GetFISARight: Our response and what you can do

This is a response to Senator Obama's response to the Get FISA right effort mybarackobama. Link

We ask you to reconsider your current position on the bill as a whole and strongly oppose a bill about which you said, "I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn't have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush's abuse of executive power." In your statement you also wrote, "In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people. But in a free society, that authority cannot be unlimited." We agree. Our nation just spent the holiday weekend in celebration of our independence from unlimited government authority. America in 1776 wished to be strong and free. Much has changed in 232 years but Americans will never consciously abandon freedom.
Full text after the jump.

What you can do


Please sign Senator Feingold's petition to all senators. This petition will be sent to all senators on Tuesday.
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/activ ities/92-senate-petition-to-stop-telecom -immunity

Call your senators offices tonight! Leave a message so that they can start off their Monday morning listening to lots of anti-FISA voicemails. The easiest way to do that is here. Other ways to contact your senators are here

If you would like to join us, please call your Senator, join the group on myBO and Facebook, and help get the word out!


Check out the new discussion forum at getfisaright.com!

Here's the full text of the response:

Dear Senator Obama,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to us with your post "My Position On FISA" dated July 3rd, 2008. In your response, you pledged to "listen to [our] concerns, take them seriously, and seek to earn [our] ongoing support," and in that spirit, we would like to continue this conversation. We ask that you help transfer our passion and political activism into getting the FISA bill right -- now.

Senator, as a legal scholar who has done extensive study of our country's constitution you know that the FISA re-authorization bill currently before the Senate (HR 6304) threatens the rights guaranteed to American citizens in the Constitution, especially the Fourth Amendment.

One of the most troubling parts of this bill is its provision to provide retroactive immunity from civil lawsuits for telecommunications companies that may have assisted the Bush administration in violating the civil rights of Americans. You wrote in your statement that you "support striking Title II," which provides this immunity, "from the bill, and will work with Chris Dodd, Jeff Bingaman and others in an effort to remove this provision in the Senate."

We ask that you back up your words with action by addressing your constituents on the floor of the Senate with the same oratorical power you used in Philadelphia to lay out your vision of a 'More Perfect Union.' The American people have just as much right to know of the dangerous precedent this Congress would be setting by granting retroactive immunity to those who "may have violated the law" and allowing spying on law-abiding citizens as we did to relearn of segregation and Jim Crow. The arm of government oppression reaches far and wide, Senator, and we must beat it back on whatever front we find it.

We ask you to reconsider your current position on the bill as a whole and strongly oppose a bill about which you said, "I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn't have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush's abuse of executive power." In your statement you also wrote, "In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people. But in a free society, that authority cannot be unlimited." We agree. Our nation just spent the holiday weekend in celebration of our independence from unlimited government authority. America in 1776 wished to be strong and free. Much has changed in 232 years but Americans will never consciously abandon freedom.

Senator, while you wrote that not passing this bill would result in the government "losing important surveillance tools," these important surveillance tools are in fact blanket surveillance programs already underway solely due to the passage of the Protect America Act, which you rightly opposed and voted against. This is only one example of how, even without the provisions for retroactive immunity, this bill is still dangerous to the civil liberties of American citizens.

As we understand it Senator, your oath to uphold the Constitution requires you and others in the Congress to vote against HR 6304.

We appreciate your willingness to continue the discussion. We represent a large and vocal part of the movement you have nurtured and that has nurtured you during this campaign season, and include many of your most active and ardent supporters. As you have said time and again Senator, "we are the ones we have been waiting for," and we are here, working to bring about real change in Washington. We have grown to over 20,000 strong in the space of just a few days. We are lobbying our representatives, and working to get our friends, relatives and neighbors to do the same. We are organizing support for removing the immunity provisions for telecommunications companies and building opposition to this dangerous bill in its entirety.

Working together, we have a better chance to assist Senators Dodd and Bingaman, and can achieve what your commitment to us, your supporters, has been before your recent change in position. Together, we can protect our civil rights and continue to keep America safe. Please join us and let's work together to Get FISA Right.

-------

If you would like to join us, please call your Senator, join the group on myBO and Facebook, and help get the word out!



Display:


After his (2.00 / 1)

Latest statement issued early this week. This issue is sadly sealed and dead.

To those who wrote in here asking the FISA dissenters to wait and give Obama a chance to respond, filibuster or those who hoped he would stand up against it- As far Obama is concerned it's a done deal . The FISA train is leaving the station.


He was warmly received by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called him "a leader that God has blessed us with at this time."
by roxfoxy on Sun Jul 06, 2008 at 10:33:38 PM EST

He'll still (none / 0)

vote for all the amendments offered by Feingold and Dodd to strip the final bill of retroactive immunity.  How many Senators are needed to get one of these amendments through?  Potential crossover Republicans are Specter, Smith, Coleman, and Smith as that they may want to ally themsleves with Obama (Smith already has) given the states in which they will all be up for reelection.


by Blazers Edge on Sun Jul 06, 2008 at 10:41:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: He'll still (2.00 / 1)

I doubt they have more than 30 senators in total to go agianst it.


He was warmly received by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called him "a leader that God has blessed us with at this time."
by roxfoxy on Sun Jul 06, 2008 at 11:15:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Not even thrity (none / 0)

will vote for the Feingold and Dodd amendments?  Obama will vote for the amendments and if they fail, will vote for the FISA bill.


by Blazers Edge on Sun Jul 06, 2008 at 11:23:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not even thrity (2.00 / 1)

Look what happend before the july 4th break.

If Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold wanted a filibuster, they apparently failed to convince enough of their colleagues to join them.  Reuters reports that the FISA compromise bill from the House got 80 votes to limit debate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A White House-backed spy bill to protect telecommunication companies from billions of dollars in possible privacy lawsuits passed a Senate test vote on Wednesday and headed toward final congressional approval.

On a vote of 80-15, mostly Republican supporters of the bipartisan measure, which would also implement the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. spy laws in decades, easily mustered the 60 needed to clear a Democratic procedural roadblock.


He was warmly received by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called him "a leader that God has blessed us with at this time."
by roxfoxy on Sun Jul 06, 2008 at 11:39:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Thank you for posting this (none / 0)

Please... everyone sign Feingolds petition!


Washington Woman
theocracywatch.org
EENR Blog
by kevin22262 on Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 12:13:19 AM EST

We need (none / 0)

to get this on the rec list!

We need to hit these people HARD today, tomorrow and tuesday!

Come on people Please do this!


Washington Woman
theocracywatch.org
EENR Blog
by kevin22262 on Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 12:14:23 AM EST

devil (none / 0)

get back here so I can give you mojo!


Washington Woman
theocracywatch.org
EENR Blog
by kevin22262 on Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 12:15:25 AM EST


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