Bush Signs Controversial Surveillance Bill

American Civil Liberties Union Immediately Files Suit To Block Bill, Saying It Violates First And Fourth Amendments

(CBS/ AP)  President Bush signed a bill Thursday that overhauls rules about government eavesdropping and grants immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the U.S. spy on Americans in suspected terrorism cases.

He called it "landmark legislation that is vital to the security of our people."

The American Civil Liberties Union immediately filed suit to prohibit the Bush administration from having the ability to monitor international phone calls and e-mails. The ACLU claims the new bill will detract from Americans' First and Fourth Amendment rights since it does not require the government to inform courts of intentions to spy or mandate that they provide evidence of crime committed by the targeted party.

"Spying on Americans without warrants or judicial approval is an abuse of government power - and that’s exactly what this law allows. The ACLU will not sit by and let this evisceration of the Fourth Amendment go unchallenged," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.

Bush signed the measure in a Rose Garden ceremony a day after the Senate sent it to him, following nearly a year of debate in the Democratic-led Congress over surveillance rules and the warrantless wiretapping program Bush initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was a battle that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks and Democrats' fears of being portrayed as weak when it comes to protecting the country.

Its passage was a major victory for Bush, an unpopular lame-duck president who nevertheless has been able to prevail over Congress on most issues of national security and intelligence disputes.

Bush said the 9/11 attack "changed our country forever" and taught the intelligence community that it must know who America's enemies are talking to and what they are saying.

"In the aftermath of 9/11," Bush said, "few would have imagined that we would be standing here seven years later without another attack on American soil. The fact that the terrorists have failed to strike our shores again does not mean that our enemies have given up."

Even before Bush signed the legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would challenge the new law in court.

The president said the bill gives the government anti-terror tools it needs without compromising Americans' civil liberties.

Bush was joined at the ceremony by Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and more than a dozen members of Congress.

[ajayvee]

How big a step do you think it is from where we are to Martial Law? Two, three months?

[libsluv2spit]

SQUIRM YOU LIBERAL TERRORISTS..SQUIRM!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vnveteran72]

President Bush''s signature had barely dried on the FISA Amendments Act, which the Senate approved Wednesday, when the American Civil Liberties Union announced that it would mount a constitutional challenge to the new law, claiming that it violates the First and Fourth Amendments. The group also filed a motion with the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, requesting that proceedings and rulings on the constitutionality of the FAA be made public.
On a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon, ACLU lawyers said they had filed suit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of an array of plaintiffs. This included a panoply of human rights organizations, prominent defense attorneys, and journalists like Chris Hedges and Naomi Klein of The Nation.

We can be thankful for the few Patriotic Organizations left in America that take the Constitution and Rule of Law seriously, especially since the MSM and our Nations Congress don''t.
After all, according to the Little Drunken Crackheaded AWOL/Deserter, "It''s just a ******** Piece of Paper".... ...Somebody get a Rope....

[impeach__w]

http://www.cbsnews.com
/stories/2008/07/04/national/main4233932.shtml

(CBS/AP) A federal judge said that President Bush does not have the constitutional authority to overstep the law establishing the government''s ability to conduct warrantless wiretaps on American citizens.

U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that when Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978 it established the "exclusive" means for engaging in wiretaps, and that the president in his capacity as commander in chief could not evade that law.

9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals barred evidence after the Bush administration invoked the state secrets privilege.

The appeals court sent the case back to Walker to determine if the privilege is trumped by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Walker did rule that FISA does trump the state secrets privilege:
"Congress included in the FISA bill a declaration that the FISA regime, together with the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 %u2026 were to be the %u201Cexclusive means%u201D by which domestic electronic surveillance for national security purposes could be conducted. %u2026 This provision and its legislative history left no doubt that Congress intended to displace entirely the various warrantless wiretapping and surveillance programs undertaken by the executive branch and to leave no room for the president to undertake warrantless surveillance in the domestic sphere in the future.

[komoncents]

Why isn''t the news that Impeachments Articles were introduced yesterday July 10, front page news in bold caps across the country on every major news outlet?

