rapid dissent

Someone wise once said...

2009-03-05T19:45:00.005-05:00

"True love is watching someone die of cancer." It's a sentiment I've lived through. More than once. And anyone else who has done the same knows the look of person who has seen the most important person in their universe endure a brush with death. That's why this video hit home for me. In it, former President George H.W. Bush comments on his wife Barbara's recovery after a "routine" heart operation.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Now whether or not you consider heart valve replacement surgery routine for a women of 83 years of age is one thing, but what can not be disputed is the joy and relief expressed by the former president. How many other Americans will have this privilege? How many of us now know that when the time comes, our own loved ones will be similarly cared for? These are particularly relevant questions when douche nozzles like Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) has the gall to state that "Health care is a privilege...It's not necessarily a right."

Fuck you. Seriously.

Fix health care now for the rest of us.

The Mentalists cover MGMT using iPhones and iPods

2009-03-02T17:53:00.002-05:00

Sweet cover MGMT's Kids using iPhones and iPods armed with apps available at the app store

Obama's Elf

2009-02-24T19:27:00.001-05:00

I got nothin'. Happy Fat Tuesday. :D

I'm on a boat!

2009-02-10T00:03:00.001-05:00

Meme Collission Ahead!

2009-02-08T09:13:00.000-05:00

This is why I love America

2009-01-24T11:33:00.002-05:00

Best viewed on full screen:

Commander in Chief

2009-01-23T21:07:00.003-05:00

"U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta replaces an official picture of outgoing President George W. Bush with that of newly-sworn-in U.S. President Barack Obama, in the lobby of the headquarters of the U.S. Naval Base January 20, 2009 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Brennan Linsley-Pool/Getty Images)" via boston.com

The One Thing That May Yet Suffice...

2009-01-17T14:02:00.001-05:00

Robert Burden's Voltron

2008-11-16T23:03:00.000-05:00

I'm calling bullshit on this

2008-10-23T19:08:00.001-04:00

After reading several versions of the story, things just don't add up.

WTAE
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Breitbart.com
KDKA

The attacker had a knife, and he scratched the letter "B" into her face. Was it made of plastic? Most knives in the hands of muggers do not leave nice tidy scrapes. Bonus: she refused medical treatment, and police are re-interviewing her today.

I guess her story didn't add up to them either. She was held at knife point at an ATM, and the attacker accepted $60 she had in her pocket. That just doesn't even make sense.

Then, after she had managed to step away, the attacker noticed the bumper sticker on her car and became irate. Really? Was he checking to see if she honks for Jesus?

Also the - naturally - black assailant ran off in an "unknown direction". Sorry, but if you've ever been mugged, you damn well remember which way they ran off.

That's just my gut on this one, and I've been wrong before. If I am here, then I will offer my most sincere apology, but this just doesn't smell right.

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that

2008-10-18T13:53:00.003-04:00

Shamelessly skimmed from Chris Clarke's site, Coyote Crossing.

Also:

DNC Recap

2008-09-01T08:06:00.005-04:00

Holy shit. What a week. Excellent speeches and few momentous surprises made for a great capstone to the 2008 primary season. It was History occurring before our very eyes. Ancient curses condemning us to live in interesting times aside, I am happy to have witnessed it.

I watched Hillary Clinton's speech with interest and an open mind. Still, she left me feeling as though her speech was less about her supporters and her party's candidate for the presidency than it was about her own aspirations. The only saving grace was that she did not insert an ounce of discernible invective or slight against her former opponent into the speech. In short, she went through the motions and did the bare minimum for the Democratic party and Barack Obama.

Bill Clinton's speech was good. Not great, but good. He went significantly further than Hillary in voicing his support for the Obama/Biden ticket, and after his comments and posturing on the primary campaign trail I think he needed to; if only to reposition himself as a valued former president and elder statesman instead of a feckless shill. One commentator summed up his speech by noting that President Clinton's speech went after the current administration, and by extension the McCain campaign, as only he could. Clinton attacked the status quo with a litany of contrasts between his own tenure as president and the present debacle of governance we now endure.

