As I posted earlier, Republicans walked off the floor when Democrats refused to debate the FISA bill. Here's Michele Bachmann's statement about the GOP Walkoff:
American’s safety must come before partisanshipIf that isn't bad enough, Democrats now are prepared to let the Protect America Act lapse:(Washington, D.C) Today, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) released the following statement after Democrats allowed the Protect America Act to expire:
“It is unconscionable that with America’s security on the line, the Democrats chose to spend Congress’ time on pointless partisan posturing. As a member of Congress, I serve no higher duty than to help keep our friends, families and loved ones safe. The Protect America Act has been a critical part of the effort to prevent, interrupt and foil terrorist attacks. Yet with it set to expire in just two days, the Democrats refused to work with Republicans to reauthorize it.
“The Protect America Act provides vital updates to the original 1978 FISA provision, allowing law enforcement and intelligence services to meet the threat posed by the enemies of today. For over six months House Democrats have refused to bring a comprehensive, long-term FISA bill to the floor.
“Even the Senate passed a bipartisan reauthorization bill. And the President cleared his schedule to ensure that terrorist chatter wouldn’t slip through the cracks while our intelligence officers awaited these important surveillance tools.
“But the Democrats were more interested in establishing commemorative weeks, honoring groups and taking cheap shots at Administration officials. About the most substantive thing they had planned for today were technical corrections to a 36-year-old fungicide bill. And so I joined my fellow House Republicans in walking off the floor today in protest.
“America’s safety must come before partisanship. Democrats need to work with Republicans to pass long-term FISA reform. I hope that today’s Republican action will help propel a FISA bill onto the floor so we can get back to the business of protecting the American people.”
President Bush said Thursday that failure to update the Protect America Act will "harm our ability to monitor new terrorist activities and could reopen dangerous gaps in our intelligence."To be blunt, Ms. Pelosi is feeding us a line of BS. The FISA appellate court ruled that the NSA had to get a warrant anytime foreign communications were routed through American switches:House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in response, dubbed such talk fear-mongering. The president has every authority to continue needed eavesdropping under another law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), she said. Moreover, the authorities granted under the temporary surveillance law enacted in August will carry on for a year, she added.
The prelude to approval of the plan occurred in January, when the administration agreed to put the wiretapping program under the oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The court is charged with guarding against governmental spying abuses. Officials say one judge issued a ruling in January that allowed the administration to continue the program under the court’s supervision. A ruling a month or two later, the judge who made it and its exact timing are not clear, restricted the government’s ability to intercept foreign-to-foreign communications passing through telecommunication “switches” on American soil.Simply put, Ms. Pelosi's actions should enrage thinking people of all political stripes. It's unconscienable to think that Congress would simply walk away from their responsibility of protecting the American people.The security agency was newly required to seek warrants to monitor at least some of those phone calls and e-mail messages. As a result, the ability to intercept foreign-based communications “kept getting ratcheted down,” said a senior intelligence official who insisted on anonymity because the account involved classified material. “ We were to a point where we were not effectively operating.”
Mr. McConnell, lead negotiator for the administration in lobbying for the bill, said in an interview that the court’s restrictions had made his job much more difficult.
"It was crazy, because I’m sitting here signing out warrants on known Al Qaeda operatives that are killing Americans, doing foreign communications,” he said. “And the only reason I’m signing that warrant is because it touches the U.S. communications infrastructure. That’s what we fixed.”
I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the fact that the FISA Appellate Court ruling is idiotic. In their ruling, they effectively said that yes, even though a communication was from one foreign country to another foreign country, it wasn't a foreign call because it went through a US switch.
The new 2008 Protect America Act would expand and update the government's ability to monitor technologies such as the Internet and cellphones. If the current law is allowed to lapse, the US will be unable to respond quickly to new terrorist threats, say Republicans and some Democrats, who are urging approval of a bill the Senate passed on Tuesday.If the NSA has to resort to antiquated laws, then we aren't doing everything that's needed to keep us secure. That message should be the NRCC's campaign theme from now until Election Day.
To do anything less than our utmost is unacceptable.
How Enron Worked the President
Are You Ready?
How Enron Worked the President!
(This is an interesting bit of information that you don't hear much about.)
1. Enron's chairman did meet with the president and the vice president in the Oval Office.
2. Enron gave $420,000 to the president's party over three years.
3. It donated $100,000 to the president's inauguration festivities.
4. The Enron chairman stayed at the White House 11 times.
5. The corporation had access to the administration at its highest level and even enlisted the Commerce and State Departments to grease deals for it.
6. The taxpayer-supported Export-Import Bank subsidized Enron for more than $600 million in just one transaction.
Scandalous!!
(Look below ..... )
BUT..the president under whom all this happened WASN'T George W. Bush.
SURPRISE!
It was President Bill Clinton!
Pass this on so the whole Country will know. The Media Won't!
ARE WE REALLY READY FOR MRS.CLINTON?
.
Posted by: MJ at February 15, 2008 02:27 PM
Subject: Hillary's Resume
>>>> Hillary's Resume
>>>>
>>>> Hillary Clinton has been telling America that
>>>> she is the most qualified candidate for president
>>>> based on her 'record,' which she says includes her
>>>> eight years in the White House as First Lady - or
>>>> 'co-president' - and her seven years in the Senate.
