Fighting the Dems to Keep America Safe: FISA
The post following was "lifted" from Wake Up America and cross-posted here. I am going to add a bit to the bottom of the post.
Unable to actually legislate, as we discussed this morning, the Democrats thought they would get cute and cut off debate to preserve a loophole on behalf of the terrorists around the world.
Not many people are familiar with the House Rules Committee, or why it has so much power to determine what legislation passes the House. Simply put, the Committee sets the terms for debate of all significant legislation--how long a bill is debated, who may offer amendments, what amendments may be offered, etc. Before a bill goes to the House floor, the Committee meets to review amendments, hear testimony from interested parties, and discuss how to structure the floor debate.
Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter did something unusual however, in the hearing on legislation to extend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act--she announced at the start of the hearing that no amendments of any type would be allowed for debate. Committee Democrats followed Slaughter's lead and voted against amendments to: authorize surveillance of those engaged in the creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction; authorize surveillance of foreign terrorists outside the United States; extend liability protection to telecommunications companies that relied on government directives and shared information deemed necessary for protection from terrorist attack; and, allow a debate on the Bush administration's alternative.
The Republicans having but one option left to fight the Democrats in order to keep America safe, used their right under the house rules to offer one 'motion to recommit' the bill.Nothing in this Act [H.R. 3773] or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to prohibit the intelligence community (as defined in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a(4))) from conducting surveillance needed to prevent Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, or any other foreign terrorist organization designated under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189) from attacking the United States or any United States person.
Pretty straight foward but it threw the Democrats into disarray.
From Red State:[UPDATE by Jeff:] House Democrats were unable to whip enough votes to get their way. Today, they were against a simple vote on a Republican proposal to protect America's intelligence agencies ability to fight Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. That's it - they were against that and fought desperately today to kill it.
When they failed, they pulled the entire FISA bill.
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[UPDATE by Erick:] House Democrats have fallen into disarray. They are currently holding the FISA legislation from the floor until later in the day, so they can have more time to work their voting numbers. If the vote were held right now, the Republican motion would pass. Dems are working their moderates furiously right now. Just a reminder, the proposal Democrats are working against simply protects the ability of our intelligence agencies to protect America from Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
From Boehner's site:“Our proposal gives Democrats a very simple choice: They can allow our intelligence officials to conduct surveillance on likes of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda or prohibit them from doing so and jeopardize our national security. Every member of the Majority will now have the opportunity to go on record and take a firm position for or against giving our intelligence community all the tools they need to keep America safe.”
Eric Cantor calls it drawing a line in the sand and putting everyone on public record:The House is voting today on FISA legislation, the Democrats have played petty politics with this bill. As currently written, many of America’s national security experts are concerned that it will limit their ability to protect this country. Let’s be clear, the intelligence agencies only wish to use the same investigative tools that have been used against organized crime for decades.
Today, we will be offering an amendment to the legislation to clarify that nothing in the bill “shall be construed to prohibit the intelligence community from conducting surveillance needed to prevent Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, or any other foreign terrorist organization…from attacking the United States or any United States person.”
Later today, on the House floor, let’s put all Members of Congress on the record - which do they care more about, pleasing their MoveOn.org liberal base or making sure America is safe and secure? Stay tuned for updates.
UPDATE:House Democrats are holding the FISA bill off the floor, scrambling to figure out how to respond. Why would they possibly want to avoid a vote that merely says we need to allow our intelligence agencies to keep America safe from terrorism?
UPDATE:House Democrats have pulled the FISA bill. They are so desperately against allowing our intelligence agencies to fight OBL and AQ, that they pulled the entire bill to prevent a vote.
These games the Democrats keep playing (closing off debate and not allowing amendments to come to a vote) are the reason they have been and will continue to be known as weak on National Security.
When the Republicans in the house have to fight the hardest battle against Democrats to keep America safe, that is a pretty sad day in history and yet that is where we are right now.