Joe Biden followed with a show stopping acceptance speech. Introduced by his son, Captain Beau Biden of the Delaware National Guard – soon to be deployed to Iraq - who also serves as Delaware's Attorney General, Senator Biden took the stage fully formed following one of the best character introduction pieces of the convention. I'm not thrilled with all of his policies as a Senator, but the man delivered for the party and for Barack Obama, and I believe he will make a dogged and tenacious Vice President.

As good as these speeches were, all of them paled in comparison to the oratorical masterpiece that was Barack Obama's acceptance speech. I've mentioned in previous posts that I've been a political junkie for a good portion of my life and have never, ever, seen anything like this speech. Not even in the history reels.

I watched the speech coverage on MSNBC. Chris Matthews and Kieth Olbermann are as explosive and unpredictable as they are intelligent and interesting in their analysis, and I was floored by their reactions to the speech. Matthews has suffered slings and arrows from media critics for his exuberant praise of Obama's rhetoric and style in the past. Too often, it would seem to some, Matthews allows himself to listen to the speeches of our would-be governors not as a newsman, but as an American. And the night of Obama's acceptance was no exception.

Following Obama's speech the entirety of MSNBC's analysis and commentary was conducted off camera as we were inexplicably treated to views of the crowd milling about during the inaudible closing benediction and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's adjournment. The reason for the odd camera work during what should have been the pièce de résistance of MSNBC's Democratic Convention coverage, the culmination of their long running primary season coverage, was that Matthews was emotionally unable to appear on camera. The man was stricken, as many who heard the speech were, with patriotic fervor. You can actually hear the tears in his voice as he chokingly delivers his summations of the key moments of the speech.

It was that good.

But how did it play at home? If the anecdotal evidence I've collected over the past few days is any indication, Barack's speech hit home in a big, big way. One friend confided that his father, an apolitical man in his 60's who has never voted in an election will be going to the polls in November for Obama. Another, an independent who is a daily listener of conservative talk radio, told me that Barack Obama was definitely growing on him. That might not sound like much, but believe me that sort of sentiment is nothing short of catastrophic for the GOP come November.

We've all got to do our part

2008-07-24T21:11:00.003-04:00

My first memory, that earliest cloudy moment in time that I can remember with only a passing clarity, is of Jimmy Carter's first State of the Union Address. I can remember ambling over to the television and being told what it was I was seeing by my parents who promptly burned the instant into my mind forever by warning that if I pressed my chubby little hands up against the shiny new TV tube one more time it would surely explode and kill me instantly. Heh, you should hear what my mother tells her grandchildren. Comedy gold.

That dreamy time so long ago marked the beginning of my conscious attention to politics. I made my first bet on an election in second grade. I lost. Coming from a blue collar union family, it's no surprise that Mondale was the household favorite even against the Reagan machine. I hoped again for a Democratic ticket when I taped the Presidential debates a few years later on VHS. Even at 13 I knew damn well that the revolving door ads, Willy Horton, and the infamous "geek in a tank" photo had done Dukakis in.

As a teen, I wanted nothing more than to escape the construction laborer/waitress tax bracket my parents struggled in, and I let my fantasies infect my political leanings. My last act as a fledgling Democrat was to stand in line for Bill Clinton. I was by far the youngest person at the polls that year at a musty V.F.W. post in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. I wasn't old enough to vote yet, but I wanted to see the polls for when I could. Dude, they had levers. Levers. WTF?

Then college happened. While everyone else was smoking up and finding their inner beret wearing leftist, I turned right. Hard right. I started out pretty far left with a mother whose paycheck depended on affirmative action, and a father who never missed a union meetting, so I never went off the Ayn Rand deep-end. Still I covered enough ground to sign up as a College Republican, and eventually joined the military
against my parents urgings.

I voted for George W. Bush.

Once.

I left the military a few months after September 11th, 2001. I saw first hand the utter chaos and dumbfuckery that got us into that mess in the first place. I also saw what we liked to call the "Great Leaders of Men" attempt to shove ten pounds of shit into a five-pound-bag and call it "intelligence." So, yeah. That was enough for me.

I've been a Democrat ever since, and I've never been prouder of my country in my adult life than I was when I saw throngs of Europeans waving American flags not in sympathy or protest, but in support of an idea and a hope of what could be.

As a student of politics and government for very nearly my entire life, I've seen a lot things and I've studied many more, but I've never, ever, seen, heard, nor read about anything like what we saw in Germany when Senator Barack Obama spoke. It was awesome.