>>>> Here is a reminder of what that record includes:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - As First Lady, Hillary assumed authority over
>>>> Health Care Reform, a process that cost the
>>>> taxpayers over $13 million. She told both Bill
>>>> Bradley and Patrick Moynihan, key votes needed to
>>>> pass her legislation, that she would 'demonize'
>>>> anyone who opposed it. But it was opposed; she
>>>> couldn't even get it to a vote in a Congress
>>>> controlled by her own party. (And in the next
>>>> election, her party lost control of both the House
>>>> and Senate)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Hillary assumed authority over selecting a
>>>> female Attorney General. Her first two
>>>> recommendations, Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, were
>>>> forced to withdraw their names from consideration.
>>>> She then chose Janet Reno. Janet Reno has since
>>>> been described by Bill himself as 'my worst
>>>> mistake.'
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Hillary recommended Lani Guanier for head of
>>>> the Civil Rights Commission. When Guanier's radical
>>>> views became known, her name had to be withdrawn.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Hillary recommended her former law partners,
>>>> Web Hubbell, Vince Foster, and William Kennedy for
>>>> positions in the Justice Department, White House
>>>> staff, and the Treasury, respectively. Hubbell was
>>>> later imprisoned, Foster committed suicide*, and
>>>> Kennedy was forced to resign.
>>>> *Some people believe Vince Foster was actually murdered!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Hillary also recommended a close friend of the
>>>> Clintons, Craig Livingstone, for the position of
>>>> director of White House security. When Livingstone
>>>> was investigated for the improper access of up to
>>>> 900 FBI files of Clinton enemies ("Filegate") and
>>>> the widespread use of drugs by White House staff,
>>>> both Hillary and her husband denied knowing him.
>>>> FBI agent Dennis Sculimbrene confirmed in a Senate
>>>> Judiciary Committee hearing in 1996, both the drug
>>>> use and Hillary's involvement in hiring Livingstone.
>>>> After that, the FBI closed its White House Liaison
>>>> Office, after serving seven presidents for over
>>>> thirty years.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - In order to open "slots" in the White House
>>>> for her friends the Thomasons (to whom millions of
>>>> dollars in travel contracts could be awarded),
>>>> Hillary had the entire staff of the White House
>>>> Travel Office fired; they were reported to the FBI
>>>> for 'gross mismanagement' and their reputations
>>>> ruined. After a thirty-month investigation, only
>>>> one, Billy Dale, was charged with a crime - mixing
>>>> personal money with White House funds when he cashed
>>>> checks. The jury acquitted him in less than two
>>>> hours.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Another of Hillary's assumed duties was
>>>> directing the 'bimbo eruption squad' and scandal
>>>> defense:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---- She urged her husband not to settle the
>>>> Paula Jones lawsuit.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---- She refused to release the Whitewater
>>>> documents, which led to the appointment of Ken Starr
>>>> as Special Prosecutor. After $80 million dollars of
>>>> taxpayer money was spent, Starr's investigation led
>>>> to Monica Lewinsky, which led to Bill lying about
>>>> and later admitting his affairs.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---- Then they had to settle with Paula Jones
>>>> after all.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---- And Bill lost his law license for lying to
>>>> the grand jury
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---- And Bill was impeached by the House.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---- And Hillary almost got herself indicted for
>>>> perjury and obstruction of justice (she avoided it
>>>> mostly because she repeated, 'I do not recall,' 'I
>>>> have no recollection,' and 'I don't know' 56 times
>>>> under oath).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Hillary wrote 'It Takes a Village,'
>>>> demonstrating her Socialist viewpoint.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Hillary decided to seek election to the Senate
>>>> in a state she had never lived in. Her husband
>>>> pardoned FALN terrorists in order to get Latino
>>>> support and the New Square Hassidim to get Jewish
>>>> support. Hillary also had Bill pardon her brother's
>>>> clients, for a small fee, to get financial support.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Then Hillary left the White House, but later
>>>> had to return $200,000 in White House furniture,
>>>> china, and artwork she had stolen.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - In the campaign for the Senate, Hillary played
>>>> the 'woman card' by portraying her opponent (Lazio)
>>>> as a bully picking on her.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Hillary's husband further protected her by
>>>> asking the National Archives to withhold from the
>>>> public until 2012 many records of their time in the
>>>> White House, including much of Hillary's
>>>> correspondence and her calendars. (There are
>>>> ongoing lawsuits to force the release of those
>>>> records.)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - As the junior Senator from New York, Hillary
>>>> has passed no major legislation. She has deferred
>>>> to the senior Senator (Schumer) to tend to the needs
>>>> of New Yorkers, even on the hot issue of medical
>>>> problems of workers involved in the cleanup of
>>>> Ground Zero after 9/11.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Hillary's one notable vote; supporting the
>>>> plan to invade Iraq, she has since disavowed.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Quite a resume'. Sounds more like an organized
>>>> crime family's rap sheet.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
Posted by: MJ at February 15, 2008 02:32 PM
Nancy Pelosi had better things to do other than PROTECTING America. Wedding plans trump a voter any day according to her!
Posted by: Lee S Gliddon Jr at February 16, 2008 08:30 PM
