Subject: Stop the Specter bill and save the Fourth Amendment!
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Subject: Stop the Specter bill and save the Fourth Amendment!
>
> Dear Friend,
>
> The President’s warrantless wiretapping program violates the Fourth
> Amendment prohibition against wiretapping Americans without a
> warrant, which must be obtained by showing a judge there is a valid
> reason for the search. Yet, instead of holding the president
> accountable, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has teamed up with
> the White House to draft S. 2453 (nicknamed the “Cheney-Specter
> bill”), which would legalize the illegal wiretapping program and any
> other current and future secret programs the administration wants to
> use to spy on Americans—without ever having to secure a single
> warrant.
>
> If Specter’s Senate Judiciary Committee approves S. 2453 (as soon as
> this Thursday, July 20), it will head to the Senate for a floor vote.
> The bill would make the Fourth Amendment almost completely disappear.
> We must act now!
>
> Please phone both your Senators today and ask them to oppose this
> bill. Look up their telephone numbers at www.senate.gov. You may also
> visit
>
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/bordc/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4669
> to send them a fax. Please forward this alert widely.
>
> What’s so bad about S. 2453? Plenty!
>
> It’s a win-win for Bush, a lose-lose for the people. Right now you
> can sue the administration for violating your Fourth Amendment
> rights. But if this lopsided bill passes, all cases involving
> warrantless surveillance would go to the secret Foreign Intelligence
> Surveillance Court of Review, which is off-limits to your lawyer:
> Only the Administration’s lawyers are allowed to present arguments
> before this court. The entire proceedings can be kept secret,
> including the court’s decisions. Your case can be dismissed for “any
> reason” with no chance of appeal. But if the Administration’s side
> loses, it has the right to appeal.
>
> And the secrecy doesn’t end there.
>
> S 2453 goes even further than the USA PATRIOT Act:
>
> * by giving the President the authority to search your home and
> business with no warrant if war is declared,
> * by allowing the President the power to use roving wiretaps
> without a warrant, and
> * by removing protections, enabling the White House to conduct
> data-mining of Americans’ private information.
>
> It’s a blank check for the president. The President’s program of
> electronic eavesdropping plainly violates the Foreign Intelligence
> Surveillance Act (FISA) that Congress enacted in 1978 to prevent
> warrantless domestic spying by the executive branch. But instead of
> asserting Congress’s oversight authority to protect us from
> warrantless searches, this bill legalizes them and eliminates any
> meaningful checks by a court or Congress. If S. 2453 were to pass,
> the FISA Court could give the White House blanket authorization for
> its current warrantless eavesdropping program, and any other programs
> it desires. Individual warrants, one of the few safeguards that
> protect us from virtually unlimited surveillance, would disappear.
>
> It’s not as advertised! Specter has claimed victory by bringing
> President Bush to the table with this bill. But his bait was
> irresistible for a president who claims absolute power and refuses
> oversight: Bush is even dictating to Congress that the bill pass with
> no changes.
>
> Both your Senators need to hear from you that S. 2453 is a sellout of
> our Constitution. Phone calls, personal visits, and handwritten
> letters delivered to your local Congressional office are best. Look
> up phone numbers at www.senate.gov and call your Senators today. For
> quick and effective communication, send a free personalized fax,
> here:
>
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/bordc/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4669.
>
>
> To start engaging your community in this effort, visit
> http://www.bordc.org/involved/nsaaction.php.
>
> The American people need the Fourth Amendment’s protection from
> unreasonable searches and seizures. Congress doesn’t need to pass new
> legislation – it must enforce the laws on the books. This bill, and
> not the Fourth Amendment, must die in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
>
> Thank you for all you do to defend our civil liberties!
> The Bill of Rights Defense Committee
>
> *******************************************
>
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Mark Hull-Richter, U.S. Citizen & Patriot
U.S.A. - From democracy to kakistocracy in one fell coup.
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” - JFK
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0416-01.htm
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