John Conyers' e-mail: FISA Call to Action

[babylonsister]

FISA Call to Action


Dear xxxx:


The Senate will soon consider legislation addressing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). I emailed you about this issue recently responding to inaccuracies in the press about Democratic efforts to improve protection of civil liberties. I am writing you today to update you on the current state of the bill and to ask for your help.

One critical question being considered in the Senate's FISA bill is whether to offer telecom companies retroactive immunity for any actions they undertook in the wireless surveillance program. The Bush Administration has claimed that this is necessary for national security reasons, but I am skeptical.

If the Administration was serious about arguing for this immunity, I suspect they would take steps to demonstrate to Congress the extent of this surveillance program and what role the phone companies played. Yet they have refused to share even this information with the House. Clearly, it is a bit much to ask for immunity from prosecution without explaining why it is necessary.

Because of these reservations, the House-passed FISA bill did not include the immunity the president sought. In the Senate, however, it is becoming clear that a tough battle will now ensue over this provision. Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut has been a vocal opponent of telecom immunity and has promised to filibuster any FISA legislation that includes this provision.

Senator Dodd needs your help right now. Please visit his site and lend your support to the filibuster now. Your help can make a difference at this important juncture.

http://chrisdodd.com/filibuster

Thank you again for your continued support for a better democracy.



Your Friend,

John Conyers, Jr.

[L. Coyote]

1. K & R It really is that simple. Don't forgive crimes, especially w/o knowing what!!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

2. Please post your supportive

comments here: http://chrisdodd.com/blog/dodd%2526%2523039%3Bs-statement-fisa

K & R

[90-percent]

3. dont let.........

Don't let the treasonous telecoms get away with; "I was only following White House orders."

-90% Jimmy

[warren pease]

4. You know, a lot of these problems would simply go away if Conyers did...

...HIS FUCKING JOB and treated H Res 333 like something other than used toilet paper. And a nice big FUCK YOU to Ms. Nancy while we're at it, although at this point Conyers really needs to become his own man again and stop letting Pelosi handle him.

But I guess Conyers doesn't do irony very well. If he did, he'd find it amusing that the connection between Dodd's upcoming filibuster and the fact that this telecom immunity issue exists at all happens to be the subject of H Res 333.

The obvious link is Cheney, who authorized the domestic spying program and now wants full immunity for himself and for the companies he strong-armed into selling out the American people. And the answer is impeachment, just like it is for Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, unconstitutional executive branch power grabs, destruction of public education and countless ecosystems, privatization and insane war spending, domestic repression and international saber-rattling, Katrina and Blackwater, and right on down the outrage list.

Cheney and his marionette are nothing more than malignant cancers. Impeachment is the first step toward remission.

I know Conyers still has it in him; he just needs to look in the mirror long enough to dislike the obstructionist coward that's been looking back at him for the past year. And then do something about it, like take H Res 333 out of the bottom drawer, dust it off and present it to the members of the judiciary committee. People like Wexler, Jackson-Lee, Waters and Ellison will be only too happy to investigate Cheney until there's nothing identifiable left but a snarling shell and a defibrillator, paid for with my taxes, stuck somewhere around the middle.

So let the games begin, John. And before trying to guilt us into sending yet another strongly worded email that nobody's going to read, how about doing your FUCKING JOB and nailing this bastard to the wall so Dodd doesn't have to spend all night talking to himself.


wp