House Says: NSA is A-OK!! Amash Amendment To Stop NSA Data Collection Voted Down In House By Huffington Post | 07/24/2013 8:47 pm EDT Excerpts: “The House of Representatives on Wednesday evening narrowly defeated an amendment from Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) meant to halt the National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone record data. "We're here today for a very simple reason: to defend the Fourth Amendment, to defend the privacy of each and every American," Amash said as he introduced his measure. Lawmakers' votes, he said, would answer one simple question, "Do we oppose the suspicionless collection of every American's phone records?" On Wednesday, at least, the answer was no. The House voted 217-205 to defeat the amendment after intense last-minute lobbying from the White House and the NSA. Democrats voted for the amendment by a 111-to-83 margin. Republicans, meanwhile, split 134 to 93 against it. The closeness of the vote, the first on the surveillance programs since the revelations of NSA leaker Edward Snowden, gave civil liberties groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been a vigorous critic of that surveillance, some reason for optimism that future reforms will be possible. Amash's measure, offered as an amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill, would have prevented the government from invoking Section 215 of the Patriot Act to scoop up phone call metadata - information about whom people are calling and when, but not the content of the calls - unless the government had a reasonable suspicion that a specific target was involved in terrorism. While the bill was co-sponsored by liberals, including Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Amash warned that "opponents of this amendment will use the same tactic that every government throughout history has used to justify its violation of rights: fear." And the measure's foes - even those within his own party - did not disappoint. Although Amash's amendment was defeated, civil liberties advocates found something to cheer in the closeness of the vote. Just two years ago, the House voted by a comfortable 250-153 margin to reauthorize the Patriot Act, which the administration uses to justify its phone metadata collection. On Wednesday, by contrast, a swing of just seven votes would have put Amash's amendment over the top. A sign of how dimly the Democratic leadership viewed Amash's amendment could be seen in an email from the office of House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). The email described the sweeping NSA program approvingly as merely collecting phone records "that pertain to persons who may be in communication with terrorist groups but are not already subject to an investigation." Conyers said the lobbying "was heavy. They were very worried about it." But, he added, "the fact that they won this narrowly means they still are worried - because this thing isn't over yet. This is just the beginning." ....... IMO: It appears that the American people are going to be forced to lose more of our privacy because Congress and President Obama are going to go the Bush Route of instilling fear into the American scene AGAIN !! The question is: Will American citizens fall for that snake-oil crap a second time? NSA which has been secretly spying on American citizens since GW Bush and we will now have to listen to all the ‘terrorist’ garbage one more time from this administration. We must ask ourselves, before it is too late, what does the constitutional right to privacy mean to us? Better still, what does our privacy mean to the Obama government? How much does the GW Bush instilled “terrorist threat” mean to our daily lives that our own government needs to monitor our daily phone calls and stash them in a huge building in Utah?....until some future date where the CIA, FBI, or local swat teams can check out who we spoke to, what we said, and who we said it to in order to get evidence to convict us in a court of law for some crime as yet not committed. That is not Democracy; that is a police state.
This is a police state. These government no longer works for the people. It is all about creating bloated programs that private corporations can contract with and make billions. Then they can use said profit to lobby and pay for seats in Congress. Also the politicians know they have 7 figure jobs waiting for them in said corps once they quit "public service". A great example is Feinstein who has used her connections to profit her husbands business greatly. She greatly supports the NSA's bloated program. Any suprise? This is all a scam. They are a bunch of crooks. They are creating a system of control when this all crashes down they can protect themselves. Our government is a lie. Spying on the American people is clearly against the law. Now we have to play the waiting game to get it to the supreme court. The NSA and all its criminal co-conspirators would have been arrested in Nixon and before times.
silkheat: Feinstein is a judge on the NSA secret court along with a republican. They were the first two that came out in defense of the NSA program. There was fierce lobbying surrounding the votes on the NSA, so it is clear that Obama, Feinstein and a few others are intent on keeping it going under the guise of ending the alleged 'terrorist activity.' and 'keeping us safe' of the GW Bush Era. While it was a close vote, it is just the beginning of the fight to end unwarranted spying on American citizens. I think it will end with Democrats, republicans and Independents all joining in and sweeping the NSA out of the lives of American citizens. Because that is what it will have to take.
First, I watched this bill get put up and very disappointed it got shot down. This just proves that most of the Republicans are talking out of their @$$ when they try to go after a true scandal. Let's only worry about the IRS targeting that deal with Republicans, but not a program that was enacted by the Republicans. I'm sure McCain, Graham, & Boehner all had a nice steak dinner at the White House, drinking champagne, and gave Obama the old 'ATTA BOY'! Secondly, you've garnered a lot more respect from me from this post. I'm glad to see that you see corruption leaks from one side to the other, not just the Republicans. Furthermore, you also pointed out a very good point, this is a police state, it's no longer a democracy, and hasn't been for quite some time.
