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Who’s Listening to Your Phone Call?

A senator explains the case against the Protect America Act.

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  • Posted By: MilwaukeeMom @ 04/06/2008 5:11:31 PM

    Our founding fathers weren't naive. They knew that a president, once elected, could turn tyrannical. That's why they gave us a system of checks and balances, and separation of powers to rein in the president and keep him from oppressing his own people. Unfortunately, in the wake of 9/11, Americans got so scared, that, instead of protecting our democracy from President Bush, we gave him the keys to the kingdom. We handed over our rights like a trembling child hands over his lunch money to a school yard bully. It is tragic for America that the people and Congress didn't put up more of a fight to preserve our liberty. But, liberty is not for the weak. Russ is the rare exception -- he's a true Patriot. It's a shame there aren't more like him. May those of us fighting for our liberty prevail. And, all you ditto-heads -- you can thank us later.

  • Posted By: Real Patriot @ 03/12/2008 5:25:19 PM

    All I hear is a bunch of people protesting the war, or worrying about their privacy. I really can't stand the people that are willing to stand back , do nothing, and take the opposite view of whats going on. If you're going to be in the shadows, stay in the shadows and shut up.

  • Posted By: Real Patriot @ 03/12/2008 5:17:53 PM

    I, m o.k. with the goernment knowing what I'm doing, cause I've got nothing to hide.

  • Posted By: True Patriot @ 02/07/2008 12:51:30 AM

    The Bush Administration convinced several telecommunications companies to break federal law by placing surveillance systems on telephone and internet communications. It was and remains a felony to illegally create such a system. On the other hand, it is not at all hard for a government agent to obtain warrants when necessary. There are judges available round the clock to grant warrant requests. The problem here is that the Bush Administration did not want to comply with the law. They did not want any restrictions on their activities at all. A technical fix to the FISA law was not all the Administration was after; it wanted to conduct unlimited surveillance without obtaining warrants, so long as one party to the communication is outside the U.S.
    This so-called Protect America Act really destroys our right to privacy in telecommunications, and lets off the telecom companies which cooperated with the Bush Administration's illegal requests. These programs were so sweeping that it is laughable to suppose that only terrorists were being tracked. The items tracked were actually in the millions of communications.
    Why would anyone assume that no decent upright American's communications were being tracked? The surveillance was extremely broad, and it was illegal.

    • Posted By: map-it-out @ 02/20/2008 10:11:35 PM

      have you ever heard of checks and balences...is is a law that gives no single branch of goverenment power over the other. so how can you blame the president. first he has to go to congress to even see if they approve then throught all the other stuff. so before you blame the president look up your facts. and by the way if the president was doing something outside the law...he would already be busted! believe me there are millions of peole just waiting for him to "color out side of the lines"

    • Posted By: Pluck&Luck @ 02/07/2008 4:44:44 AM

      No-- the question is why would you assume that communications of innocent Americans are being tapped, without any evidence whatsoever that this is happening. I don't believe in "my country right or wrong", but I think that one should at least give it the benefit of the doubt until evidence proves otherwise. Why are you assuming the worse about you country? You also need to read Truong case 629 F 908 and In re Sealed Case 310 F3d 717(FISA ,2002) before you make the claim that the President is acting outside the law. Precedent is clearly on his side

  • Posted By: burbank @ 02/19/2008 10:11:28 PM

    I would worry more about Senator Feingolds's position on how to protect America than I would the government's.

  • Posted By: dannasvir @ 02/14/2008 10:28:56 PM

    I'm proud to tell my grandchildren that I saw the end of the USSR. It is with extreme sadness that I will also have to tell them that the USSA rose from the ashes.

  • Posted By: True Patriot @ 02/08/2008 1:58:13 PM

    To have unlimited information about someone is to control him. With all due respect, you don't seem to know anything about history. When a represssive government wants to throw someone in jail, there is nothing, no matter how innocent you may be, that can't be used against you. Why are you willing to give up all details of your private life to a government? A tyrant is likely to start out acting as if he is your protector, your big brother, your kindly father. Your right to privacy is part of your right to be an individual, your right to be left alone, free from the orders and harassment of government. But maybe you would rather be part of an unthinking crowd, a mob that marches wherever it is told to go.

    • Posted By: Pluck&Luck @ 02/13/2008 1:37:05 AM

      Of course, if the gov't has information it can use it to harass or intimidate, but there are laws that make them liable if they do. Not to mention the political reprcussions, and the fact that Fed law enforcement and military are very sensitive to these issues. The question is are they actually doing anything improper. The slippery slope is generally a fallacious argument as one can always postulate horrible hypotheticals. We are not a fascistic country,except in the mind of some lunies. Abraham Lincoln illegally suspended habeaus corpus, but the country didn't descend into a century of dictatorship. We face true danger from terrorists, not some hypothetical danger from NSA or FBI. A little trust of our country and institutions is called for here

  • Posted By: zeke227 @ 02/05/2008 7:51:27 AM

    the Protect America Act does not protect americans. If bush has his way, it will protect the telecomm companies that colluded with bush and cheney to abridge our constitutional rights. I agree with Tane55. Impeachment proceedings can't start soon enough.
    Gotta love the irony. Protect America Act? As despots everywhere know, if you tell a lie big enough and often enough, it will eventually become true.

