 |
TX-Sen: Noriega Wins His Primary, Onto John Cornyn! |
 |
Lost among all the Obama/Clinton pie fights was the Texas Senate primary race. Rick Noriega not only won the primary, but passed the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. With the primary behind him, the people-powered Noriega campaign can take on Bush lap-dog John Cornyn with full force.
Just to give an idea of who he’s running against, here is Cornyn’s statement on FISA:
“Without these critical tools, U.S. intelligence officials would be blind and deaf to the important information that allows them to detect our enemies and deter attacks against Americans and our allies. So I’m encouraged that the Senate finally overcame the partisan obstacles and delays to pass this important wartime legislation to help keep Americans safe. And I urge the House to pass this bipartisan legislation swiftly.â€
Here’s Noriega’s:
“On Christmas morning 2004, outside of Kabul, Afghanistan, my buddies and I drove to our base camp to use the computers. We wanted to be with our kids when they woke up that Christmas. To get there we drove through a near ambush–anytime we drove on the Jalalabad Road, it was risky, and we had an incident on our way.
That Christmas morning, I suspect the government listened to our conversations. They occurred between two countries; Afghanistan and the US. They probably didn’t realize the difference in tone in my voice as I spoke to my wife and children that morning as my heart raced still from our encounter on the road. My wife did.
I fought to defend our country and our constitution in Afghanistan. I fought for the right to privacy for every Texan. Mr. Cornyn must now stand up for the privacy of every Texan and American too. We as a nation cannot grant anyone sweeping amnesty if they violated the law.
Americans understand the need for safety and the need for intelligence gathering. What they will not accept is an abuse of power, of crossing the line on American’s privacy.
I would join Sen. Dodd in opposition to any retroactive provisions that allow a “get out of jail card” for violating the Constitution. If Mr. Cornyn had ever had the opportunity to have his Christmas conversation listened to by the government, on a day that he feared for his life in a convoy on Jalalabad Road, he would do the same.”
John Cornyn is a loyal Bush Republicans, voting with Senate Republicans 97.7% of the time.
Given that few Americans believe we’re better off now than we were eight years ago, it’s not too surprising voters in Texas are lining up around the block to support an alternative to Cornyn. The numbers are pretty encouraging. Noriega got over 1.1 million votes out of a total of 2.16 million, avoiding a runoff vs. an estimated 200-250k for last cycle’s Democratic challenger Barbara Ann Radnofsky out of 500-600k. Radnofsky was forced into a runoff race.
By avoiding a runoff in a crowded field, Rick demonstrates he has broad support. While you can’t extrapolate those numbers directly to general election turnout, it is a clear sign that Democrats are excited not only about their presidential choices, but about down-ticket races as well.
So thanks, Texas voters! While you were out voting for Obama or Clinton, you are also helping elect a candidate who’s a decorated veteran, against the war, will vote “no” on retroactive immunity, and would work to bring American dollars back home to boost our ailing economy.
I have nothing to hide, so why do I care if the government screens my calls. At least in doing so, then im still breathing. You need to be living to have rights.
Why does Noriega seem to put the cart before the horse???
To paraphrase, the false choice between security and liberty is the hobgoblin of simple minds.
Jason, security is a necessary step in a post 9\11 world. We are moving past a 1776 world of ideals and have to evolve our priorities. If not then Obama would be where he is today. We need to have the ability to listen to our communications systems to keep america safe. So what if someone hears your conversation. I have nothing to hide, so who cares. It gives me the ability to sleep at night and not concerned that we’re pulling a Clinton. What I mean is watching Bin Laden put 9\11 together while he is unclear on how to define vocabulary about his intern.
In the words of the immortal Benjamin Franklin, who speaks truth even now, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Good old Ben is out of his league. You can stay in the mentality of the 18th century, but we can’t defend america with muskets and cannons anymore.
I’ve been to Iraq and I know how Al Qaeda utilizes mentally disabled women to bomb the innocent. My god, when will you wake up and realize what world we’re living in. Maybe you should serve and understand what your talking about. Granted I fought for that freedom, but I at least don’t have a blind ignorance. Ideals must change. You wouldn’t fight this war with Ben’s technology, nor should you utilize his ideals to the letter.
Ah, but Noriega has been in the line of fire and somehow he comes out with a different view.
Wow the guard, really impressive. We look down on them from career.
No kidding. Noriega is just spouting Democratic rhetoric and wanting to support illegal aliens over american citizens, so what does he know. That includes afgans that want instate tution, so he must of been seriously confused in the field. Hate to think that he put all that latreen digging for 6 months to waste.