Once again the Democrats would rather please their far left, liberal, unhinged portion of their base than to protect our country.
The above belongs to Wake Up America.
My comments/addendum is(are) below.
I have filed this post in the category of "Enemies of The State" and "Clear and Present Danger". Why, you ask? I am glad you asked. Do, please, try to follow along. It does relate to the conclusions drawn in the above post.
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor – he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation , he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.” Marcus Tullius Cicero 42 B.C.
Quite a statesman placed the above together. What does it mean? And, more importantly, how does the statement apply to today's political climate in America today?
On 91101, the entire country rallied together because another Day Of Infamy was upon us all. Our Nation was attacked on American Soil Proper. Our Nation has been under attack since the early 1970s but the politicos did nothing because the "enemy" was but a mere pimple on the buttocks of the world's society. Through the years of the Do Nothing Policy or Policies, the pimples have grown to be infected, bleeding and ulcerous boils with no cure but to exterminate the virus. This is too much for the Bleeding Hearts to accept. This is why they cannot be trusted with National Security issues. They haven't the Warrior's Stomach for it.
The stunt they pulled today is reminiscent of the Reidco ploy after his All Night Slumber Party failed and was quite the International embarrassment.
On every turn, at every opportunity, the Leftinistra, the armies of the socialist liberal, scream and holler and call foul at every attempt to fulfill the guideline of our Constitution and that is to protect the PEOPLE of this country. They claim to represent the majority of Americans but I have yet to ascertain which Americans they represent the majority of. If they claim that the far-left Anti-Americanists are the majority of Americans, what are the rest of us? The far-leftists are NOT a majority in numbers, not by any stretch of the imagination. They are, however, financed and encouraged by George Soros. And, George Soros has said that he owns the Democratic Party. He holds the purse strings and he calls the shots as to what they say, do and vote on and how.
Orcinus
The stunt they pulled today is reminiscent of the Reidco ploy after his All Night Slumber Party failed and was quite the International embarrassment.
On every turn, at every opportunity, the Leftinistra, the armies of the socialist liberal, scream and holler and call foul at every attempt to fulfill the guideline of our Constitution and that is to protect the PEOPLE of this country. They claim to represent the majority of Americans but I have yet to ascertain which Americans they represent the majority of. If they claim that the far-left Anti-Americanists are the majority of Americans, what are the rest of us? The far-leftists are NOT a majority in numbers, not by any stretch of the imagination. They are, however, financed and encouraged by George Soros. And, George Soros has said that he owns the Democratic Party. He holds the purse strings and he calls the shots as to what they say, do and vote on and how.
Orcinus
[...]
The liberals are our destruction. They want to destroy the United States and our people. This plan must be blocked.
There are no distinctions between liberals. Each liberal is a sworn enemy of the American people. If he does not make his hostility plain, it is only from cowardice and slyness, not because he loves us.
The liberals are to blame for each American soldier who falls in this war. They have him on their conscience, and must also pay for it.
If someone pulled the lever for Kerry, Pelosi, et al., he is an enemy of the people. He earns the contempt of the entire people, for he is a craven coward who leaves them in the lurch to stand by the enemy.
The liberals enjoy the approval of our enemies. That is all the proof we need to show how harmful they are for our people.
The liberals are the enemy’s agents among us. He who stands by them aids the enemy.
The liberals have no right to claim that their arguments and opinions equal ours. They should be ignored, not only because they are simply wrong, but because they are liberals who have no right to a voice in the community.If the liberals appeal to your sentimentality, realize that they are hoping for your forgetfulness, and let them know that you see through them and hold them in contempt.
A decent enemy will deserve our generosity after we have won. The liberal however is not a decent enemy, though he tries to seem so.
The treatment liberals receive from us is hardly unjust. They have deserved it all. It is the job of the government to deal with them. No one has the right to act on his own, but each has the duty to support the state’s measures against the liberals, to defend them with others, and to avoid being misled by any liberal tricks.
The security of the state requires that of us all.
[...]
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