Harry Reid and the Senate Democratic leadership has failed to fulfill the promise of 2006 yet again. This time, they’ve agreed to give retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications corporations that helped George W. Bush break the law by engaging in programs to spy on Americans’ private telephone calls without getting the search warrant required by law.
This cowardly retreat by Senate Democrats comes in the context of the revelation just this week that George W. Bush started spying on Americans through warrantless wiretaps in February, 2001, just after Bush grabbed the White House, months and months before he got the excuse of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Why is the Senate Democratic leadership submitting to the outrageous demands of George W. Bush, given these revelations? This is exactly the time that the Senate Democrats ought to be making a stand, and refusing to renew the pro-spying Protect America Act.
Well, Harry Reid and other Democratic Party leaders in the U.S. Senate may be too weak to stand up to George W. Bush, but Senator Chris Dodd is not. Chris Dodd is defying the spineless wing of the Democratic Party, and taking a stand against the plan to give legal immunity for abuses against the American people and their Constitution.
Senator Dodd is speaking out against this shameless compromise with American totalitarianism, not just as a presidential candidate, but as a United States Senator as well. Dodd made the following announcement today:
“The Military Commissions Act. Warrantless wiretapping. Shredding of Habeas Corpus. Torture. Extraordinary Rendition. Secret Prisons.
No more.
I have decided to place a “hold” on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President’s assault on the Constitution by illegally providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.
I said that I would do everything I could to stop this bill from passing, and I have.
It’s about delivering results — and as I’ve said before, the FIRST thing I will do after being sworn into office is restore the Constitution. But we shouldn’t have to wait until then to prevent the further erosion of our country’s most treasured document. That’s why I am stopping this bill today.”
If you’re among those people who complain that the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates is unwilling to take a strong stand against the policies of George W. Bush, I suggest that you take a second look at Chris Dodd.
(Source: ChrisDodd.com, October 18, 2007)
Thank you, Chris Dodd.
Shame on you to every other member of the Senate who was too craven to do the same.
You mean “George W. Bush started spying on Americans through warrantless wiretaps in February, 2001” not 2007.
Yes, I do indeed. Thanks for the note on the typo.
by Dan Scott
Stop “Retroactive Immunity†for Phone Companies that helped NSA spy on Americans!
Determining what NSA electronic surveillance can be used by police or introduced into court by Government, may be the next battle Americans have to fight.
Senator Dodd plans to Filibuster a FISA bill that will give “Retroactive Immunity†to Telecoms that helped NSA spy on Americans’ phone calls, faxes and emails? If the government provides the Telecoms “Retroactive Immunity†at least forty lawsuits filed against those companies will be trashed. Not so obvious is what will happen to NSA’s millions of illegally collected emails, faxes and personal phone call information that belong to U.S. Citizens? Will that information be deleted or copied?
Depending on the legal method U.S. Government devises to let the phone companies off the hook for spying on Americans, could set NSA free—to share its “illegally collected wiretap information†with local, state and federal police to initiate ordinary domestic criminal investigations.
Determining what NSA electronic surveillance can be used by police or introduced into court by Government, may be the next battle Americans have to fight. Previously prosecutors were not allowed access to the Justice Department’s intelligence files for domestic criminal prosecutions. In 2003 a court ruling lowered that barrier, allowing prosecutors to review old surveillance. In 2003, Attorney General John Ashcroft asked government prosecutors to review thousands of old intelligence files including wiretaps to retrieve information prosecutors could use in “ordinary criminal prosecutions.â€
It is problematic Law enforcement agencies will want to use NSA’s old illegal wiretap evidence and other surveillance to go back decades to arrest Americans and/or civilly forfeit citizens’ homes, inheritances and business using a mere “preponderance of evidence” under Title 18 of the United States Code. The Patriot Act specifically mentions the provisions passed in Rep. Henry Hyde’s bill HR 1658 “The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000.” HR 1658 contained a “retroactive asset forfeiture provision” that was made retroactive for assets already subject to government forfeiture, “property already tainted by crime” providing that “the property†was part of or later connected to a criminal investigation that was in progress” when HR.1658 passed. In 2000 after HR1658 passed the old statute of limitations that gave government five years to seize property involved in crime died. Police now have five-years to seize property from “whenever they claim†they learned an asset was made subject to civil asset forfeiture. There are now over 200 U.S. laws that can subject property to civil asset forfeiture.
by Dan Scott
Stop “Retroactive Immunity†for Phone Companies that helped NSA spy on Americans!
Determining what NSA electronic surveillance can be used by police or introduced into court by Government, may be the next battle Americans have to fight.
Senator Dodd plans to Filibuster a FISA bill that will give “Retroactive Immunity†to Telecoms that helped NSA spy on Americans’ phone calls, faxes and emails? If the government provides the Telecoms “Retroactive Immunity†at least forty lawsuits filed against those companies will be trashed. Not so obvious is what will happen to NSA’s millions of illegally collected emails, faxes and personal phone call information that belong to U.S. Citizens? Will that information be deleted or copied?
Depending on the legal method U.S. Government devises to let the phone companies off the hook for spying on Americans, could set NSA free—to share its “illegally collected wiretap information†with local, state and federal police to initiate ordinary domestic criminal investigations.
Determining what NSA electronic surveillance can be used by police or introduced into court by Government, may be the next battle Americans have to fight. Previously prosecutors were not allowed access to the Justice Department’s intelligence files for domestic criminal prosecutions. In 2003 a court ruling lowered that barrier, allowing prosecutors to review old surveillance. In 2003, Attorney General John Ashcroft asked government prosecutors to review thousands of old intelligence files including wiretaps to retrieve information prosecutors could use in “ordinary criminal prosecutions.â€
It is problematic Law enforcement agencies will want to use NSA’s old illegal wiretap evidence and other surveillance to go back decades to arrest Americans and/or civilly forfeit citizens’ homes, inheritances and business using a mere “preponderance of evidence” under Title 18 of the United States Code. The Patriot Act specifically mentions the provisions passed in Rep. Henry Hyde’s bill HR 1658 “The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000.” HR 1658 contained a “retroactive asset forfeiture provision” that was made retroactive for assets already subject to government forfeiture, “property already tainted by crime” providing that “the property†was part of or later connected to a criminal investigation that was in progress” when HR.1658 passed. In 2000 after HR1658 passed the old statute of limitations that gave government five years to seize property involved in crime died. Police now have five-years to seize property from “whenever they claim†they learned an asset was made subject to civil asset forfeiture. There are now over 200 U.S. laws that can subject property to civil asset forfeiture.
Imagine NSA sharing its illegal-domestic surveillance information with countless police agencies dependent on forfeiting Citizens’ property to pay their department operating costs. Police too easily can take an innocent person’s phone call or hastily written email out of context to allege a crime was committed. Imagine Police using the Patriot Act’s low standard of proof “a preponderance of evidence†to judge NSA illegal domestic wiretap information, perhaps to go back before 2000 to civilly seize a Citizen’s home, business or other property. No conviction is required for the U.S. Government to civilly forfeit a Citizen’s home or business. Under the Patriot Act, witnesses can be kept secret while being paid part of the assets they cause to be forfeited.
Government seizure of property as a result of police actions is not that far-fetched. Since maybe around 1998 or so, one suburb of Chicago, Blue Island, has routinely confiscated property involved in crimes, usually drug deals, and has frequent auctions to sell of the property they collect, which seems to include a lot of vehicles.
Last I heard, they were doing quite well, and had added several new squad cars to their fleet, as well as a whole kennel of drug-sniffing dogs.