Statement by the President
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Last August, Congress passed the Protect America Act, which updated our foreign intelligence surveillance law to adapt to today’s technology and to meet today’s threats. This bipartisan legislation has aided our efforts to monitor the communications of terrorists and other foreign intelligence targets.
Unfortunately, Congress set this legislation to expire on February 1st. That is just 8 days from today – yet the threat from al Qaeda will not expire in 8 days.
If Congress does not act quickly, our national security professionals will not be able to count on critical tools they need to protect our Nation, and our ability to respond quickly to new threats and circumstances will be weakened. That means it will become harder to figure out what our enemies are doing to recruit terrorists and infiltrate them into our country.
Last fall, the Senate Intelligence Committee completed its work on a bipartisan bill to modernize our foreign intelligence surveillance law. I commend Senators Rockefeller and Bond, the Committee’s Chairman and Vice Chairman, for leading the effort to complete work on this bill.
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s bill contains many provisions that our intelligence officials say they need to protect our country. The bill would maintain the vital flow of intelligence on terrorist threats. It would protect the freedoms of Americans while making sure we do not extend those same protections to terrorists overseas. And it would provide liability protection to companies now facing billion dollar lawsuits only because they are believed to have assisted in efforts to defend our Nation following the Nine-Eleven attacks.
This bill still needs some changes, but I am optimistic that with goodwill on both sides we can make those changes quickly. So I ask Congressional leaders to follow the course set by their colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee, bring this legislation to a prompt vote in both houses, and send me a bill that I can sign before the Protect America Act expires on February 1st.
Congress’ action – or lack of action – on this important issue will directly affect our ability to keep Americans safe.
And what Americans are those Mr. President? You have now killed more American citizens in Iraq (not even counting in Afghanistan) as you pursue your INSANITY, never talking to anyone who disagrees with you.
You feel threatened? Then get a shrink .. you are totally nuts and have undone the US Constitution.
And thanks so much Jay Rockefeller. History will remember you, too!!
When does the insantity stop??
LOL MARK WAS THAT YOU?? at approximately 21:40 they put a brain on you and you started twinkling I think. Hahahaha.
Good for you, Mark. Good for you!
Technically, you are absolutely right. I suppose that is a good argument you can make when you're stopped at any one of the growing number of arbitrary checkpoints across the country, as they snatch you out of the car and taser you as they drag you to a patrol car and haul you downtown. By the time you get before a judge, the charges (bogus all) against you will be so overwhelming that you won't escape scot-free.
Obviously you have not had a run-in with the "law" lately. I have. So have thousands of others. Law enforcement and the courts play by the Patriot Act "rules," not by the Constitutional prohibitions. I heard one judge, in a Larry Becraft trial, clearly say he wouldn't allow the Constitution to be quoted in his courtroom. I was there and personally heard that.
Former Texas attorney Harmon Taylor resigned the bar after losing his case before the court of appeals on the Timothy McVeigh case, when they ruled that the Constitution "is not admissible evidence of law." The public was told the 30-day delay in McVeigh's execution was because they had found some misplaced FBI files they wanted McVeigh's lawyers to see, but that delay was caused by Harmon's jurisdictional challenge based on the Constitution's requirement that wrongful death is a matter over which the State has exclusive jurisdiction, when it occurs anywhere within the state other than federally-owned property. The Murrah "Federal" building was OWNED by Oklahoma City and only portions of it were LEASED to the feds.
If I have $100 but you have it locked in your safety deposit box and won't give me access to it, is it really mine?
Fred
Public perception is worth its weight in gold. If the public is led to believe that "Ron Paul can't win," can he win? If the public is led to believe that there are "only three candidates," can Ron Paul win? If the public is led to believe that Congress voted away the Bill of Rights, do you expect the public to demand enforcement of the Bill of Rights?
But we are a nation of laws, not a nation of wishes or illusions painted by TV broadcasters and commentators. So, yes, Fred, in the hypothetical example you gave, the $100 is still yours, and if I won't surrender it then you have a right to take action to get it. My decision cannot change your entitlement.
If a judge or police officer misbehaves, he doesn't have any effect on the law. The law stands until legally changed. Americans should know this well, so that at every turn we will object loudly and boldly to illegal government behavior.