FISA: Last Stand

I could write more about tomorrow's vote on the FISA bill and why the bill is awful, but anyone who would bother to read it probably already knows what I know, or understands more than I understand. The rest of our fine citizens apparently don't care or understand the implications, and many actually think the executive branch should be conducting unlimited wiretapping and data vacuuming without any oversite. It makes them feel "safe."

I don't claim to entirely understand all the complexities of the FISA bill, but when the ACLU, acclaimed constitutional and legal scholars, Glenn Greenwald and Senators I respect are all against it, that's essentially enough for me. And then there's the whistleblowers.

I'll leave you with a diary by mcjoan at Daily Kos that discusses the views of two recent telecom surveillence whistleblowers, as well as those of one of America's most famous all-time whistleblowers, Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg, as you may recall, is a former military and intelligence analyst who risked everything to release the Pentagon Papers in the early 70s, showing the horrors going on within the government related to the Viet Nam war and other matters. Excerpt from the statement by Ellsberg on FISA:

You can't have a democracy with the state--the executive branch--having that kind of information, total information about every communication, every credit card, every transaction, every fax, e-mail, telephone conversation of everyone. And as far as we know, that's what's being collected now. We do need to know whether that's yet true or not, but I think it's a pretty good assumption.... You can't keep a republic, a constitutional republic with that degree of knowledge by the president, by the executive branch of all of our private affairs. You can't have it. You have something else, you have, you can call it an autocracy, a dictatorship. It's the basis for tyranny, and that's what the Constitution was meant to prevent and that's what this bill would confer--unlimited power....

I have to say that no senator, Republican or Democrat, should be voting for this Senate bill. Not one. Everyone who does so is in fact, I would say, violating his or her oath to defend the Constitution. But they can do better than that.

This New York Times op-ed provides an excellent overview of the flawed FISA bill. There are still three amendments out there that would quash at least the tip of the iceberg of bad stuff in this bill. They aim to either delete telecom immunity from the bill or make it more conditional. Not one of them is expected to gain the votes necessary tomorrow. My understanding is that they'd have to get the support of at least 60 Senators due to some rule or agreement in play.

Last Ditch Efforts
Those who care about the rule of law are being urged to contact their Senators and persuade them to at least vote for NM Sen. Jeff Bingaman's amendment, which would put off retroactive telecom immunity at least until Congress gets a report on an investigation to be done by the Inspector General on what happened. Bingaman has gotten a lot of praise for the effort in the netroots and from civil liberties authorities. The word is that his amendment has the best chance of passing, although the chances are still slim so close to an election. We all know what happens when an election is nigh.

The diary by mcjoan also suggests we call the Senators who did not vote for FISA last time to urge them to stand their ground:

These are the 30 Senators and the potential president who can hold firm now and lead the charge to fix this next year. Holding them to their previous vote now is critical to making those improvements in the next Congress.

Akaka (D-HI)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting
Clinton (D-NY)
Obama (D-IL)

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