@Richard - Isn’t the Constitution just chock full of those 18th century ideals you want to do away with? Oh just toss them out as useless “old school” thoughts. We don’t need these documents as long as we have FoxNews to tell us how and what to think.
Dangerous as it is, there will always be people that think as you do. It is up to the rest of us to try to keep the wackodoo’s in check.
Paddywat, no it is the wackodoo’s like you that put bombs in front of time square recruiting centers. It’s people like me that have fought for your freedom.
FISA is key legislation to keep the evolution of telecommunications inteligence going. If you don’t believe me, then why are the Senate Democrats on my side Paddy????
Jason—bottom line inteligence will be affected due to the telcom hesitation. Im not putting my family in the line of fire because the democrats are trying to live by 1770’s policy.
What if your family was killed in a home grown terrorist attack. The federal government comes to you and says, we were watching these lines and would have caught them however; due to this legislation we couldn’t touch them.
Are you honestly going to turn and say, “Well at least I have Ben Franklin??”
You are just a blue painted tool that wants the government to wipe your butt and keep your hippy botany under wraps.
No, intelligence was not affected, not according to any news article or White House official I’ve read or heard from. If you have facts that point to the contrary, please bring them forward.
FYI, Mark Boller, Sarah Bowman, and Richard Miles are all posting comments from the same IP address. It is possible that they are not the same person, but it seems unlikely. If you wish to have a real discussion, being straightforward about your identity is the first step.
We’re in the same office in New Jersey that utilize the same gateway address. Why does this not give us the ability to speak our mind???
This is certainly possible, and I never said you all should stop posting. The IP address issue raised my suspicions, however.
Congressman John Boehner, during a press conference on the Capitol steps after the House Republicans walked out, describes the extensions made to FISA reforms, saying Republicans have attempted to work with Democrats to find common ground. He says that if the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were to expire, Americans would be at risk.—-SO DO THE SENATE DEMOCRATS!!!
We are all in the same office in New Jersey utilizing a residental gateway. Does this not give us the ability to speak our mind to protect our families and loved ones!
You can have pride but I would sacrifice one ounce of pride to protect my children.
We had 9\11 due to a lack of communication and proper intellgence reports, so Noreiga wants us to be pre-911 again? What is this guy nuts? The blood will be on the House Democrats hands, and Noriega will not have my vote. Wow he’s worried about the government having the conversation between him and his wife on file, big deal. It’s better then letting our enemies utilize our own telecommunications against us.
That and Noriega wants to hand money to Mexican citiens for instate tuition.-GIVING “illegal!!!” aliens more of an advantage then AMERICAN CITIZENS!!! It’s all in his voting record for the Texas House if you don’t believe me!
Mark, with all due respect, FISA has nothing to do with communications between intelligence agencies. Those should be modernized. I believe they are in the process of doing so, but I’m not clear on the issue.
FISA is not about that. FISA is about wiretapping American citizens without a warrant, something Bush wants to be able to do but something that all Americans on either side of the aisle can agree is a gross violation of our right to privacy and due process.
Correct. Abiding by the Fourth Amendment doesn’t kill the ability to conduct surveillance, it simply requires that surveillance to be justified. Remember that they’re successful in getting these warrants from the FISA courts nearly 98% of the time!
Jason,
reguardless– Without inteligence reports. There will be zero reports between federal agencies again,which equals “pre-9\11″, because Noriega wants them in the dark completely. ‘HENCE’ no communication!!!! You wont be able to cast your vote in November if the intellegence reports the Democrats are blocking makes you a factor in Collateral Damage.
Again, the FISA bill has nothing to do with intelligence reports or with sharing between agencies. If you know of other legislation that does, please point it out. This post concentrated on FISA, which is not really part of the argument you’re making.
let me break this down for you like a 5 year old.
No FISA equals no inteligence reports.
No inteligence reports equals no communication.
No communication is what we had before 9\11.
Noriega wants no FISA, no inteligence from telecommunication, no communication of inteligence for telecom between agencies, and makes America a ego trip nation that may have a sick-blue sense of pride, but makes it less safe for our children in day care in tall buildings.
It’s called prerequisites that react in a symbiant circle.
Mark, you clearly don’t understand what FISA is. It controls warrants for surveillance of American citizens. Without a warrant, the government cannot spy on Americans.
Now, already that eliminates most terrorist surveillance. Our intelligence agencies can and still do collect information and make reports on foreigners living here and abroad. It does make sure a court has to grant a warrant to spy on Americans. This court, the FISC, grants over 98% of warrants. Warrants can be obtained up to 3 days after surveillance start so even if there was a “ticking time bomb” scenario, intelligence agencies can start wiretapping without a warrant and get one after the fact. Plus, even though the Protect America Act expired, FISA is still on the books. Noriega is not against FISA, he is against giving the executive branch the power to tap American citizen’s phones without court oversight, and he is against giving telecom companies immunity for doing just that in violation of the law.
