PAA General Monthly Meeting 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10, 2008, Havens Center, 1827 W. Alabama

Event Description:

Come to the regular monthly meeting of the Progressive Action Alliance Thursday, May 8. Come early (about 6:45PM) to visit; meeting is from 7-9 p.m. Bring something non-messy to eat or drink and share if you wish. If you are reading this on the PAA home page, click on the event title for more info.

We meet at the Havens Center -- see address below. You may park across the street in the gravel lot on the north side of Alabama (not in front of the restaurant). NOTE: Several cars were vandalized a few months ago in the St. Stephen's Church parking lot, just east of the Havens Center. The church has added some new lights to that parking lot, but we still suggest that you not park there. Do not leave visible items of value in your car.
Agenda items include:
* Harris County DA and Joe Horn

* ACLU's lawsuit following Senate passage of unconstitutional spying bill, which grants immunity To telecoms (see ACLU press release below)

* Health Care for All Conference, July 31, Coventry Baptist Church

* 911truth.org conference call with Dennis Kucinich and his push for impeachment

ACLU press release:
ACLU Announces Legal Challenge To Follow President’s Signature on Unconstitutional Spying Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (202) 675-2312, escramble('media','dcaclu.org'); or
(212) 549-2666; escramble('media','aclu.org');

WASHINGTON – Today, in a blatant assault upon civil liberties and the right to privacy, the Senate passed an unconstitutional domestic spying bill that violates the Fourth Amendment and eliminates any meaningful role for judicial oversight of government surveillance. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 was approved by a vote of 69 to 28 and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush shortly. This bill essentially legalizes the president’s unlawful warrantless wiretapping program revealed in December 2005 by the New York Times.

“Once again, Congress blinked and succumbed to the president’s fear-mongering. With today’s vote, the government has been given a green light to expand its power to spy on Americans and run roughshod over the Constitution,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “This legislation will give the government unfettered and unchecked access to innocent Americans’ international communications without a warrant. This is not only unconstitutional, but absolutely un-American.”

The FISA Amendments Act nearly eviscerates oversight of government surveillance by allowing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to review only general procedures for spying rather than individual warrants. The FISC will not be told any specifics about who will actually be wiretapped, thereby undercutting any meaningful role for the court and violating the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

The bill further trivializes court review by authorizing the government to continue a surveillance program even after the government’s general spying procedures are found insufficient or unconstitutional by the FISC. The government has the authority to wiretap through the entire appeals process, and then keep and use whatever information was gathered in the meantime. A provision touted as a major “concession” by proponents of the bill calls for investigations by the inspectors general of four agencies overseeing spying activities. But members of Congress who do not sit on the Judiciary or Intelligence committees will not be guaranteed access to the agencies’ reports.

The bill essentially grants absolute retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies that facilitated the president’s warrantless wiretapping program over the last seven years by ensuring the dismissal of court cases pending against those companies. The test for the companies’ right to immunity is not whether the government certifications they acted on were actually legal – only whether they were issued. Because it is public knowledge that certifications were issued, all of the pending cases will be summarily dismissed. This means Americans may never learn the truth about what the companies and the government did with our private communications.

“With one vote, Congress has strengthened the executive branch, weakened the judiciary and rendered itself irrelevant,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “This bill – soon to be law – is a constitutional nightmare. Americans should know that if this legislation is enacted and upheld, what they say on international phone calls or emails is no longer private. The government can listen in without having a specific reason to do so. Our rights as Americans have been curtailed and our privacy can no longer be assumed.”

In advance of the president’s signature, the ACLU announced its plan to challenge the new law in court.

“This fight is not over. We intend to challenge this bill as soon as President Bush signs it into law,” said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. “The bill allows the warrantless and dragnet surveillance of Americans’ international telephone and email communications. It plainly violates the Fourth Amendment.”

For more information, go to:
www.aclu.org/fisa

Event Sponsor:
PAA

Event Contact Name:
C. Lee Taylor

Event Phone Contact Information:
713.524.1944

Event Email Address:
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Event Website:
www.paa-tx.org

Event Fee:
FreeH