Protecting American Patriots

Yesterday's CapJournal reported on the Op-Ed we reprinted here from the Ottawa Herald.

The piece addresses the recent attacks Rep. Boyda has faced from fearmongering Beltway Republicans.

"The White House is trying to scare Americans to give total control to one branch of government," Boyda said in an interview from Washington. "The Republicans don't have the guts to stand up to the president. They're afraid of some 30-second ad that could be run against them."

The piece goes on to explain in detail the facts of the FISA Bill and what the differences between the Senate's version of the bill and the preferred Congressional legislation:

"Current federal law permits the government to go after fleeting targets and seek a court order three days after initiating a wiretap.

"The Senate-passed bill would eliminate the FISA court and grant immunity from civil lawsuits to telecommunications companies that helped the government with past wiretapping programs.

"The House bill favored by Boyda would preserve the secret court and extend to 14 days the time for obtaining after-the-fact court permission for a wiretap. The House isn't offering telecom immunity."

And let me remind you that Beltway Republicans find this still objectionable. It doesn't say that you don't have the right to slap a wiretap on anyone's phone - it says you have to file your paperwork after you do it. If the Federal Government can't get their shiznet together to file the paperwork then there is something very wrong with this country.

The Beltway Republicans also hope to lend immunity for phone companies who allow people to break the law. If this were a court of law they would call them "accomplices." In the Beltway of course they are referred to as patriots.

Rep. Boyda prefers to protect the real patriots - the American People and that's what the Congressional side of the bill does. It protects Americans by preserving our Constitution and allows for intelligence agencies to act on information quickly and reasonably - so long as they get their paperwork done after the fact.

If you haven't had a chance to see it yet - the fan done video that won the BoydaBloc competition sends a proper thank you to Rep. Boyda for her stance on this issue. We thank her as well. Critics are calling it "fancy" and saying it is done by a true technical "geek." We are proud of our fellow volunteers for their hard work and great message and give it two thumbs up.



Have a great weekend everybody.