User:Speedracer/mail:Patty Murray 2007-02-12

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(This is a letter I received from the Honorable Patty Murray, United States Senator.)

(Salutation omitted)

Thank you for contacting me about the electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens without warrants, as well as the National Security Agency’s (NSA) collection of personal phone usage information. I appreciate knowing your thoughts on this issue, and I apologize for the delay in my response.

The most important job of our government is to protect the American people. Our national security agencies need every tool possible to conduct crucial security needs and protect us from those who would do us harm. At the same time, we should not cede our basic liberties, and we must continue to remain vigilant in ensuring that Americans are not stripped of their fundamental rights.

As you know, President Bush acknowledged in late 2005 that he explicitly authorized the NSA to engage in warrantless electronic surveillance of the international communications between individuals, including U.S. citizens. This program began as early as 2002. After this acknowledgment, Attorney General Gonzales and the Department of Justice (DOJ) attempted to justify the Administration’s program to Congress, citing permission from Congress when it provided “Authorization for Use of Military Force” (AUMF) to find those responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The DOJ also justifies the NSA’s program on the basis of the powers granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was originally signed into law in 1978, and was then amended by the USA PATRIOT Act in both 2001 and during the USA PATRIOT Act’s reauthorization in 2006. FISA allowed for government surveillance of citizens that fall within certain restrictions, and also created the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) as an avenue to efficiently provide warrants and oversight for national security-related intelligence gathering.

During the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act in the 109th Congress, the Senate took up a rigorous debate to update the bill to fit the needs of our intelligence community. I voted against the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act, because I felt that there were not only insufficient checks on the use of domestic surveillance, but the legislation also included other investigative methods that may infringe upon the rights of citizens.

I worked with my colleagues in the Senate to urge President Bush to disclose the details of the NSA’s wiretapping program. Despite continued demands from both the American people and Congress, the President refused to follow the legal channels of the FISC that would provide oversight of this program.

As you may know, the Bush Administration announced on January 17, 2007 that they would submit their domestic surveillance program to the supervision of the FISC. This court will exercise judicial review over the Administration’s terrorist surveillance programs (TSPs), such as the NSA wiretapping program, as it already does with FISA intelligence gathering.

I am pleased that President Bush has decided to agree to the bipartisan request for FISC to exercise judicial review over the NSA’s wiretapping program. The details of the program will be provided to the members of the Judiciary Committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives for appropriate oversight. I trust that the members of the Judiciary Committees will be diligent in assessing the intricacies of this program, and I feel that their review is a necessary step in providing appropriate checks and balances to protect American citizens. I will continue to closely follow all developments and legislation regarding our national security and intelligence gathering methods.

Rest assured, I will keep your thoughts in mind as the Senate continues its oversight role on this issue. Again, I appreciate hearing from you on this very serious issue. Please keep in touch.

Sincerely,


Patty Murray United States Senator

P.S. I'd like to invite you to receive Patty Murray's Washington View, my weekly legislative update by e-mail. If you are interested in receiving my update, please sign up here: http://murray.senate.gov/updates.

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The One Man Band

A note from Speedracer, the creator of this wiki:

First, a quick answer to your question: YES! You can edit this page without asking permission!

Why did I create this Wiki?

In my opinion, it seems that people are to busy watching American Idol or worrying about who is going to get Anna Nicole's baby than paying attention to what will directly effect them. If they don't open their eyes soon, they may never be able to stop the runaway train heading down the dead end track.

My analogy: Someone is walking down the sidewalk so preoccupied with something on the other side of the street that they fail to see the sign post they are about to run into. I'm just trying to say, "Lookout!" and direct their attention to something more important.

Unfortunately, people are so distracted with what is going on in their own micro-environments, they fail to see the big picture of what is going on in the real world in which they live.

I created the Your-Rights.com website because I wanted to share the information that I found while web surfing, listening to Air America, etc. with other people. I feel it is important for other people to have a greater chance to see what I have seen.

After operating Your-Rights.com for over four years, I was getting a bit burned out from blogging about all the depressing current events. I decided to give others the opportunity to share their knowledge and concerns through the medium of a wiki.

I feel a wiki is a great way to share information for several reasons. It is fairly easy to use the wiki software. Unlike most other web interfaces, a wiki allows anyone to update existing articles or create completely new ones. This allows anyone to fix typo's, remove false information and add additional information.

By viewing the popular pages list, you will notice that people do actually view the pages within this wiki. Unfortunately, besides me there has only been one other person contribute anything besides SPAM content.

Here is something that I feel deserves more attention, especially since people are starting to be more aware of the issues involved with global warming.

The article you will see by following this link is a short paragraph which has a lot of links. If you view each of the links, you will learn a lot about this issue, which definitely needs some real public debate.

There is a lot of very important information within that article. If you take the time to review the provided links, you will probably be appalled by the inner workings of the War on drugs!

The above link goes to my other website, which I designed. It may not be the best website that you have ever seen. Some people have even told me, "That site sucks!" Aesthetics are nice to look at, but the information is what is most important. As you most likely already know, mean people will drive you into the ground if you let them. And besides, if you don't like the way it looks, why not offer to help make it look better?

I try my best to get people to open their eyes. Hopefully I am creating a positive effect and making a difference by helping people start thinking about the world in which they live instead of the world of their favorite celebrities.

If you know of something which you feel would be beneficial for others to know about, please feel free to go ahead and add your information. Please don't be afraid that you might mess everything up or something similar. Anything that you could possibly break is very easy to fix!

If you can't figure something out, feel free to ask me for help! I have contact information on my user page.

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