Please do some research on the actual issue, it’ll help make your arguments stronger.
No FISA has blocked ALL TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANIES FROM GIVING “ANY”!!!!! DATA FOR FEAR OF BEING SUED!!!!
JASON WAKE UP!! WE ARE FLYING BLING AND YOU ARE THE ONE CAUGHT UP IN MORE OF A SPIN THEN ANYONE ELSE!
Mark, facts are important. You’ll have to back up your claims. I happen to know they are false.
After the Protect America Act expired, phone companies continued cooperating with the government. The idea that they would stop due to the threat of lawsuits is absurd. Even the White House acknowledged as much.
See http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-intel24feb24,1, 5327112.story
And why didn’t you comment on Noriega tossing your tax dollars to Mexican Citizens and giving them an advantage over Americans????
Cornyn’s the author of S. 1838 for Veterans in the Valley! He’s got my vote!
Noriega wants us to limit our intellgence reports and ability to spy on al qaeda? WOW! That is just dangerous and scary. What should his campaign slogan be, “Noriega for less intellgence”.
RADIO ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NATION
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. At the stroke of midnight tonight, a vital intelligence law that is helping protect our nation will expire. Congress had the power to prevent this from happening, but chose not to.
The Senate passed a good bill that would have given our intelligence professionals the tools they need to keep us safe. But leaders in the House of Representatives blocked a House vote on the Senate bill, and then left on a 10-day recess.
Some congressional leaders claim that this will not affect our security. They are wrong. Because Congress failed to act, it will be harder for our government to keep you safe from terrorist attack.
Of course, the President’s words are directly contradicted by the head of the very intelligence agencies he appointed, and by the national press. Who are you going to believe?
AT&T Could Owe You $146,000
FISA violation means $36,500 per claimant, per four years of wiretapping
The Legality blog has an interesting read on just how much telecom providers like AT&T could owe their customers should the lawsuit against them for illegal wiretapping be allowed to proceed. While there are more than forty potential suits currently open against Sprint, Verizon and AT&T, the EFF’s case against AT&T is the most highly visible, given it involved a 22-year former employee turned whistleblower. If the EFF case proceeds and it shows widespread violation of FISA laws, AT&T would be in some serious financial trouble.
Noriega probably doesn’t wants to be connected with his buddies over the border and letting them know that he’s voting for the Mexican Dream Act again.
Interesting, thanks for the info.
Of course, whether these lawsuits end in payouts or not if for a court to decide. Still, if the court rules against AT&T, it’s hard not to feel they are justified to hand down a stiff penalty. If they did indeed break the law, they deserve to be sued.
Bush was willing to let the FISA bill die (at least temporarily) because of the telecom immunity issue. The government and the telecoms have worked together for decades in the context of providing surveillance as authorized by warrants. The telecoms are no strangers to this working relationship and ALWAYS insist on indemnification by the feds in case there is a mistake in how the surveillance is executed. There is NO WAY that the telecoms did not insist on such an indemnification clause prior to their assistance in warrantless wiretaps.
In other words, the telecoms are not exposed to financial liability even if they are found to be culpable in a lawsuit. The government would reimburse the telecoms for any damages awarded, including the legal costs in mounting a defense to the lawsuit.
The REAL reason Bush is insisting so strongly for immunizing the telecoms that he would rather the bill die than be enacted without telecom immunity is to prevent the full amount and extent of extra-legal,warrantless wiretapping on Americans from being revealed during the discovery phase of any lawsuits. It is not about protecting the telecoms, it is about protecting himself.
JASON-JASON-JASON!!!, so why haven’t you commented on Noriega wanting to give illegal aliens an advantage over American citizens by constantly voting for the Dream Act.????? How can Noriega say he’s wanting to run to represent Texas when he wants to pitch United States tax dollars at Mexico???? or even illegal Afgans, iraqi’s? OVER AMERICANS???? He’s already voted for it for Texas State tax dollars, now he wants to do it on a national level.
Jason, with all due respect, I don’t understand what Noriega is saying. I know he wants to accent that he’s been in Afghanistan — that’s 90 percent of his campaign thus far — but beyond that, he’s lost me.
Is he saying that if he or his soldiers get in trouble, and need intell help, that he’d prefer that help be delayed indefinitely while lawyers argue? Would that make his wife less anxious? I wonder how many professional military would agree with that.
