“Montani semper liberi.” Official West Virginia motto. (Mountaineers are always free.)
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” Benjamin Franklin.
Too many Democrats capitulated to give the White House unprecedented extra-legal authority to spy on American citizens without even the thin veneer of oversight that the FISA court provides for such warrants.
Yet four out of five of the West Virginia caucus voted against the new wiretap bill.
Senator Robert C. Byrd. Senator Jay Rockefeller. Rep. Alan Mollohan. Rep. Nick Rahall.
None of them are on the Wall of Shame of Democrats who would give up a “little liberty to gain a little security.”
At West Virginia Blue, One Citizen and I are having a lively debate on whether Senator Rockefeller should have done more.
I’m in the unusual position of defending Senator Rockefeller – unusual because I’m normally the one calling for him to do more in regards to the torture issue.
Here’s what Senator Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, offered in his bill, which considering what was passed, now looks much better in hindsight:
“The Administration has offered a proposal that would instead permanently grant the Attorney General excessive surveillance powers by giving him sole authority to direct surveillance while completely removing the FISA Court from the process. That is simply unacceptable.
“The FISA Court must continue to play an essential role in authorizing surveillance and overseeing its execution. They are the trusted steward of FISA, and they can and must be a part of any new streamlined approach. The proposal we put forward maintains the essential role of the FISA Court while also giving our intelligence officials additional tools to strengthen their hand against terrorists. We need the Administration to act quickly if we are going to pass this critical piece of legislation in the next few days,” Rockefeller said.
The interim proposed by Senator Rockefeller and others seeks to:
Ø Reinforce that foreign-to-foreign collection is not covered by FISA, consistent with current law;
Ø Ensure that FISA Court, not solely the Attorney General, has oversight role where foreign target surveillance touches on individuals inside the U.S.;
Ø Grant FISA Court new authority for court orders covering certain aggregated foreign collection while protecting rights and privacy of U.S. persons;
Ø Ensure continued FISA Court approval of guidelines and procedures for minimizing U.S. identities and determining the point at which initial foreign collection transitions to cover U.S. persons of interest (thereby triggering individual probable cause warrant requirements);
Ø Maintain FISA Court authority to compel compliance from telecommunications companies; and
Ø Set forth a firm legislative sunset date to ensure continued action on more lasting comprehensive FISA reforms.
Earlier this year, the Senate Intelligence Committee began work on the issue of modernizing FISA with the overarching goal of improving foreign intelligence collection, protecting civil liberties, and preventing this or any future President from ever abusing surveillance laws again.
Unfortunately, the Committee has been hampered in its ability to address FISA modernization because the Administration has refused to provide key documents at the heart of the warrantless surveillance program: the Presidential orders authorizing the program and the Department of Justice opinions on the legality of the program. (emphasis mine)
All but one of the West Virginia Congressional delegation voted against the terrible legislation that passed.
That legislator, Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, not only voted for the bill but co-sponsored it.
She would rather crawl on her belly in terror than stand up for the U.S. Constitution.
From the Beckley Register-Herald:
Rather than protect Americans, Capito said, the law in reality is placing an unintended shield around terrorists.
“Our system should be protecting the rights of Americans, not those of overseas terrorists plotting to kill Americans,” she said.
She knows – and the stenographer “reporter” quoting her probably also knows – that nothing in the old law or in Rockefeller’s version, would have prevented the wiretapping of those overseas.
All the bill does that she support is to now allow the Bush-Cheney administration to wiretap the phonecalls of Americans now without a search warrant.
To quote Benjamin Franklin again, who knew what it was like to live in dangerous times, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
Here is the worst of it. The Constitutional protection of requiring a search warrant was not a right that belonged to Capito and the Republicans and the shameful Democrats who went along with them to give up.
That was a right under our government that the Revolutionary soldiers fought for and suffered for. They knew what it was like to have government intrusion into their homes without a warrant. That right surrended to by Capito and other capitulators in Congress did not belong to them. It belonged by blood and death and sweat and toil to all of us.
Capito is going to be well-financed by the corporate interests because she rubberstamps their legislation. She is going to be backed by the Republican Party since she is a reliable rubberstamp to even their most extremist rightwing agenda.
But we can fight back. We have a Democratic challenger, State Sen. John Unger, who can side with the rest of the West Virginia delegation to Congress in standing up for us.
Are you mad at those who voted for capitulation? Send someone to Congress who won’t crawl in terror, but will stand up for the Constitution.
Help us elect John Unger to Congress so that Mountaineers will always be free.