There was a different amendment passed that nobody is talking about: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...-by-the-house-but-no-one-is-talking-about-it/
Agent, you're still acting as Obama's shill and then you post this. Why do not hold Obama accountable for what happens on his watch? Is it because you're a low information voter?
Just think.. Your taxpayer dollars are being spent on computer servers to archive millions of twitter messages that say: "i jus took a dump lol" "omg only 35 more hours til BB who evict now huh hope stev LMAO"
People have been shouting that message from rooftops for a very long time now (and usually have been criticized as being conspiracy theorists for doing so), but the more time passes, the more it looks like they right on the mark. I have myself assumed for years now that the NSA has been monitoring electronic communications for years now. I didn't think it was as widespread as it now appears to be though. I certainly don't buy into the whole we need to monitor your phone calls, fill the sky with armed drones, read your emails in order to keep you safe concept being sold by the politicians. It is trivially easy to circumvent most electronic type snooping. Emails can easily be encrypted in a fashion that even the NSA could not crack and so on. I'll wager those politician's communications are not being monitored and that they won't be having drones flying around their houses.
Good for you, though continuing to whine about George W. Bush is silly. But hey, thank you for pointing out Democrats and Republicans are the same. So when can we expect you to vote Libertarian?
As long as she mentions George W. Bush, she thinks she is inoculating Barack Obama from criticism. The poor guy, he's just continuing what Bush started, how can he be blamed?
Agent CLEARLY identified Obama as part of this problem on both of his posts. He is being straightforward and objective. He stated that the problem comes from BOTH sides. Something that not many around here can ever bring themselves to admit or even realize. It is a fact that the fear of terrorism era began with Bush.. It is a fact that the political climate of impunity and no accountability so long as you claimed your actions were fighting terrorism came during the Bush years. The Patriot Act was born there. The Dept. of Homeland Security was born there. That is a fact. Acknowledging that presidents from BOTH republicrat factions have caused this police state is a fact. You people seem like you automatically go into defense mode the MOMENT Bush gets mentioned or implicated anywhere. As though Obama just magicked the entire police state apparatus out of thin air. This was founded on decades of bipartisan support. All you did was troll the op. You didn't even render opinion about all those congressmen that voted down this amendment? You complained like Obama was being excused, when he wasn't, but it looks to me like someone is trying to excuse a hell of a lot of congressmen by making a partisan distraction. Please tell me I'm wrong and you condemn all those congressmen that voted against the constitution.
For funding a bureaucracy that has accomplished nothing? What has the NSA done for us that they should get taxpayer funds?
The NSA is a professional organization that does not play games with our national intelligence just because people are bored and make up conspiracies. They will not divulge classified information on who they have captured, how they captured them, what plots they have stopped, or what they know. They probably love it when people have this idea that they do nothing.
It's still about Bush huh? That is hilarious! When oh when, will the Obama administration, which apparently has not yet taken power, define what they mean by privacy? Well I guess they can't as long as Bush is still ruling with an iron hand!
I didn't say they do nothing. I said they do nothing for us. The NSA lied, UNDER OATH, about their program. So don't sit here and call them professional. What conspiracy theory did I suggest? How do you know they keep you safe by the way? Because they told you so and you trust your lying leaders? - - - Updated - - - And Obama. And it's about a couple of hundred congressmen. What do you think about those who voted against the amendment?
To the OP it's still about Bush. And it always will be. Since I oppose the amendment, I've got no problem with opposition to it.
The NSA is an organization that does not and never has given out very much of their operations. I know they keep us safe because I'm intelligent enough to understand how the largest and most robust intelligence organization with the most advanced technologies can and do track terrorist organizations and make it very hard for them to communicate attacks on our soil. It's just common sense. And they will never tell you what they've done or how they do it. That is not what the NSA does. They just keep you safe so you can complain all day about all the "freedoms" they've taken from you. It's embarrassing. You guys need to grow up. - - - Updated - - - What does that have to do with the NSA?
The OP clearly blamed both Republicans and Democrats AND OBAMA. You should re-read the thread. - - - Updated - - - It's assumptions. What they haven't taken away the fourth amendment right to privacy? You think that and you want to accuse others of conspiracy theories?!??!?! You have NO proof they keep anybody safe. None. It's just assumptions.
both government agencies that shouldn't (*)(*)(*)(*) up with secure records. you think the Utah data center will never be hacked?
I think people will try to hack it and there is a possibility for anything to be hacked. Not sure what your point is.
Show me examples of the NSA using this data to effect innocent American lives. And I mean lots of examples. Surely you should have a list of thousands of innocent Americans that have been effected by the NSA having access to telecommunication metadata. Since you don't, you are just complaining about bullchit problems that people with too much time on their hands and are too spoiled care about. Oh no they have your metadata!!! So scary! The black helicopters are coming for you.
