Thursday, July 25, 2013

Indiana's Congressional Delegation Votes Against Curtailing NSA Surveillance Powers, Demand Their Resignations

Indiana's congressional delegation had an opportunity to cast a key vote yesterday in the House of Representatives to curtail the powers of the NSA to spy on American citizens. Unfortunately, a lot of them stood on the side of violating your constitutional rights. An amendment offered by U.S. Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) that would have required a showing to the FISA court that reasonable grounds existed for gathering information about a particular person or group, rather than the indiscriminate gathering of sensitive personal information on every single American as the NSA is currently doing, was defeated in the House yesterday. Only one member of Indiana's congressional delegation, Andre Carson (D), voted in favor of the Amash amendment. All other members of the delegation voted against it, except U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita (R), who missed the vote. Those voting against the amendment included:

Susan Brooks (R)
Larry Buschon (R)
Luke Messer (R)
Marlin Stutzman (R)
Pete Visclosky (D)
Todd Young (R)
Jackie Walorski (R)

If you are represented by one of these members who voted against this amendment, you should demand their resignation from Congress. By their actions, they have demonstrated their unwillingness to uphold the oath they took to uphold the Constitution of the United States. The NSA surveillance program drives a fork through your fundamental rights to First Amendment free speech rights and your right to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment. Their vote on this amendment demonstrates that they believe in a totalitarian state that would make Adolf Hitler proud. There were 94 Republicans and 111 Democrats who supported the Amash amendment, while 134 Republicans and 83 Democrats voted against it. The final vote was 205-217.

11 comments:

Pete Boggs said...

It's one party with two names; GOP being more of a nickname.

Note: Jackie Walorski's a Republican.

Pete Boggs said...

This is, the environment created with runaway politicians bent on wholesaling our liberties:

reason.com/reasontv/2013/07/24/how-quotas-pervert-police-priorities-fir

Anonymous said...

Republicans are Nazis. This fact has become inescapable since the Republican establishment declared war on Ron Paul and insulted him, his ideas and his supporters.

A party based on corporate welfare, military power, perpetual war, complete police domination and religious fundamentalism doesn't have much use for individual rights or liberty.

Flogger said...

Only one member of Indiana's congressional delegation, Andre Carson (D), voted in favor of the Amash amendment.

Well thank you Andre. So much talk for the "Small Government Republicans." Not that the Dems are much better.

===============================
From the Guardian: "There were some unlikely alliances: the Democratic minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, voted against the amendment with Michele Bachmann, a Tea Party Republican. John Boehner, the House speaker, found himself in the rare position of being on the same side as President Obama."

===============================

I would also like to see a debate on the "outsourcing" of our Security to Corporate America, that is the Privatized/CIA. What we have are the Neo-Cons from the Republican and Democrat Party, Obama included, coalescing to defend tossing the Constitution in garbage.

Anonymous said...

Attention! All Hands On Deck read this posting by Paul Ogden about his possible disbarment for just speaking his mind! http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2013/07/a-must-read-for-indiana-attorneys-my.html

Freedom Lovers Everywhere Post this story and your comments everywhere you can! TV and Newspaper Websites, Blogs, Facebook, Email! Drop leaflets from the sky if that is what it takes! It is time to retake the Hoosier state! If Paul Ogden is disbarred we must intensify our efforts make our voices so loud the dead will cry out in protest of change! Long Live The United States of America! Long Live the Hoosier State! Rally to that great patriot Paul Ogden! Paul Ogden our greatest native sun!

Paul K. Ogden said...

Thanks for the support, Anon. I don't think I'll be "disbarred" but instead they'll do that "suspended without right automatic readmission" which ends up having the same effect. That's okay. It was time to move on to a different career anyway. I'm not going to give up freedom of speech for a law license that's hardly proved to be profitable.

Anonymous said...

I feel really bad for Paul because it's scary times when the government comes after you just for using the First Amendment to criticize it. If what Paul's doing isn't covered by the first Amendment, nothing is.

Paul's probably all by himself because I can't see any of his attorney buddies being dumb enough to represent him or attend his hearing.

If you represent Paul at his trial or if you walk into his trial, you've made it onto the list, and that's a place nobody wants to be.

The government has erased the 1st, 5th, 7th and 14th amendments by coming after a pundit and critic. I don't say that as criticism, merely observation and warning. Since these guys have all the power and aren't bound by a thing, leave them alone.

Scary times, but the government has all the power; they don't much care for rights, and the courts don't have any check on their power, so Paul is toast.

In function, America isn't much different than a 60s-70s Soviet-Bloc country. I know this, so I'm not going to write blogs critical of the folks with guns. Paul's problem is that he thinks America is something else.

Anonymous said...

The Ogden Rule is pretty scary.

The Ogden Rule says that a governmental licensing body can yank your license for criticizing the licensing body.

If you ever complain about service at the BMV, there goes your license.

If you're a cosmetologist and you complain about the hours the licensing agency is open, there goes your license.

Since cops are enforcement agencies appurtenant to your drivers license, it's a short hop until criticizing them gets your license banned.

The Ogden Rule says that you don't get to criticize any part of American government.

The pen is built, and the Ogden Rule might just be the sound of the gate locking.

Does Al Qaeda still hate us for our freedom?

Anonymous said...

How embarrassing! I thought Indiana was better than this! Thank you Andre for your vote. The rest of you need to resign and exile yourselves to the Mothers Of Darkness castle in Muno, Belgium where they all worship Satan by sacrificing children on a daily basis. These are the people you are working for if you voted in favor of spying on us. Since Satan is all about control, this is where you belong if you voted in favor of spying on Americans. Read Bloodlines of The Illuminati by Fritz Springmeyer. 'In the beginning, the patriot is a scarce man. He is hated and feared, but then when his cause succeeds, the timid join him because then it costs nothing to be a patriot." Tom Sawyer. "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man". Thomas Jefferson

Marycatherine Barton said...

This title of Paul Craig Roberts latest report, "The Total Destruction of America from Within" is chilling. And, is The Huffington Post right, and have Obama promises, including whistleblower protections, disappeared from website.

I am so glad that I woke up in time, and did not fight form him the first or second time!!! A horrid individual is he, and I am guessing that his real father IS Frank Marshall, equally repulsive.

Marycatherine Barton said...

corr: "vote for" not "fight form"

Furthermore, Andre Carson's vote being on the plus side is negated by his earlier votes to support the Federal Reserve to the extent that he even voted against auditing them, although those private racketeers are create money out of nothing and charging us interest, thus transferring all wealth from us to the bankers.