like a good girl, after venting, I deleted my post. Yes, it felt good to vent because as I saw it, diehard supporters of Senator Obama were willing to throw him under the bus without discussing his record on the issue on the past, and his congressional record which clearly show his personal insistance and commitment to the constitutional rights of all of us.
I grant you that Senator Obama's released statement on the upcoming FISA vote in the Senate was vague to say the least and did not give his supporters an insight into how he would vote regarding the bill crafted by the House on the revisions of the FISA bill. My personal opinion? It was deliberately vague in that I don't believe Senator Obama wanted to signal how he would vote just yet, but others may feel differently and you have every right to feel that way. No I am not pandering, I am just recognizing that everyone has a right to an opinion.
After having my "temper tantrum" (which by the way felt good), I realized I needed to re-educate myself regarding the orgins of the FISA bill and Senator Obama's record in congress regarding it. You might call it the "re-education of me" (LOL).
History of FISA: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1<</strong>strong>978 is a U.S. federal law prescribing procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers" (which may include American citizens and permanent residents engaged in espionage and violating U.S. law: §1801(b)(2)(B)) on territory under United States control.
The Act was amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, primarily to include terrorism on behalf of groups that are not specifically backed by a foreign government.
An overhaul of the bill, the Protect America Act of 2007 was signed into law on August 5, 2007. It expired on February 17, 2008.
The USA PATRIOT Act, commonly known as the 'Patriot' act, is a controversial Act of Congress that United States President George W. Bush signed into law on October 26, 2001. The acronym stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001"
Please Note: All of this legislation occurred before Senator Obama entered congress.
Many of the act's provisions were to sunset beginning December 31, 2005, approximately 4 years after its passage. In the months preceding the sunset date, supporters of the act pushed to make its sunsetting provisions permanent, while critics sought to revise various sections to enhance civil liberty protections. In July 2005, the U.S. Senate passed a reauthorization bill with substantial changes to several sections of the act, while the House reauthorization bill kept most of the act's original language. The two bills were then reconciled in a conference committee that was criticized by Senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties for ignoring civil liberty concerns. The bill, which removed most of the changes from the Senate version, passed Congress on March 2, 2006 and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on March 9, 2006.
Barack Obama's Senate record regarding the March 2,2006 reauthorization of FISA:
12/16/2005: USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization
Barack Obama voted NO. Why? Because it left OUT this provision:
- Specifies that a recipient of a FISA production order can petition to a judge the order itself as well as the nondisclosure order
3/2/2006: A revised US PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization which included the above stated provision was presented for a vote. This time with an inclusion providing the ability to petition a judge Senator Obama voted YES.
8/3/2007: Foreign Intelligence Acquisition (S-1927):
Vote to pass a bill that authorizes the U.S. to monitor foreign electronic communications routed through the country.
(content of bill)
Barack Obama voted NO
2/12/2008FISA Amendments Act of 2007
S 2248 -
On the overall bill, Senator Obama was not present for the final passage, HOWEVER, he did vote on portions of this bill.
S Amdt 3907: (part one of the overall bill) Striking Telecommunications Companies' Civil Immunity for Surveillance
Vote to adopt an amendment that strikes Title II from the bill, in effect striking the civil immunity provisions for telecommunications providers and other electronic communications providers that have provided electronic surveillance.
Barack Obama voted YES: meaning he voted in favor of STRIKING OUT the civil immunity provision of the FISA bill.
Ammendment provision
S Amdt 3910: FISA as Exclusive Means for Conducting Electronic Surveillance:
Vote to adopt an amendment that states that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is the exclusive means by which surveillance can be conducted on domestic wire, oral, or electronic communications.
Barack Obama voted YES to this provision
My comment on this particular ammendment: I understand why Senator Obama voted yes on S Amdt 3910. If left unchecked, President Bush would see it as an opening to use other methods to also conduct secret surveillance on American citizens. By leaving the Bush administration no legal means other than to use the FISA courts, this ammendment tries to hold Bush in check (of course we all know Bush doesn't follow the rules and most likely has violated this ten times over, but can Senator Obama be held personally responsible for Bush's crimes?)
Current FISA bill up for a vote in the Senate:
I agree that the "immunity provision" violates our rights. It is unconstitutional. No argument there. But if you look at Senator Obama's record fighting for the "constitutionality of certain provisions of the PATRIOT ACT and FISA", I doubt very much he would reverse himself on this issue.
So what do we have? Senator Obama has consistently opposed the violation of constitutional rights in all FISA or PATRIOT Act ammendments that have come before him for a vote. (Please note that FISA and the PATRIOT ACT were acts of Congress before Senator Obama became a Senator and as such he is now faced with two existing laws which now must be ammended to strike out provisions that strike at a citizen's constitutional rights). Like the vote by Congress to allow Bush to invade Iraq, we must hold those that were in Congress at the time accountable for swallowing the lies presented to them by Bush and his cronies in Congress and enacted the PATRIOT Act in 2001 without safeguarding the constitution.
John McCain has consistently voted in favor of the very ammendments that Senator Obama voted against.
I grant you, the House of Representative Democrats "caved" and should be worthy of critism. But Senator Obama is not responsible for their votes and personally I feel they have put a huge burden on Senator Obama by presenting the Senate with a bill, that if Senator Obama loses his battle to remove the provision everyone is upset about, he will incur your wrath. Senator Obama I believe will do the right thing and work to remove that provision. If it is not taken out of the bill, like last time, and instead presented as an ammendment (like last time) which Obama voted against, then he has a dilema, doesn't he? If he votes against the FISA bill as it is written, he will be attacked as "soft on terrorism", if he votes for it, he will be attacked by his own supporters. I personally believe if it is not removed from the bill, Senator Obama will vote against it. Only time will tell, but I ask everyone to look at Senator Obama's history of votes regarding this issue and I believe you can see where he draws a line in the sand. No, Senator Obama has not favored infringing on our constitional rights, but John McCain has.
(PS: please don't point out spelling errors, there is no spellcheck here)
UPDATE: In order to answer those that are attacking my post, I decided to look up Senator Obama's EXACT wording in his statement where, as you claim he said he supports the FISA bill. I believe you saw only those words "supports the FISA bill" but you neglect the rest of his statement. Just as you attack MSM for taking out of context words by Senator Obama, you are doing the exact same thing.
HIS WORDS: Sen. Barack Obama issued a statement in support of the House's update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but said he would try to strip a provision granting immunity to telecommunication companies when the bill comes to a vote in the Senate next week.
Obama said there is "little doubt" that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of major telecommunications companies, "has abused [its] authority and undermined the Constitution by intercepting the communications of innocent Americans without their knowledge or the required court orders." "Given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as president, I will carefully monitor the program.
"[The bill] does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses."