Arcuri Intends To Vote For Warrantless Spying On Americans
It’s not a cheery morning for me, seeing what passes for our “Democratic” representation in Congress. I have called Congressman Mike Arcuri’s office in Washington D.C., and the aides there confirm that Representative Arcuri will vote in favor of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 6304).
If you call Arcuri’s office (202-225-3665), you will be told by the aide who answers the telephone that Congressman Arcuri does not support retroactive immunity for telecommunications corporations. You will be told that H.R. 6304 is a “compromise” bill that does not offer retroactive telecom immunity.
When you are told this by the aide who answers the telephone, ask the aide if he has actually read H.R. 6304. The aide I talked to admitted that he has not read the bill.
I have read the bill, and the assertion that it does not offer retroactive legal immunity for telecommunications corporations is laughable. But, I’m not a lawyer, so maybe you shouldn’t take my word for it. Consider what Senator Russ Feingold, who knows how to read a piece of legislation, has to say about the bill:
“The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation. The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home.”
Or, you could take the word of attorney Kevin Bankston, who works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Bankston has read the legislation, and he concludes,
“Whatever gloss might be put on it, the so-called ‘compromise’ on immunity is anything but: the current proposal is the exact same blanket immunity that the Senate passed in February and that the House rejected in March, only with a few new bells and whistles so that political spinsters can claim that it actually provides meaningful court review.”
Political spinsters – that’s what we’re getting in the office of Congressman Michael Arcuri. They’re counting on you to not read the legislation for yourself. Maybe Representative Arcuri himself hasn’t even read the FISA Amendments Act. He admitted that he didn’t bother reading the Military Commissions Act before approving it.
You can choose to go along with the political spin offered by Arcuri’s staff, or you can be one of the few Americans who has read the FISA Amendments Act. I don’t expect many people to bother to read it. I don’t expect many people to care that much. I don’t expect many Democrats to question Arcuri, and make this a campaign issue. We’ll hear the same old claims that it’s somehow our duty to support Arcuri because he carries the name of Democrat, and for most Democrats, that will be a good enough argument.
We are not living in an age of idealism. Congressman Arcuri knows that, and that’s why he’s confident that he won’t lose much support on account of his vote for Bush’s spying bill today.
You get to decide whether you’re willing to go along with that, and confirm Arcuri’s sad judgment of the character of our citizens.
Damn,
I got an email from MoveOn, telling me to call Arcuri, and I said to myself “nah, he won’t vote for that. He voted against the war funding a couple of days ago. he’s hip.” So I call at 12:30. They hadn’t voted yet. So I got to chat with a guy that confirmed that he intended to vote for it. At least I got to log in my complaints. I’ll bet he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Maybe we should call Hinchey and ask him to give Mike a good talking to. Did you see that Hinchey is now one of five cosponsors to Kuchinich’s 35 articles of impeachment?
Got through to one of Hinchey’s people who couldn’t say how Hinchey will vote, but that he would immediately forward my request to have Hinchey talk to Arcuri.
Thanks for keeping us clued in Jon.
Hinchey voted AGAINST. Good man.
Arcuri, who knew full well what he was doing, voted FOR.
I think that the only solution that makes sense is for the Town of Ulysses to present a petition to the New York State legislation urging that with the 2010 redistricting, we be placed in Maurice Hinchey’s district. It’s Hinchey that best represents us, not Arcuri. Arcuri belongs with Blue Dog Democrats down in places like Tennessee and Alabama.
Those Utica/Auburn/Cortland Democrats have this district wrapped up, and Arcuri serves their needs, not ours.
*&%#@&*+!!!,
Good luck getting Ulysses to pass such a resolution!
Forget the local government. Send a petition direct.
OMG, Obama too? WTF!
“OMG, Obama too? WTF!”
LMAO!!!! What did you expect? Hes running for President. Im sure he’ll break a few more of your hearts before he rides this charade straight to penn ave. Only in Amerika does this stuff happen. What a country!
Yes, Obama too, the rat. I won’t be attending any fundraisers for that man.
People seem not to have grasped that this law removes every level of protection guaranteed by the fourth amendment. Imagine if Congress passed a law saying that the Attorney General could arrest anyone for criticizing the President, if the Attorney General would certify, without providing evidence, that national security issues were involved. That’s how profound an attack on the Constitution the FISA Amendments Act is – and Michael Arcuri and Barack Obama are both supporting it, to pander to what are charitably called “swing voters”.
They have both betrayed their Oath of Office, and have broken trust with the public. It is a sad, sad day for the Democratic Party.
It’s pretty silly that someone would impersonate me on this blog, but I assure you I don’t use trite teenage abbreviations when I speak or post.
In terms of bashing on Obama…
what was McCain’s position?
It seems voting against Obama, if you are a liberal ,would be one of the most asinine things possible. Not that it isn’t past certain posters here, but asinine nonetheless.
X, what’s really silly is using a pseudonym instead of your real name and then getting upset when other people use it too.
I’ve been an enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama, but when he promises to continue one of the top three abuses of the Bush Administration (1. Iraq, 2. Torture, 3. Spying on Americans), I become not a supporter at all.
Obama has just proven himself the worst kind of politician. He didn’t need to make this move to win the election. He’s pandering to the fears of Republicans – exactly the kind of politics he said he was going to stand against.
Saying that we don’t have any choice but to vote for Obama anyway is asinine.
Folks. I could be wrong but I don’t think the Senate has voted on this yet.
The Senate did vote on it earlier this year. Now, presumably this week, the Senate and House need to create a conference version of the bill, and vote on it one more time.
I believe Obama registered a “no vote” earlier this year (February). HR 6304 was passed in the House on Friday and now needs to be voted on by the Senate. If it passes, they’ll produce a conference version that will reconcile any differences in the bills.
Not exactly. What happened is that the Senate passed a bill earlier this year, as you say, and Barack Obama showed up for some procedural votes on attempted amendments. However, Senator Obama did NOT stay in the Senate to vote against the bill’s passage.
There may be enough difference between House and Senate bills for the Senate now to consider the House bill instead of its own, OR there could be an effort to go straight to producing a conference version.
Yes exactly. You can vote yeah, nay, or not vote. Obama is down as a “no vote”, i.e., as I said, he didn’t vote on it in February, and no one in the Senate has yet voted on the current bill (as of this morning anyway). So, the diatribes above (numbers 7,8, and 9) are a bit over the top for right now I think.
No, Richard, because Obama has announced his intention to reverse his position.
Previously, Barack Obama promised to filibuster any legislation that contained retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.
Now, Barack Obama says that he will vote for the FISA Amendments Act, even if telecommunications retroactive immunity is not taken out of the bill.
First, that’s a broken promise on a top issue regarding our constitutional rights.
Second, you cannot count Barack Obama simple as a “didn’t vote” senator any more. He has now declared that he will vote FOR the FISA Amendments Act. That puts him clearly in the opposite camp from where he stood during the primaries.
My point was that the Senate (and hence Senator Obama) has not voted on this, counter to what you implied in various posts above.
Richard, once again, that’s not quite right. The Senate has voted on this, earlier this year, but the version of the bill that they voted on didn’t match the House version as well as the version that they’re now voting on, so for the sake of sending a bill to the President more easily, they’re voting on the recent House version sent over to the Senate.
The Senate did vote earlier this year on a bill very much like this one, and Barack Obama chose not to be there for the vote.
Right, the Senate has not yet voted on this bill, as I said originally.