Let the Protect America Act Expire (FISA)

Today, Thursday, the House of Representatives is scheduled to mourn the passing of Tom Lantos, victim of fascism.

Tomorrow, Friday, the extension of the Protect America Act expires.

Let it.

This will be brief.

What greater tribute could we pay to a survivor of the Holocaust than to stop the rising tide of fascism in our country?

An American by choice was Tom Lantos, secure in the knowledge that this country could not be stampeded into a Kristallnacht by a mere Reichstag Fire.

9/11 is the Reichstag Fire.  A bully beating to put down the Constitutional guarantees of government and if you don’t see it you are as weak as the Weimar Republicans.  This is an endorsement of Gestapo Police State tactics of torture and universal surveillance.

I know no one here prefers temporary safety to essential liberty.  Today is the day to let your Elected Representatives know that you will be satisfied with nothing less.

As Tom knew the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

It is our fate to live in interesting times.

36 comments

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  1. Liberty or Tyranny.

    The choice is just that simple.

    Slave or Free.

    • pfiore8 on February 14, 2008 at 14:25

    put a rec button on this essay.

    • pfiore8 on February 14, 2008 at 14:26

    Mr. Paine, a man of his time and ours.

    • OPOL on February 14, 2008 at 14:29

    a storm as dark as anything the Nazis conjured up is gathering over America.  I’ve been telling people about it for years.  If we don’t face it and resist it – we’re all toast.  My great worry is that not enough of us will awaken to the awful reality in time.  

    • Viet71 on February 14, 2008 at 14:49

    Lots of unanswered questions about 9/11.

    • kj on February 14, 2008 at 16:56

    just thanks.

    • TMC on February 14, 2008 at 17:15

    has functioned very well with FISA since 1978 without any “tweeking” to give unfettered power to the executive branch. The intelligence about 9/11 was there, Bush Co. ignored it. The only reason for the retroactive immunity is to end all the civil law suits that are pending against the telecommunication companies. It serves no other purpose.

    I agree, ek, give these criminals and their minions nothing. They have done enough damage without giving them a pass.

    • robodd on February 14, 2008 at 17:29

    for the People.

    Would actually work for a change.

    • TMC on February 14, 2008 at 17:44

    This is a link to an interview on the “Dan Abrams Hour”. Constitutional Professor Jonathan Turley and Dan Abrams discuss the appointment of a very conservative lawyer to the post of Assistant Attorney General and its implacations.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21

    I’d post the video itself but I haven’t gotten that far into “Vista for Dummies” which isn’t as helpful as you’d think.

    • TMC on February 14, 2008 at 17:50

    made a statement that he voted for FISA because it protected American citizens traveling abroad. WHAT? Since when did my constitutional rights under the 4th amendment end at the US borders? Since when did the US have the right to wire tap my telephone calls without a warrant just because I am not in the US? Sen. Whitehouse, that was a BS excuse if I ever heard one.

  2. CLINTON COUNTS ON SUPERDELEGATES

    By Susan Milligan, Boston Globe Staff

    WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton will take the Democratic nomination even if she does not win the popular vote, but persuades enough superdelegates to vote for her at the convention, her campaign advisers say.

    The New York senator, who lost three primaries Tuesday night, now lags slightly behind her rival, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, in the delegate count. She is even further behind in “pledged” delegates, those assigned by virtue of primaries and caucuses.

    But Clinton will not concede the race to Obama if he wins a greater number of pledged delegates by the end of the

    mprimary season, and will count on the 796 elected officials and party bigwigs to put her over the top, if necessary, said Clinton’s communications director, Howard Wolfson.

    “I want to be clear about the fact that neither campaign is in a position to win this nomination without the support of the votes of the superdelegates,” Wolfson told reporters in a conference call.

    ********************************

    This appear to me, to be a “big fuck” you to what the voters of America might really want…winning at any cost.

    http://www.boston.com/news/pol

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