More than our politicians have been bought and paid for. Shame on you CBS, ABC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC.

We know better than to trust any of those networks to get honest news.

[komoncents]

They''re going after the leader of Sudan for genocide charges.

While they''re at it ... we''ve got a couple white house criminals they need to go after.

[Stratmaster7]

i understand their are lawsuits already being prepared around this signing. I hope theya re succesful, along with the prosecution of Rove and impeachment proceedings against Bush.

[tryhonesty]

It is time to wiretap Bush (and Daddy Bush making his Arab sell out of America), and Cheney... the rest of the RepubliCONs. It is time to kick the RepubliCONs in the rear out of all public offices this Fall. The Greedy OLD Party and their abuse of the hard working American families has got to end!

[ioweign]

"Can you hear me now !"

It''s not a commercial anymore...

[vnveteran72]

Read Glenn Greenwalds column on SALON today to get a real idea of what this "Legislation" really means.
NO ONE knows, not even the Scumbags voting for this Criminal Contract, what or whom, Shrub and the Neocons were Spying on and Eavesdropping on for the last 7 1/2 years......could have been Democratic Congress Members, Senators, anybody......this is the most outrageous incident of overt Criminal Activity by a sitting President since Tricky Dickkk. He in fact would now be granted Immunity from Prosecution under this new Statute.
War Criminals, Mass Murderers, Felons, War Profiteers, Traitors, and Assorted Lowlife Scumbags now operate our Government.
Time for another Revolution..........

[liberalme]

I wonder who is wiretapping SHRUB!!!!

Posted by six-six-seis at 09:03 AM

That would be honing right in on the American terrorists!!

[six-six-seis]

I wonder who is wiretapping SHRUB!!!!

[anecdote1]

Terrorists have frightened America into repealing rights the citizens of the United States have enjoyed for over 225 years. This law will have no effect on their operations. This should be a clear sign they are winning.

[rafterman1]

===These wire taps are crucial to us stopping terror attacks.===
Posted by jedi080808 at 02:01 AM : Jul 11, 2008

Anyone who thnks that the government will stop at just terrorists once they get this power is kidding themselves.

[brianbwb-2009]

"In the aftermath of 9/11," Bush said, "few would have imagined that we would be standing here seven years later without another attack on American soil. ..."

That is a lie, I and many of my friends fully expected it to be the only episode, since Al Qaeda claimed responsibility, and we all know Al Qaeda is a CIA asset.

[komoncents]

Welcome to 1984

[brianbwb-2009]

And Mr. Kucinich, don''t stop at the top, Rumsfeld, Rove, Powell, Rice, Wolfowitz, and Feith, are also complicit in helping to spread the fraudulent information, they must also be held responsible.

We cannot let any of these criminals remain unaccountable for their part in these treasons.

[anecdote1]

Our grandchildren will hear wispers of what freedom was and try to imagine how it must have been....I do miss America, land of the free.

[brianbwb-2009]

AN ARTICLE OF IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

INTRODUCED BY CONGRESSMAN DENNIS J. KUCINICH

JULY 10, 2008

Resolved, that President George W. Bush be impeached..."

YESSSS!!!

Now Mr. Kucinich, please introduce articles to get Cheney at the same time, so they cannot pardon one another.

[komoncents]

These wire taps are crucial to us stopping terror attacks.

Posted by jedi080808 at 02:01 AM : Jul 11, 2008

Who will stop the terror attacks by our own fascist government on our freedoms and the lives of our soldiers lost in a despicably pre-planned war for oil profits?

I fully expect another "terror attack" before the election.

Only this time you can bet there won''t be any pesky and annoying details like .... the missing 757 wreckage of an airplane nearly the size of a football field that was supposed to have hit the pentagon, or inconvenient audio live from ground zero recording New York City Fire Captains warning their men 20 minutes before the bldgs came down ... "get away from bldg #7, they''re going to bring it down."

Hear it yourself - www.911blogger.com/node/10025

Welcome to 1984

Vote all incumbents out now, especially all the traitors who voted for this criminal legislation