    • Posted By: observer101 @ 02/12/2008 4:50:11 PM

      I believe your pal Clinton was impeached for something real, not made up like Dems are doing to Bush...:)

  • Posted By: nawawimohamad @ 02/09/2008 11:56:31 PM

    You can strike off the word "PRIVACY" in the US English dictionaries.

  • Posted By: True Patriot @ 02/08/2008 2:35:58 PM

    We have laws and a constitution that makes it illegal for the government to spy on you without a warrant. Your right to privacy in your home, in your possessions and in your communications is not something that you merely hope the government will respect. You have a legal right to it. Government is not reined in merely by its own good interntions. It is held in check by laws. But if we decide that we will trust to the benevolence of government officials and nothing else, we have lost our system of laws and government for something else. A government can't rest merely on the promises of so-called leaders. I wouldn't trust our government to behave, but I would trust our laws to hem it in. If you want to believe in the noble impulses of a leader who is not restrained by laws, you should see what that has done for the good people of North Korea.

    • Posted By: RobLACal @ 02/08/2008 4:50:00 PM

      "You have a legal right to it."

      We have a legal right to not have our wages garnished by some power hungry communist pig who has been an abominable failure in every venture. A verbal and abusive B!tch when she doesn't get her way many in her own party will not even vote for her no matter what. Who the hell does she think she is that she is "going take those Profits...." ? TAKE? That is how dictators talk ,but you already know that.

      HEY DEMOCRATS, SHUT YOUR LYING TRAPS!

  • Posted By: RobLACal @ 02/08/2008 4:33:36 PM

    "But maybe you would rather be part of an unthinking crowd, a mob that marches wherever it is told to go."

    Look at who the unthinking crowd is. Those braindead zombies who follow their masters and soak up their every lying word in mass and refer to them as "RISING STARS".

    "a mob that marches wherever it is told to go."

    Idiot , you have just described the democrat party to the "T". It's a fact , common knowledge. Are you now trying to tranference more democrat $hit onto Republicans? You are pathetic and your party of democrats are 100% hatefilled liars. That is also a fact and common knowledge and even you know it.

    "Clinton was impeached on lies (that cost no one there life)."

    Wrong , It should go that if you could not lie for Clinton , you lost your life as so many did. BJ Clintons incompetence with the help of his cohorts left in office were responsible for 9/11. Sore loser democrats obstructed and tried to steal the election in the Courts and were busted and stopped by the Supreme Court.





    "As despots everywhere know, if you tell a lie big enough and often enough, it will eventually become true."

    How did that work out for BJ?

    "Clinton was impeached on lies"

    That right , his many many lies. Besides, since when do democrats give a $hit about the law? Democrats are the party of felons , criminal frauds , traitors and communists. The only reason democrats are whining , crying and pretending to care about the law is because there is a Republican in the White House and he is going to do his job no matter how many lies and attack democrats throw at him.

    True Patriot? Don't make me laugh.

  • Posted By: reinadelaz @ 02/07/2008 2:56:34 PM

    I don't intend to be simple-minded about this, but if you aren't doing anything wrong, what does it matter if the gov't listens to your conversation?

    • Posted By: map-it-out @ 02/08/2008 11:28:34 AM

      i totaly agree...what do you have to hide if you are doing nothing wrong!!!

  • Posted By: RobLACal @ 02/05/2008 7:39:21 PM

    "Between them they probably represent half the felons in this country.Felons are an important part of the democrat base.
    Veterans, not so much."

    Never forget , 85% of felons vote democrat. From the mouth of Hilary Rotten herself.


    "When liberals continue to trample the facts and continue to insist that their bogus beliefs are the real facts, what is that called? I know there???s a name for it."

    DELUSIONAL!

    • Posted By: reinadelaz @ 02/07/2008 2:47:01 PM

      Right. Here in Florida, it was a BUSH who gave thousands of convicted felons the right to vote (for his big brother?)

  • Posted By: Neiman277 @ 02/07/2008 11:31:56 AM

    What does it matter what you or I or anyone thinks, says, or does? If the president refuses to obey the law, any law, all laws, then the debate over warrentless wiretapping and telecom immunity is worthless. Bush will do what he wants and spit in the eye of not only Congress, but the American people and the rest of the planet. He will issue immunity for the telecoms and DARE anyone to challenge him. He will continue to listen in to whomever he wishes and DARE anyone to challenge him. He will start more wars and kill more people and DARE anyone to challenge him. But the really amusing part of all this is that no one WILL challenge him. Bush is the government and there is nothing congress WILL DO about it. There is plenty they CAN do, they are just SOOOOO cowardly I really don't see how they get to work every day. Regardless, they have left us at the mercy of Bush and Cheney. And just look at how well they have done in Iraq. We can only hope they don't turn their military on us.