This is what it takes to change the world. A person in the right time, in the right place, doing the right things.

We've all got to do our part.

The Declaration of Independence of The United States of America

2008-07-04T00:30:00.004-04:00

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

has made judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lunch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
John Hancock
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton

Wesley Clark

2008-06-14T00:48:00.001-04:00

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, four-star General Wesley Clark envisioned a volunteer force of specially skilled Americans to be called upon to serve both domestic and international functions ranging from fighting forest fires to nation building in his 2004 platform for President of the United States. I wrote about a similar program dubbed the Civilian Reserve Corps proposed by President Bush in 2007.

This model for service fits nicely with Barack Obama's vision for America.

In the following video, General Clark critiques John McCain's positioning as the presumptive national security candidate in this year's election.

Who else is on your Obama VP short-list? Post a comment.

Now for something completely different

2008-05-29T14:55:00.004-04:00

I'm in San Francisco for the Google I/O conference/geekgasm. It's too awesome for words. I'd almost forgotten how much I love this city and the West Coast in general. Gorgeous. Careful Maine, you just might loose me!

The Wednesday morning keynote was an introduction by Google Engineering VP Vic Gundotra to the cloud availability, pervasive connectivity, and ease of deployment strategies Google is trying to realize with products like Google App Engine and Android.

I followed this up with a couple of sessions, one by Python creator Guido van Rossum and another by Google Fellow Jeff Dean. At the end of a fascinating trip under Google's hood, Dean announced that the after party should not be missed. Oh yeah, he also let slip that Flight of the Conchords would be playing. The room collectively w00t!!11!-ed its pants.

Jeff was right. The party was something to behold. The main room where the keynote speech was held that morning had been transformed into a Google playland. Foosball, pool, Wiis everywhere. And the food. Two words: Chocolate fountain. I'll say this, Google can throw a party. I've never seen so many developers in one place not bitching about work; and that's saying something.

Throughout the conference we've returned again and again to several core philosophies Google holds near and dear, but there were some blind-spots I wasn't expecting. Google is trying hard to be a good friend to developers and to humanity in general, but it's just too huge and too powerful; there's still an undercurrent of trepidation amongst many of the older and wiser attendees. And there's definitely more going on behind the scenes.

With any environment where there is a finely delineated inside and outside, there's going to be suspicion. And suspicion kills.

Unfortunately there's nothing for it. Google can't be what it is without holding some cards close to its chest, and we can't survive as users and developers without remaining vigilantly critical of its motives and methods.

More to follow once I've had a chance to digest and ponder.

Balls

2008-05-16T12:30:00.003-04:00

Big brass ones.

Yesterday, while speaking at the Israeli Knesset in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state, President Bush criticized those in the American government who would speak to our international adversaries as “appeasers,” a reference to the fatally flawed Munich negotiations of British statesman Neville Chamberlain in 1938. The reaction was instantaneous in Washington, and throughout the entire American mediascape – to include the Blogosphere – and it was almost universally accepted that Bush was indirectly poking Democratic Presidential contender, Barack Obama.

While Godwining the 2008 presidential race is ballsy enough, Bush took the Heisman of arrogant dumb-assery a day later when he traveled to meet with America’s staunchest friend and ally in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia. There he begged the king to increase oil production to ease the strain on the U.S. economy as we enter the annual, Summer-time months of peak consumption. The king, like any good friend and ally, served President Bush a nice steaming hot cup of STFU, and then negotiated U.S. aid and cooperation in Saudi Arabia’s fledgling nuclear program.

Appeaser? It takes one to know one.

Vote Early, Vote Often

2008-05-13T13:52:00.003-04:00

Fellow Strimling supporters out there in the first district should head over to PolitickerME, and vote in their latest web poll.

We're less than a month from the June 10th Democratic Primary here in Maine and the race heating up with campaign signs sprouting faster than the crocuses. It's time to start reading-up on these candidates if you haven't already.

For those interested in watching web style democracy in action, click off a vote for Ethan Strimling in the PolitickerME poll. Go ahead. You know you want to.

Windows 7

2008-05-12T20:13:00.002-04:00

Is Vista ME part 2? Is Windows 7 the real deal? Well, let's not get crazy.