That scenario is exactly what happened last year in Iraq. Here’s a column on this very subject. I guess we’ll find out which approach Texans prefer — rescue the soldiers immediately, or empower the lawyers to footdrag while arguing over legal red tape.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Protect America %u2013 Act Now
By U.S. Sen. John Cornyn
Last May, three U.S. troops were kidnapped in Iraq, south of Baghdad, by al Qaeda terrorists. The U.S. military immediately launched a search and rescue operation, including electronic monitoring of phone conversations.
What happened next is extremely disturbing. Within hours, a new source of information was discovered that required electronic surveillance. Then, a maze of complicated U.S. laws kicked in, stopping progress for nearly 10 long hours.
Weeks later, the body of one missing American was found in the Euphrates River. The terrorists claimed the other two had been executed. No one can be certain whether they might have been found if the intelligence lead had been immediately followed.
We do know that restrictions in an outdated federal law seriously complicated rescue efforts while government lawyers back in the U.S. sorted through a legal quagmire to develop %u201Cprobable cause%u201D for electronic surveillance. A Texas soldier, Cpl. Ryan Collins of Vernon, was killed while participating in the unsuccessful attempt to find the missing troops.
There is no dispute that laws must be followed. That is what our American soldiers did that day in Iraq. It%u2019s also clear, however, that existing law can prevent immediate use of our latest and best intelligence technology, when quick action is critical to the lives of Americans. When this is the case, it%u2019s up to Congress to change the law.
We must do better in fulfilling this duty. At the time of this Iraq incident, electronic surveillance for intelligence and military use was subject to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Last year, Congress approved a temporary update, the Protect America Act. In early February, a bipartisan majority of the Senate voted overwhelmingly to extend key parts of the Protect America Act for six years.
But instead of approving the Senate bill, House leaders left for a 10-day recess. This meant the Protect America Act expired on Feb. 16. Now our troops and intelligence community are again operating under legal constraints that delay tracking terrorists who use Internet and cell phone devices that did not exist when FISA was enacted.
America leads the world in electronic technology. Some 98 percent of it is owned by private companies, and their cooperation is necessary in preventing terrorist attacks. But trial lawyers have filed lawsuits seeking billions of dollars from telecommunications firms that have helped our government stop another 9/11.
The Senate-passed bill provides protection against lawsuits for firms acting in good faith on government requests for help. This lawsuit protection is necessary to make certain they can protect their shareholders from legal expense even while they do their part to keep Americans safe.
Top U.S. intelligence officials certified that in the week after Congress allowed the Protect America Act to expire, our country lost significant national security information. We are asking our troops and intelligence officials to operate with one hand tied behind their back. We are less safe than we were before Feb. 16.
National defense is the first duty of our federal government. Good intelligence helps protect our troops and win wars. Undercutting it hampers our efforts to defend ourselves, and endangers the lives of Americans.
Our nation is grateful to Cpl. Ryan Collins, his family and the sacrifices of those who help protect our country. I will fight to reverse the recent lapse in judgment by Congress, and ensure our intelligence community and security forces have every tool available to keep us safe. We owe that to our citizens, and to the memory of Cpl. Collins.
There are, of course, two sides to every story: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/004329.php
Yes, there are two sides to every story. And TPM Muckraker was honest enough to publish the memo from DCI blowing up his theories on this incident. He is left with unnamed “sources” demurring, without coherent arguments.
I appreciate your linking to TPM Muckraker, but the link does not contradict anything that Sen. Cornyn said. Nothing.
There is more than TPM to back that up. The point is, reasonable minds disagree as to what caused the 10-hour delay in question - FISA court obstacles or intelligence bungling. I don’t think there has been a good case made that it is definitively one of the other.
Let’s assume you are right, and you may well be. There is some doubt about what caused the ten-hour delay. But there is no doubt that the ten-hour delay occurred, while lawyers were arguing and debating over what level of proof of probable cause was needed.
That’s exactly the point. When you can be charged criminally if you’re wrong, you’re likely to be very deliberate. If your company can be exposed to billions in damages, you’re going to slow down and make certain all “i’s” are dotted and “t’s” crossed. When the law is uncertain, it’s CYA time.
I’m sure it’s a great comfort to the families of those killed in Iraq while all this dithering occured that all the legalities were properly followed. And Jason — this is the course you are endorsing with your approach.
That’s not the point. The disagreement over what caused the delay is pretty crucial. Republicans say it was caused by discussions over whether they had met the burden of proof, Democrats say intelligence agencies couldn’t even get that together. They weren’t arguing about FISA, they were simply dropping the ball. Big difference.
The “big difference” doesn’t matter much to the people who are now dead, does it, Jason?