Good.

I've a HUGE problem with this bill and the ACLU says it better than I can:

Anthony D. Romero, ACLU


Congress just compromised your rights by passing the FISA Amendments Act.

But you can help the ACLU protect your privacy. Make a monthly pledge to support the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging the gutting of FISA and all of our other critical work defending the Constitution.

By taking a strong stand for freedom as a monthly supporter today, you can help the ACLU get a $100,000 matching gift.



Dear ACLU Supporter,

Today, elected officials in Washington sold out the Constitution -- again.

Cowed by the Bush administration’s pre-election scare tactics, the Senate passed freedom-stealing FISA legislation undermining your Fourth Amendment rights.

This is not a “compromise,” as some in Congress would have us believe. The only thing they compromised is your freedom. Become an ACLU monthly donor, and stand up for your rights.

The FISA Amendments Act allows for mass, untargeted and warrantless surveillance of all communications coming into and out of the United States. And to top it off, it hands immunity to telecom companies for their role in domestic spying. This means your phone calls can be tapped and emails read with virtually no proof of threat, and there's no chance to learn how the telecoms invaded your privacy.

It’s outrageous, unconstitutional and un-American. That’s why the ACLU is prepared to challenge this unconstitutional law the moment President Bush signs it.

Help the ACLU protect your privacy. Make a monthly pledge to support the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging the gutting of FISA and all of our other critical work defending the Constitution.

Now is an especially important time for you to act. Not only can you help fund essential work fighting this unconstitutional legislation but your decision to make a monthly pledge can move us a giant step closer to our target of 2,000 new monthly supporters this month. If we reach that goal by July 31st, the ACLU will earn a $100,000 Matching Gift further strengthening our efforts to stand up for freedom as no other organization in America can.

As a Guardian of Liberty, you can join tens of thousands of your fellow citizens in donating a small amount each month to help the ACLU’s critical work in defense of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Donate now to help the ACLU fight for freedom and move closer to our $100,000 Matching Gift goal.

In one fell swoop, Congress has not only legalized the Bush administration’s secret NSA spying program, it has given the government even more power to listen to our phone calls and read our emails than even the Bush administration illegally claimed for itself under its secret program. And, by granting telecoms immunity, it has greatly harmed the chances of ever learning the extent of the administration’s lawless actions.

While politicians lack resolve, the ACLU and its supporters do not. Stand with the ACLU by becoming a monthly supporter of the ACLU today.

In defense of freedom,
Anthony D. Romero
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
ACLU

I'll be signing up tomorrow for $20 a month.

I've never supported the ACLU in the past, and have disagreed with some of their stands, but I will probably now become a financial supporter.

Since I don't make phone calls to terrorists overseas, I don't feel the need to contribute.

Talk about grabbing an opportunity to scare liberals into making donations, this is a good one.

Nothing to hide here and can't contribute...paying $4.17 a gallon these days for the commute.
Is not there a little paranoya going on here?

This FISA / Immunity thing is a really big deal to me.

I'm actually in the same boat as Randy, in that I've never really financially supported them. Didn't think I had to.

If something like the ACLU gets too big, well that could be not such a good thing.

I remain convinced that if the problems surrounding this legislation were not so complex, it would never have passed. It passed because this administration really wanted it passed. And for them, that means something pretty ugly went on.

Granting that immunity, nullified cases pending in court right now. Those cases would have gotten at the truth of who was spied on, who did it, why, when and how, and via what means.

(That's basically all the core questions people! Not acceptable.)

We don't know these things and the law says we should. In fact, the law says that kind of activity shouldn't even happen at all, and that's how we got the original FISA!

It was agreed that some balance was needed to allow for immediate and unchecked actions. So all we required after the fact was a court review, for the public record. That even allowed for keeping it a secret for a long time, just given there was actually a true public record for sometime later down the line.

That's bending the law as far as it can be bent, without flat out breaking it.

And for this corrupt administration that simply was just not enough. They broke the law and wanted out of it.

And for all we know it's just because they said so!

Not good enough.

Granting immunity wiped out the civil cases, leaving criminal ones. On one hand, that's good! We can still go after people in criminal court and learn the truth of things.

There is a catch though. To even enter court, one has to have standing. Without standing, you may have the best case there ever was, but can't actually litigate!

The bar for standing is higher now things being criminal instead of civil. This means those who think their rights were violated have to produce solid evidence of this, or they lack standing.

The way things are structured right now, those people can't do their discovery because it's all wrapped in executive privilege and other things such that they can't get access to the evidence they need to actually bring their case, meaning it's just a free for all.

