This FISA Bill didn't matter - what you do next does
Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 03:31:45 PM PDT
Hi.
Introductions first. A lot of you know me, some of you don't. If you want to comment on this piece afterwards, before you type, do me the favor of reading this before you start talking about trolling. K? K.
At any rate, I'm like you, and was really pissed at the FISA nonsense. But then I got to thinking about it. I realized then that this bill is not worth my anger at the Democrats...it's worth action, but not anger.
And there are three reasons why below the fold.
1. Democrats were threatened to pass this bill.
Don't believe me? Ask Trent Lott.
Without mentioning a specific threat to the Capitol, Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) ominously advised Thursday that Congress needed to pass changes to terrorist surveillance laws before leaving for the August recess and warned that otherwise "the disaster could be on our doorstep."
When asked if people should leave Washington, D.C., during the month of August, Lott responded, "I think it would be good to leave town in August, and it would probably be good to stay out until September the 12th."
Maybe not as direct as, 'Vote our way or we let Cheney at your kids', but when you add it up with Bush threatening to hold over the Congress AND the 'actionable intelligence' that something is SUPPOSEDLY going down before 9/11...yeah.
So I don't blame Democrats for being afraid. Hell, these guys are already locking up US citizens in military jails without charge and transporting prisoners overseas for torture parties. What, you think they're going to be nicer to a politician of the other party?
2. The bill sunsets in six months.
You may claim that's a weak reason, but the truth of the matter is, you have a Friedman Unit to organize against another version of this bill. You have until January to make yourself a pain in the neck to your Congress. Use it wisely.
But finally, and the biggest reason of all.
3. This bill means nothing.
I mean, literally, nothing. Hold your retort a second.
This is an administration that has admitted to breaking FISA for years. Glenn Greenwald has been reporting this to you for years.
There is not a single bit of authority in any of this for the absurd and dangerous proposition that the President has the right to violate a criminal law passed by Congress. Period. The Administration is trotting out lawyers to make legalistic arguments designed to cloud this extremely clear issue, but none of that can change the fact that Bush defenders are arguing that he has the right to enage in conduct which Congress made it a crime to engage in, and there is nothing in the law which gives a President that right. To the contrary, as one would expect, it has been repeatedly made clear that under our system of Government, the President does not possess the authoritarian right to engage in behavior which Congress expressly prohibits under the law.
Bush defenders are primarily relying upon cases which said that the Executive has authority inherently under the Constitution to order warrantless eavesdropping on Americans. But that is not the issue, and they have to know that. The issue is not whether the President has this authority to eavesdrop without a warrant but whether it is legal for him to do so in the face of a Congressional law which makes it a crime to engage in such conduct. And none of the authorities they cite conclude that the President has such a royal power. Not one.
This bill is not retroactive. This bill cannot absolve him of crimes committed. This bill doesn't even mean anything to him, because, as we saw in 2001, when they AMENDED FISA for this creature, his administration said it was good as it was:
The reforms in those measures (the PATRIOT Act) have affected every single application made by the Department for electronic surveillance or physical search of suspected terrorists and have enabled the government to become quicker, more flexible, and more focused in going "up" on those suspected terrorists in the United States.
One simple but important change that Congress made was to lengthen the time period for us to bring to court applications in support of Attorney General-authorized emergency FISAs. This modification has allowed us to make full and effective use of FISA's pre-existing emergency provisions to ensure that the government acts swiftly to respond to terrorist threats. Again, we are grateful for the tools Congress provided us last fall for the fight against terrorism. Thank you.
They don't care about the law. Never did. If you took out FISA tomorrow, they wouldn't care. If you strengthened FISA instead, it wouldn't matter. Hell, you could require that Bush appear before the court in clown shoes and rubber diapers for every wiretap and...it wouldn't happen, and they'd still tap. Do you expect different?
So now, we work for January. Or at least I will. Here's what you can do.
Give your Congressman hell. Impromptu signage outside their office that reads "I support wiretapping Americans! Ask inside!" works real good, too.
Flood your local newspapers. While you're at it, get on your local talk shows and bring this up. Don't try and do national ones. Instead, get your local talk show talking about how many felonies they've committed breaking the LAST law.
Lastly, get together with nice folks like the DFA and see if you can add a body to a campaign involving this - or see if you can get one started.
And with that, I'm off to work. Hope to see you there.
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