Democrats Blow it Again

Yesterday, I was excited because the congressional democrats finally did something that they were elected to do. As my previous post stated, they passed an ethics reform bill. Good for them! Today, I'm angry at them again. [Our relationship is so fickle] Senate Democrats, along with most republicans, rolled over when the president said the "T" word, "terrorism."
The U.S. Senate has once again failed the citizens who elected them. Yesterday, senators passed an extension and modification to the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA), which will allow the National Security Administration (NSA) to spy on the telephone conversations of American citizens without a warrant, for up to 45 days, when these calls are to or from an overseas location. At the end of the 45 day period, the NSA will have three options: a. drop the surveillance, b. get a warrant from the FISA court, or c. convince several key senators and representatives that further warrantless surveillance is necessary. The Bush administration applauded the Senate’s action.
If this bill passes the House, it will basically abrogate the fourth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees Americans the right to be secure in secure in their lives from unreasonable interference from the government.
The House also has it’s own rewrite of the FISA law. It has not passed the full house yet, but it has passed the intelligence committee and will come to the floor of the House soon. If it passes, the differences between the Senate version and the House version will have to be resolved before the bill can be sent to the senate. Here are some of the proposed changes to the original FISA law that are in the House version.
1. A redefinition of warrantless surveillance to allow surveillance of phone calls from any U.S. citizen to friends, family, or business overseas.
2. Warrantless surveillance may be conducted anytime the president perceives a threat, without review by any court.
3. Preventing Congressional oversight when the President notifies the chair of the House and Senate committees on intelligence. The decision to notify other committee members is left up to the chairperson.
The lack of courage demonstrated by Senate Democrats is appalling to me. Democrats were elected to the majority party because Americans were tired of the heavy-handed methods of the Bush administration. It is summer and the Senate decided to go on vacation, while leaving the Bush Administration to run roughshod over our civil liberties.
Shame on them!!!!
Congress as a whole seems to have a Pavlovian reaction to the President’s words. He says terrorism and they play dead. I did have higher hopes when the Democrats took power, but it seems nothing has changed.

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