  • Posted By: map-it-out @ 02/06/2008 11:02:20 PM

    i think that it is the best thing for our country!!! we are so big and bad America but yet we complain when our country tries to catch and prevent another 9/11. if you have a problem with this, i think you have a problem, expecialy if one of your love ones of friends is fighting for our country. they should be the ones supporting this because 9/11 is the whole reason there fighting. if this happened before 9/11 i strongly believe that 9/11 could have been prevented. i also think that this makes a statement about our country: when you rattle our cage, you better know good and well that the dog will bit back. people we are the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! we have always been told to fight for what we believe in, that is how our country became what it is today. so why, when we stand up and try to prevent this, we cry and complain like little first graders. get over it and put your big people panties on!!!!!

  • Posted By: RobLACal @ 02/06/2008 9:26:49 AM

    "I would like to know if any innocent Americans (not in league with Al Qeada or other terrorists) have had their phones conversation tapped and the information used to embarass or harass them?."

    The immoral liberals in Hollywood have yet to perfect or come up with a script or an actor capable of acting out for us the exact moment they felt their civil rights being violated via the telephone. They can't , won't because it didn't happen. Yet the democrat criminal mind will accuse others of what in fact only they are guilty of. Democrats just assume everyone is corrupt and scheming criminals like themselves. Best accuse Republicans of what democrats are doing before they actually catch us and inform the American public.

    It's called TRANSFERENCE.

    Democrats had a hard time getting a chubby chick in a blue dress past the security and into the Oval Office. So Russ , Schmucky and the rest of the rats settled for this fantasy senario. Or what I like to refer to as the democrats desperate attempts to "CLINTONIZE" President Bush. What miserable losers.

  • Posted By: RobLACal @ 02/06/2008 8:55:39 AM

    "Comment: RobLACal- Hatered will get you no where. Your party is slipping and you knew it. I am so glad that I am complete opposite of you on political and social views. You'll talk like this on this board but you'll go into church on Sunday. Hypocrite"

    This is why democrats are complete liars and frauds. They don't know $hit and talk out their a$$.
    Hatred? No idiot , hatred is what you and the party of democrats do. I simply want the rule of law enforced and traitors executed. and criminals prosecuted. I can see why you would take offense since felons can't vote ,until they die that is. Democrats think everything is a joke and they can lie their way out of anything since they are experts when it comes to lying their way into office.

    My Party? What party would that be?

    I'm Registered democratic which doesn't mean $hit just like you being an American citizen

    "I am so glad that I am complete opposite of you on political and social views."

    Ya , I'm an American and you are closet commy democrat.

    " You'll talk like this on this board but you'll go into church on Sunday. Hypocrite"

    Just more proof that democrat lemmings don't know the facts about half of what they speak of and just lie and make up the rest. The Party of bigots , racists and liars serving round the clock , perpetual fraud.

    I don't go to church and never said I did. Boy don't you feel dumb.

  • Posted By: Pluck&Luck @ 02/06/2008 6:03:32 AM

    I would like to know if any innocent Americans (not in league with Al Qeada or other terrorists) have had their phones conversation tapped and the information used to embarass or harass them. If not, Mr. Feingold is positing hypotheticals for political gain, at serious risk to our national security. Seems to me that Feds would not waste their time on grandma, since they have so much other really important survelliance to conduct against actual terrorists

  • Posted By: FryeDaddy @ 02/06/2008 1:43:17 AM

    This United States media and their black balling of DR Ron Paul is and will be the greatest injustice I have ever witnessed. I am ashamed of our media and what they have done to this nation as a whole, by leading the ignorant masses to follow after the Hillary and McCain in the destruction of America. The only hope we as American's have at this point in history is Dr. Paul. He is a honest American who beleive's in the Constitution of the United States, whom as President would bring it back to that great document that we all take for granted. He by doing that would alone improve the quality of life in these United States, as well as make the rest of this world Respect us again, and not Fear us for our radical outlook on foriegn policy which by the way is unconstitutional. This truly is a shame, I predict that by 2012 we as a people will be resorted to standing in bread lines, our military will be depleted, and we will be as other third world countrys for our monetary system will be too far gone. Thank's to the Media and the ignorant voting masses for they will be the blame for the destruction of the greatest nation on earth. What a shame !!! Dr. Paul, to you Sir, I say this please know that there really is critical thinking, non politically correct, constitution Loving people out there, however, we were outnumbered by the ignorant and a corrupt media. Don't give up the fight Sir, for neither will we.

  • Posted By: razedbywolveswi @ 02/05/2008 9:30:44 PM

    Feingold is an idiot. He cheerfully votes to give big brother control over every aspect of our lives from political speech to health care and will bankrupt the country in pursuit of mooches paradise, but listen to Aunt Beas phone calls ??? oh the horror!

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