Don't have a lot of time here, but breaking news from patriot Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI):
"BREAKING THE LAW IS PATRIOTIC"
This has to do with the story being reported this morning at
Raw Story that Bush is demanding EVEN MORE under FISA, even after the delightful **** *** he got from Congress this weekend.
Part of what Bush wants is a provision added to FISA that Telecomm companines who have been breaking the law up to right now this very minute should be shielded from liabilty for turning over customer information and phone calls to the government without warrants.
Yes, we need to immunize those criminal campaign contributors in advance of 2008, because the GOP is hurting for funds bad.
And Rep. Pete "Benedict Arnold" Hoekstra says that there should be no legal pentalty for that law-breaking because...trumpet sounds...violating the Constitution was the PATRIOTIC thing to do!!!!!
"These are companies who were doing the patriotic thing," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in an interview with Paul Gigot for Fox News's Journal Editorial Report on Saturday night. "They were helping the U.S. government, the American people, get the information that we believe we needed to keep us safe. They voluntarily participated, and now that the program is exposed, they've been open to all kinds of lawsuits."
Meanwhile, pundits were already building the case for expanding liability protections for telecommunications companies that help the government spy.
"The new legislation does not go far enough because, while it addresses liability for telecommunications companies under FISA, it does not look at companies' liabilities under other laws," wrote Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a former Federal Communications Commission commisioner, in a Monday article in the New York Sun. "This is an important point because the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups have many legal cases against various communications companies for cooperating with the federal government on many matters outside FISA."
Hoekstra in a statement released to RAW STORY Saturday night after the House passed his legislation said that, "he would use momentum from Congressional Republicans’ efforts to fix FISA to push for comprehensive reform of the law to...obtain retroactive liability for parties who may have aided the government."
Well, I just called this jack@sses' office and spoke to two of his staffers.
I asked them: Is it OK for ME to break the law, if I determine that what I am doing is "PATRIOTIC"? How do you think that would work out, overall, in our country, if everyone could just break the law and then say he or she was doing it for "PATRIOTIC" reasons?"
Rep. Hoekstra, you are a stain on our democracy. You sicken me. Advocating for the overthrow of the Constitution - that's treason.
Email Benedict Arnold here
Holland
184 South River Avenue
Holland, MI 49423
(616) 395-0030
Fax: (616) 395-0271
Muskegon
900 3rd Street, Suite 203
Muskegon, MI 49440
(231) 722-8386
Fax: (231) 722-0176
Cadillac
210 1/2 North Mitchell Street
Cadillac, MI 49601
(231) 775-0050
Fax: (231) 775-0298
Washington, D.C. Office
Washington, D.C.
2234 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-4401
Fax: (202) 226-0779
Go read the whole thing over at Raw Story because there is a good bit more detailed information re ACLU suits, etc.
Rep. Hypocrite Hoekstra speaks on the rule of law:
Mr. HOEKSTRA. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague from Arizona. My commitment is to work with the ranking member and with the gentleman from Arizona on making sure that this language, we move it to somewhere that we are all agreeable. I think we can find that common ground.
I just want to say I rise to support the gentleman from Arizona's amendment today. We need to set the record straight about our national security. Specifically, Congress must speak with a single voice, clear and unwavering, about the value of our intelligence information and about who makes decisions regarding its use. We need to speak now.
This amendment says the right things. We are at war. Every day our Armed Forces and intelligence services do battle with an enemy whose sole purpose is to kill Americans. This point sounds fairly basic. It is. But the point bears repeating as long as some individuals here in Washington behave as if they have forgotten that we are at war.
Our government has a vital interest in protecting sensitive national security information during a time of war. The United States Supreme Court has recognized this vital interest in preserving secrecy. This interest is not merely some speculative opinion. It is the law of the land. This amendment makes that point.
...
But we went through a process. Individuals who disclose sensitive national security information without authority undermine the rule of law. These people substitute their judgment for that of the President, and they exercise that authority when legally it does not even belong to them. These individuals may act for self-determined reasons, not in the best interests of the American people, but in their own interests. I think that is what makes it different. Unless they are prosecuted, they remain unaccountable to the American people for their actions.
link
Jokestra says that the "rule of law" must be respected - is this a joke, coming from a Republican such as himself?
Speaker: Representative Peter 'Pete' Hoekstra (MI)
Title: Hoekstra Votes for Legislation to Secure the Border, Improve Immigration Laws
Date: 2006-09-21
Location: Washington, DC
Speech
Hoekstra Votes for Legislation to Secure the Border, Improve Immigration Laws
Hoekstra: ‘Continuing to ignore the problem will not make it go away.’
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, today voted for a series of legislative initiatives designed to increase border security and better enforce immigration laws.
"Securing the border and enforcing immigration law are becoming more and more of an immediate issue," Hoekstra said. "The border and the rule of law in the United States must be respected."