Someone Is Listening

Here they go again. The Bush Administration is once again asking congress to sacrifice freedom for the sake of security. They want more power to monitor foreigners suspected of being terrorists.

The proposal would change the way warrants are obtained from the FISA court.

The administration wants to be able to monitor foreign nationals on American soil if they are thought to have significant intelligence information, even without known links to a foreign power. Under current law, the government must convince a FISA judge that an individual is an agent of a government, terror group or some other foreign adversary.

Here is the key paragraph:

And the administration wants to allow government lawyers to decide whether a FISA court order is needed for electronic eavesdropping based on the target of the monitoring, not the mode of communication or the location where the surveillance is being conducted.

The main effect of this is that the NSA could monitor foreigners without a court approval including emails and phone calls in the U.S.

We're supposed to just trust these guys, right?

“This legislation is important to ensure that FISA continues to serve the nation as a means to protect our country from foreign security threats, while also continuing to protect the valued privacy interests and civil liberties of persons located in the United States,” the Justice Department said in a fact sheet released Friday.

How is giving government lawyers the power the tap phones and read emails going to protect our rights?

This admininstration should not be given any more power. The rights of Americans must be protected by the courts and the standard should still be probable cause.

I want my rights reviewed by a judge, not by some right-wing hack possibly educated by Pat Robertson.

The Bush Administration can not be trusted. Their propensity for lying and obfuscation are well documented. The abuses of the Patriot Act have also been documented and admitted to by the FBI.

King George has near dictatorial powers already. Will no one speak for the people?

Jim M

[thanks to The Moderate Voice for the link]