Hawai'i Rep Tulsi Gabbard gave a short and moving speech supporting the Amash-Conyers amendment to defund NSA spying on innocent Americans and to require more transparency in the FISA court decisions.
http://www.flickr.com/...
The amendment was defeated by only 12 votes with those who support the Constitution (from both the GOP and the Democrats) losing out to those who are willing to throw the Constitution of the United States (and more particularly the Fourth Amendment) out the window in their pursuit of "terrorists".
Tulsi Gabbard is Hawaii's newest Representative and served in the Mideast prior to being elected to Congress. While supporting Vets and our obligations to them, she's not your usual hawkish congresswomen. Her up close and personal acquaintance with war has, as it seems to do with many who serve, convinced her that we need to curtail our wars.
When someone with first hand knowlege of the "War on Terror" votes against the NSA's massive spying on the U.S. population, you might think that the other Representative from Hawai'i would be humble enough to listen to her more informed counsel.
Not so. Hawaii's other Representative, Colleen Hanabusa, voted against the amendment. This, despite being deluged with phonecalls from constituents asking her to vote in favor of the amendment. According to her staff, these phone calls asked for a "yes" vote.
Fortunately, Rep Hanabusa is leaving her House seat at the end of this term. Unfortunately, it is because she is running against the far more progressive, Senator Brian Schatz (D) who has voted against FISA reauthorization, warning about the possible pitfalls:
"My first vote as United States Senator was against the FISA Amendments Act because it failed to provide transparency, accountability and reasonable limits when the federal government conducts surveillance for intelligence purposes. While I recognize that the FISA Amendments Act has helped to produce useful intelligence, I fear that we do not have a full understanding of the impact that this law has on the privacy of Americans. We need a comprehensive review of the FISA Amendments Act to ensure that Americans’ privacy and civil liberties are protected."
Tulsi Gabbard brought her military experience and expressed a more passionate view in the above clip:
Countless men and women from my state of Hawai'i and all across the country have worn the uniform and put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms and our liberties. I cannot in good conscience vote to take a single dollar from the pockets of hard-working taxpayers from across the country to pay for programs which infringe on the very liberties and freedoms our troops have fought and died for. Ben Franklin said, "They who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Let's keep Rep Tulsi Gabbard and Sen Brian Schatz working for us. We need these progressive in Congress.
https://secure.brianschatz.com/
http://www.votetulsi.com/
11:06 PM PT: One thing that makes Tulsi's action so brave is that she's part of the Democratic Party leadership (as DNC Vice-Chair). Yet, as a matter of personal conviction, she defied the President, Nancy Pelosi, and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. A true profile in courage.