Doug Heckman Jumps On The Bandwagon Without Looking
Poor Doug Heckman. He’s running for Congress, but no one told him that it’s a good idea to actually read the legislation before taking a position on it.
Doug Heckman has announced his support for the terrible FISA Amendments Act, a law that retroactively legalizes a program that spied upon the private communications of millions of absolutely innocent American citizens. The law also gives the Attorney General the power to conduct physical searches and electronic surveillance beyond the control of any judge, without any evidence that the targets of the searching and spying have done anything wrong.
Yet, Doug Heckman approves of the law. He writes, “This bill clarifies what kinds of surveillance are legal and what court procedures must be followed for the National Security Agency to obtain warrants for surveillance.”
Heckman is a fool. If he had actually read the FISA Amendments Act, Doug Heckman would never say that the FISA Amendments Act clarifies anything. He would come to the obvious conclusion that the FISA Amendments Act is written in order to be unclear. The law appears to give some protections, only to take them away in separate sections of text.
Besides, there is no need for clarification on what kinds of spying are legal, and what procedures must be followed to obtain search warrants for surveillance. Spying on people within the borders of the United States without a search warrant is unconstitutional – period. No surveillance without a search warrant can be constitutionally conducted – period. What’s not clear about that?
Read the fourth amendment to the Constitution, Mr. Heckman. You’re running for Congress, and if you win, you’ll be asked to take the Oath of Office, which includes a vow to uphold and defend the Constitution from domestic enemies. You ought to know what the Constitution actually says.
