Warrantless Wiretapping

Cowards are trying to destroy our country. It's time for the brave to stand up and stop them. Is it Impechment yet?

Warrantless Wiretapping
N.S.A. officials met with the Qwest executives in February 2001 and asked for more access to their phone system for surveillance operations, according to people familiar with the episode. The company declined, expressing concerns that the request was illegal without a court order.

While Qwest’s refusal was disclosed two months ago in court papers, the details of the N.S.A.’s request were not. The agency, those knowledgeable about the incident said, wanted to install monitoring equipment on Qwest’s “Class 5” switching facilities, which transmit the most localized calls. Limited international traffic also passes through the switches.

.....“What he saw,” said Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs along with Carl Mayer, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”

....“Congress shouldn’t grant amnesty to companies that broke the law by conspiring to illegally spy on Americans” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington.

4th amendment to the US Constitution.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

For those of you that are saying..but, but, but.....

Warrantless ''National Security'' Electronic Surveillance .--In Katz v. United States,
.......The Government's duty to preserve the national security did not override the guarantee that before government could invade the privacy of its citizens it must present to a neutral magistrate evidence sufficient to support issuance of a warrant authorizing that invasion of privacy. 153 This protection was even more needed in ''national security cases'' than in cases of ''ordinary'' crime, the Justice continued, inasmuch as the tendency of government so often is to regard opponents of its policies as a threat and hence to tread in areas protected by the First Amendment as well as by the Fourth. 154 Rejected also was the argument that courts could not appreciate the intricacies of investigations in the area of national security nor preserve the secrecy which is required.
Whenever a telephone line is tapped, the privacy of the persons at both ends of the line is invaded and all conversations between them upon any subject . . . may be overheard.'' Id. At 475-76.

OK, What part of that is unclear to our Congress(Democrat and Republican) and the radical right who are so scared that they would give up our freedom.
I don't know about you but I am far more scared of losing our freedom from the inside than the outside. Terrorists will never take away our freedom. They can only scare some enough to push us to give it up ourselves. The cowards who support these acts should be ashamed to call themselves United States citizens.

If you are interested in how to lose, or perserve our democracy then you will be interested in this video presentation. It's about 45 minutes long. If you are in a hurry you can jump to 9 minutes in. If you are really in a hurry jump to about 40 minutes in.