That's one element.

Another one is the idea that private corporations can be used as thugs to commit crimes against American citizens --and other people, and not be accountable for that under the law, just like everybody else is.

That breaks down checks and balances and that's just not American behavior. It threatens the quality of the union and the burden for that being justified just has not been met.

We have to just trust their intentions were noble. Given the long and growing list of crime and corruption we do know about, I think it's pretty safe to assume those things we don't know about, we don't know for the simple reason that people would go to jail, if we did.

Presidents are not kings.

There is more, but that's enough.

So, I'm gonna give some money this time, because it really matters this time. This is a profound, core shift in how we view the law and should it survive court challenge, has the potential to redefine this nation in ways clearly not intended by the founders and ways that would absolutely not sit well with a majority of Americans.

You can bet the world is watching us on this administration. Do we give them a pass, do we hold them accountable, do we actually follow our law like we say we do, or will we just surrender it if we feel good about that?

Those basic questions impact EVERYTHING, and that's worth some money.

If it were a lesser thing, I would write it up, talk about it, and support action on it.

This is just not a lesser thing, and for what it's worth, I'm pissed as hell at the limp dick Democrats thinking they can just do the wrong things, score their politically correct win, then either let it blow over, or patch it up after the fact.

Republicans have done some serious harm. There was no accountability in Congress, none in the courts, and now potentially, not much in the ballot box either.

I think we will get a better deal with Dems running the show for a while, but the law violations and bad expectations set really don't go away, unless we the people, actually step up and demand they be addressed proper.

That's what the dollars are for.

The standing issue is complex too, but the ACLU has open cases and clients where standing has a good shot at being viable. That means they have to litigate now, with the info they have because it's very highly likely future litigation won't be possible.

That too is the reason for the dollars.

Broadway, I've nothing to hide either. If I actually did, I would not be contributing here, that's for sure.

That's not the point. The point is that transparency and accountability are two core pillars to our working democracy. Those two things give for the people and by the people some teeth.

Lose those and we are left with mostly violence and nobody wants to go there. NOBODY.

Government here gets it's authority from us. We allow it to exist because our lives are better with it. This administration took that power and abused us with it.

If we let that stand, then we EMPOWER FUTURE ONES TO DO SO. We let them do so for whatever reason they can come up with, because we also deny ourselves the ability to get at the truth of things.

That's never, ever been true before. Right now, at this moment it is true here.

Don't you wonder if they spied on their political enemies? Did they sell information to make money, suppress contrary opinion, and feed their greed?

I do.

We all should. That's part of the social contract --that burden we share in exchange for a higher quality of life and authority we can trust in.

I know you've got $20, but that's not the point either. I stated why I'm doing things so everybody knows. From there it's a choice. That's just advocacy and doing my civic duty as one citizen to another.

Choose not to, and I'm good with that. Everybody should be.

But don't trot out the "I've nothing to hide" excuse, because it isn't a defensible one.

Better to just say you don't mind if you get spied on with no accountability. The rest is just feel good stuff for your benefit.

And to be really clear!

If this administration has any defensible, cock up of a reason at all, I'll support their spying and data mining efforts.

The original FISA permitted that and the court was very permissive. Over 95 percent of actions were approved. That's damn well bloody good enough.

I don't think the original FISA was a good idea, but I can support that, because it does bring accountability meaning we can work through the damage still. On this, we just can't, and that's not ok.

I'll do that for terror and to give the benefit of the doubt because I think I'm supposed to. Running the country is not a walk in the park. Stuff happens and I'm ok with that.

But they gotta come clean at some point and do the right thing by the people that put them there, however pissed they are having done it.

That's equitable and also extremely defensible.

The fact that we can't even go there stinks huge. And where there is the smell of a turd, you can bet there is a turd.

The turd is clear abuses of power. Somebody, somewhere absolutely needs to be accountable for that, or we've just elected kings, not Presidents, and we don't do that here.

This isn't partisan. It's just not. If Democrats had done this, I would do exactly the same thing. It's American, and that's it.

Sorry for the vent.

Just because you "have nothing to hide" and don't "talk to terrorists overseas" doesn't mean that you're immune to abuses within the system. Those that take that kind of attitude don't respect the freedoms we have here in America that our troops have died to protect. That's a pathetic stance to take. I don't like the idea of government fishing expeditions and data mining. They may say they are after the terrorists, but I don't buy that. Human nature says someone will use it against their enemies, who may just be innocent Americans "who have nothing to hide."