Steny Hoyer backs down from bad FISA bill!
By John Amato Thursday Oct 04, 2007 2:15pmRep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House Majority Leader, postponed a press conference announcing new reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after progressive lawmakers banded together and said they would fight any legislation that did not include a set of eight principles on wiretapping that preserve the "rule of law."
Stoller fills us in...
I just got word from the ACLU that a new and bad FISA bill is about to be unveiled tomorrow at 1:30pm by Steny Hoyer in a press-only briefing. Telecom immunity is not in the bill, but the Senate is pressing hard for that to be included...read on
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Back from the "bad design" zone.
Frist.
WP went into its default setting...lol
Hey John, do you see the reason the defeat of Murtha for majority leader was so important? These thugs play all angles.
Whew! That was bizarre! Good to know it wasn't just me. Anytime things go strange on the computer, the first thing I think of is, Was it something I did?
The Democrats will cave and give Bush and the telcos everything they want and more. Why do you think this story is being released on Friday with the announcement scheduled for Saturday. Steny Hoyer is an arrogrant a-hole trader to his country and party.
The telcos will get their "retroactive" immunity and the bill will probably be made permanent. No warrant will be necessary to tap all our communications because you're guilty of something they just haven't told you what that is yet.
MN Sen Amy Klobuchar is visiting my workplace next week, and I'm seriously considering risking my job in order to tell her how I feel about her votes in the Senate, including her support of the FISA amendment...
Well, that was an interesting trip... :)
Anyway...please dems... put together a decent bill, don't make it worse... and you might as well consult with the ACLU now or fight them later in the courts.
One thing for sure, Washington needs more intelligence.
burden of proof
that's what our justice systom is based on.
telecoms gathering info beforehandthen getting the proof after the fact is not legal.
Hoover learned this the hard way.
Go progressives.
Keep fighting for a fair bill-FISA courts.
anon @ 3:
That's what I was thinking. But I don't know what Murtha's position is on this issue.
Rest assured the Dems will triangulate their rationalization for cramping our civil liberties further. I've given up hope for the go-along-to-get-along wimps and their goosestepping buddies on the other side of the aisle.
"Dems Back Down" ???
Quick. ALERT THE MEDIA!!
Doh.
The progressive caucus has one Senator:
http://cpc.lee.house.gov/index.cfm?ContentID=166&ParentID=0&SectionID=4&...
Geez.
Hey guys, here is a link to plug into the aclu's effort to get folks to phone in to the dems and let them know that we want them to agree to the eight preconditions set forth by the dem's progressive caucus. Link to it and flood them with calls. We don't want to move further to a police state than we already are!!!!
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?alertId=722&pg=makeACall&page=User...
also, huff po's political page has a pretty good explaination of the progressive caucus's eight preconditions.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/05/dems-postpone-rollout-of-_n_672...
Heres the link to the cpc's explaination too! Make the calls...and as always, be polite, short, sweet (I know, they are dolts, but what can you do...)
http://cpc.lee.house.gov/index.cfm?ContentID=246&ParentID=0&SectionID=93...
These 72 progressive Democrats ought to be leading the party. Well, we'll see how 2008 turns out. A schism might be just what's needed.
awesome news
Telecoms want immunity because there's evidence floating around which they weren't able to destroy. How many other lines of evidence have the telecoms destroyed? They may not be guilty of FISA violations, but they could be found guilty of obstruction of justice. the telecom's problem is when the illegal FISA violations supported war crimes. how do the telecoms propose getting immunity for war crimes? Blackwater isn't immune to the law. Why should the telephone companies?
Quest CEO refused to cooperate. Why didn't the other telecoms refuse to cooperate with illegal activity?
Peace @ 5:
This defeatism brought to you by 'Peace,' with the message, go back to sleep and then waste your vote in 2008.
Curious @ 18:
AND THEN HE WAS FIRED.
ALL of the telcos are following special (aka 'secret') executive orders.
ALL OF THEM.
Try to snap out of this nonsense about Qwest. They are all doing what they have been ordered to do. When the country starts to find out about Bush's secret executive orders, people are going to be NOT amused.
getalife @ 12:
It's a HOUSE caucus. The only reason why it has a Senator is that he was in the House before and helped found the caucus.
Albatross @ 6:
She is a junior Senator. Her votes have generally been good, but junior Senators are under a host of pressures and that six-month extension bill wasn't the end of the world.
She's serving under senior Senator Norm Coleman. So cut her some slack, and take the good with the bad, or at least don't blow your top at her and lose your job. She'll be a lot better after next year's election gives us a REAL majority in the Senate.
What is with these gutless peices of shit. What the fuck do they have against America? What do they have against the American People? Congress needs to be flooded with assurances that anybody who votes against the Constitution, for any shabby excuse or reason, is going to be out of a job. This is bullshit.
I am beginning to wonder why anybody in their right mind would ever want to be an American citizen. This is unacceptable bullshit.
Hoyer, Emanuel, Pelosi, the blue dogs need to lose their jobs next year. They are betraying us all.
from the OpenLeft link:
"Find and then funding a quasi-viable primary challenger for Hoyer should be one of Open Left's and the blogosphere's top priorities over the next few months. It could make a major difference for a relatively low investment."
It is amazing that at this moment there are 250+ comments on the Mexican flag thread starring crazed vet cum 'patriot', and here, re: the MOST important issue of the screwed up DEM party non-leadership ==> barely 20+ tepid comments !! Sheeple rule ?!
Steny Hoyer may/ might not be a Bush Dog - he is for sure the AIPAC DOG, just as Emanuel Rahm is. They are sending dems, and the NATION, into craphouse - over, and over, and over again. Nancy seems to be between the rock and a hard place.
[Deleted. Too long-Sitemonitor]
To keep everyone honest, maybe the FISA court should be expanded to twice the size it is at present, with the Bush appointees remaining in place, but the opposition (relative to which party controls the White House at the time) getting to select U.S. federal judges to fill the other FISA court slots.
This might stop what has occurred under the corrupt Bush administration from happening again, in which the criminals in the Bush administration treated the FISA court just as they've treated Senate and House intelligence committees, where only a few "select" senators and representatives (loyal Bushies primarily) were allowed to see only the intelligence the corrupt Bush administration wanted them to see, while hiding the most damning information about Bush criminality from their purview.
Having half the FISA court Republican appointed and the other half Democratic appointed, no matter who's in the White House, might just stop this anti-American practice.
It's so demeaning when idiots treat us like idiots that I just hate it. The FISA extension my fascist "Democratic" Senator Amy Klobuchar voted for was only "temporary" (like the Patriot Act). But, geez. That was in, like, AUGUST. They can't wait the full six months to tack on even more loopholes for the administration to tromp on our constitutional freedom from unreasonable search? What's the hurry? Only a year and counting for Dubya to declare himself Fuhrer?
Bad bill, bad...bad!
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