The video certainly shows off a few nifty features, and many more are hinted at. A split view Explorer window, FTP locations, disk usage analyzer, and a revamped task manager are a few of the shiny, and useful updates.

It's a shame the soulless machine that is Microsoft will deliver this to market as a whole new OS, instead of as the necessary Vista functionality upgrade it actually is.

ANZAC Day

2008-04-25T08:03:00.004-04:00

Cheers and thank you to our friends and families on the flip side of our little blue orb for your sacrifice and devotion so long ago.

ANZAC Day reminds us of those intrepid souls who did what they were asked, and plunged headlong into the chaos of war. Faded photos and the handwritten script of a different age tell parts of their stories, but we must be mindful of the lens of history. They - along with hundreds of thousands of others from around the globe - believed that they fought and died not for war but for peace.

In our post-modern age it's too easy to condemn the notions of a "last war," or a lasting peace as quaint and antiquated. We can never allow that to happen. But first we need to agree that peace is real, achievable, and worthy of pursuit.

Then - for those that went before us, and for those who will follow - we need to stop killing each other once and for all.

Spring Thaw

2008-04-16T21:28:00.004-04:00

Some folks blog everyday. Back when this little thing of mine started, I was churning out several posts a day, so I get it. But life gets in the way of even the most powerful addictions. Even the sweet, sweet nectar of news and information can't last long under the pressing weight of real world responsibilities.

So work has gotten the better of part of my time lately. The bills are paid, but the blog has suffered. Sort of. While I haven't been consuming, digesting, and regurgitating nearly as much information as I'm used to, I have been busy with a hammer so to speak. I've reconfigured the navigation slightly with some shiny jQuery, and I've jumped head first into Google Code.

I'm pretty happy with the results so far, which is of course a very rough work in progress...as always. Now, after a few Sundays worth of reading and tagging my old posts and manipulating Google's Ajax Feed API to work nicely with Blogger labels, I've managed to cobble together a real live tag cloud; color-coded and sorted even.

Sure it's a nifty bit of code, but what I'm really happy about is the hard earned functionality of it all. Having to go back to re-read and tag all my posts from the past few years was an experience in itself, but to have all of those posts parsed and sorted in the cloud is like holding a funhouse mirror up to rapid dissent for the first time. I haven't quite wrapped my brain around what that collection of topics and labels say about this blog, but my first impression is to feel disappointment at the limited scope of this space so far.

It's a little late in the year for resolutions, and I was never good at keeping those anyway, so I'll just call it a day and do my best to start letting this blog be a little bit more reflective of what I believe it is. Until then, rock out with the Flobots, and fight with tools!

Barack Obama: The Greatest American Speech of My Lifetime

2008-03-18T18:26:00.002-04:00

Transcript.

More Frequent and More Desperate

2008-02-25T07:21:00.005-05:00

I'm all for political gamesmanship. Beyond rhetoric and ideology leaders must be ready and able to out manoeuvre there opponents. During the campaign season - and particularly now with just a week to go before the all important Texas and Ohio primaries - we can get a sense for how a prospective candidate's administration would get things done in Washington should we choose to elect them.

Case in point: The Clinton campaign has taken to circulating a photo of their opponent Barack Obama dressed as a Somali Elder during a five nation tour of Africa. The image depicts Senator Obama in traditional garb as is a common practice for foreign dignitaries. For their part, I imagine the Clinton campaign is attempting to seize upon the CNN and MSNBC stories that question Senator Obama's patriotism. Stories which repeat rumors and falsehoods as fact in their headlines and leading paragraphs, only to set the record straight deeper - far more so than most readers care to venture - in their articles.

"Last summer, [Senator] Obama was photographed by Time magazine at an event in Iowa standing with his hands folded during the national anthem. His primary rivals Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson appear beside him, with their hands on their hearts...It has been repeatedly reported that the moment came during the Pledge of Allegiance, but that's not the case."

It's well played, but nasty, and ultimately reaffirms my belief that Senator Clinton knows no bounds. She will stoop to any level, and do anything necessary to win. Our nation has dabbled with a Lord of the Flies president. We have made our deals with shady characters to "get the job done." We have learned that expediency at the cost of virtue is a loosing proposition.

Plus, who can fault the guy for wearing ceremonial dress? It's polite. It's diplomatic. And everyone does it.

