Action Alert: Call Today - Stop Bush's new spying program!

If this has been previously posted, I apologize.  CALL AGAIN!

Very much like the pompous little dictator he desires to be, George W. Bush is throwing a temper tantrum today DEMANDING that Congress grant him broad new spying powers before they are allowed to begin their summer recess.  In an unusual display of unmitigated audacity, even for him, the demented fuckwit is blasting Democrats for not granting him carte blanch to initiate even more unsupervised spying on Americans:

"So far the Democrats in Congress have not drafted a bill I can sign," Bush said at FBI headquarters, where he was meeting with counterterror and homeland security officials. "We've worked hard and in good faith with the Democrats to find a solution, but we are not going to put our national security at risk. Time is short."

The president said lawmakers cannot leave for their August recess this weekend as planned unless they "pass a bill that will give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect the United States."

They are asking for the right to spy WITH NO COURT REVIEW:

In a statement late Thursday, McConnell said he would agree to a review by the FISA court, but only after the surveillance had begun, not before as some Democrats are demanding.

"To acknowledge the interests of all, I could agree to a procedure that provides for court review — after needed collection has begun — of our procedures for gathering foreign intelligence through classified methods directed at foreigners located overseas," McConnell wrote.

"While I would strongly prefer not to engage in such a process, I am prepared to take these additional steps to keep the confidence of members of Congress and the American people that our processes have been subject to court review and approval," he wrote.

Maybe we could let the courts review it after the fact?  This is BULLSHIT!  It's a dangerous attempt at political theatre designed to grant broad new spying powers to Bush and his cronies.  Please step up and just say NO!

Time is short and the need is urgent.  This is an issue that requires dialog and consideration - not one that should be rammed through on the eve of summer recess.  Contact your Representatives and Senators TODAY!

Here are some talking points:

There should be no new surveillance powers granted to our government until that lying little sleazeball Gonzalez comes clean about previous programs.

While you're at it, bring us Fredo's pointy little head on a pike (figuratively, of course).

Tell Democrats to stop letting Bush make bullshit political claims unchallenged.

Here are some more talking points and a contact form courtesy of the ACLU

Here are additional talking points you can use. We encourage you to pick the talking points you like best and use as many as you can during your calls:
Even if you pass a bill with a 90-day sunset, it will allow Bush to control the debate and will put the ball in his court, enabling him to exploit our fears in order to keep these powers forever.

The Bush administration spied on Americans for five years illegally and now they want to make their activities legal. These activities are not legal now, and they should NOT EVER be legal.

President Bush misrepresented the facts to Congress and the American people in his Saturday radio address, when he implied that FISA was out of date and hadn’t been updated since 1978. In fact, it has been updated more than 50 times since 1978, including many times during the current administration.

The director of the NSA admitted that the government does not need warrants to intercept overseas calls. Even if it did, there have been bipartisan bills proposed for over a year that would clarify these foreign calls do not need a warrant. But they were all summarily rejected by the Administration. So what do they really want? They want warrantless wiretapping. Period.

Bush said in his Saturday radio address, "Today we face sophisticated terrorists who use disposable cell phones and the Internet to communicate with each other, recruit operatives, and plan attacks on our country.  Technologies like these were not available when FISA was passed nearly 30 years ago, and FISA has not kept up with new technological developments."  But FISA is technology-neutral: it allows the government to spy on any technology, as long as they follow the rules.

President Bush has not yet responded to subpoenas from the Senate Judiciary Committee demanding the legal rationale for the NSA program. If you modify the law now, it is unlikely they will ever comply with these requests in a meaningful way.

Sorry for the lack of substance in the diary, but this needs to get exposure NOW or it will be too late.

Please do your part to preserve Freedom and Democracy!