Optimus Maximus

2008-02-23T12:55:00.002-05:00

Engadget reviews the Optimus Maximus keyboard. I love technology with near limitless potential.

FISA FUD

2008-02-15T17:15:00.004-05:00

Two important pieces related to the recent flap over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act overhaul legislation known as the Protect America Act. The first from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann - channeling Edward R. Murrow in this damned fine Special Comment:

And the second, a letter to the President of the United States of America refuting his assertions and fear mongering from the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Representative Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas).

Dear Mr. President:

The Preamble to our Constitution states that one of our highest duties as public officials is to "provide for the common defence." As an elected Member of Congress, a senior Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I work everyday to ensure that our defense and intelligence capabilities remain strong in the face of serious threats to our national security.

Because I care so deeply about protecting our country, I take strong offense to your suggestion in recent days that the country will be vulnerable to terrorist attack unless Congress immediately enacts legislation giving you broader powers to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans' communications and provides legal immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in the Administration's warrantless surveillance program.

Today, the National Security Agency (NSA) has authority to conduct surveillance in at least three different ways, all of which provide strong capability to monitor the communications of possible terrorists.

First, NSA can use its authority under Executive Order 12333 to conduct surveillance abroad of any known or suspected terrorist. There is no requirement for a warrant. There is no requirement for probable cause. Most of NSA's collection occurs under this authority.

Second, NSA can use its authority under the Protect America Act, enacted last August, to conduct surveillance here in the U.S of any foreign target. This authority does not "expire" on Saturday, as you have stated. Under the PAA, orders authorizing surveillance may last for one year – until at least August 2008. These orders may cover every terrorist group without limitation. If a new member of the group is identified, or if a new phone number or email address is identified, the NSA may add it to the existing orders, and surveillance can begin immediately. We will not "go dark."

Third, in the remote possibility that a new terrorist organization emerges that we have never previously identified, the NSA could use existing authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor those communications. Since its establishment nearly 30 years ago, the FISA Court has approved nearly every application for a warrant from the Department of Justice. In an emergency, NSA or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) may begin surveillance immediately, and a FISA Court order does not have to be obtained for three days. The former head of FISA operations for the Department of Justice has testified publicly that emergency authorization may be granted in a matter of minutes.

As you know, the 1978 FISA law, which has been modernized and updated numerous times since 9/11, was instrumental in disrupting the terrorist plot in Germany last summer. Those who say that FISA is outdated do not understand the strength of this important tool.

If our nation is left vulnerable in the coming months, it will not be because we don't have enough domestic spying powers. It will be because your Administration has not done enough to defeat terrorist organizations – including al Qaeda -- that have gained strength since 9/11. We do not have nearly enough linguists to translate the reams of information we currently collect. We do not have enough intelligence officers who can penetrate the hardest targets, such as al Qaeda. We have surged so many intelligence resources into Iraq that we have taken our eye off the ball in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As a result, you have allowed al Qaeda to reconstitute itself on your watch.

You have also suggested that Congress must grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies. As someone who has been briefed on our most sensitive intelligence programs, I can see no argument why the future security of our country depends on whether past actions of telecommunications companies are immunized.

The issue of telecom liability should be carefully considered based on a full review of the documents that your Administration withheld from Congress for eight months. However, it is an insult to the intelligence of the American people to say that we will be vulnerable unless we grant immunity for actions that happened years ago.

Congress has not been sitting on its hands. Last November, the House passed responsible legislation to authorize the NSA to conduct surveillance of foreign terrorists and to provide clarity and legal protection to our private sector partners who assist in that surveillance.

The proper course is now to conference the House bill with the Senate bill that was passed on Tuesday. There are significant differences between these two bills and a conference, in regular order, is the appropriate mechanism to resolve the differences between these two bills. I urge you, Mr. President, to put partisanship aside and allow Republicans in Congress to arrive at a compromise that will protect America and protect our Constitution.

I, for one, do not intend to back down – not to the terrorists and not to anyone, including a President, who wants Americans to cower in fear.

We are a strong nation. We cannot allow ourselves to be scared into suspending the Constitution. If we do that, we might as well call the terrorists and tell them that they have won.

Sincerely,

Silvestre Reyes
Member of Congress
Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence