Independence Institute flack has no need for the Fourth Amendment

by: Zappatero

02/23/08 @ 12:04:09 PM MST

It's quite obvious that Jon Caldara and his Independence Institute blows a lot of steam. And they have plenty of outlets and personnel with which to spread it. The FISA fight is the latest to earn II's support, and with the help of a Wayne Allard flack, Amy Oliver recently did her duty doody on the truth:

Amy OLIVER- KFKA: What can we expect; what's on the agenda for next week?

(Allard flack): Well, I think top priority is FISA reauthorization. I just cannot believe the House Democrats allowed FISA to expire last Saturday. I mean, we're a country at war..... And the House has just simply said, we're not going to accept this, because we want to have, you know, terrorists be able to sue phone companies if they're listening to our conversations. It's insane.

OLIVER: Yeah --

And this would be the spot where a principled member of the highly principled and non-partisan II would reiterate some kind of Constitutional principle about illegal searches by the government. But of course, Amy didn't:

• FISA didn't expire. It's been the law since 1978 with many updates.
• The Protect America Act (PAA) expired. It's major provision was telecom immunity, and everyone but cowardly Republicans say we'll be OK: “Those are the rules we’ll be living under after the Protect America Act expires this weekend,” Mr. Lee added. "There’s no reason to think our nation will be in any more danger in 2008 than it was in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, or 2006.”

She let Allard's flack continue while completely abandoning the ideas of the Declaration of Independence. Let's see where Amy failed her Institute:

• On their About page, the Institute had someone type this up so some would believe that they care about the Declaration of Independence: "The Independence Institute is established upon the eternal truths of the Declaration of Independence."
• The real Declaration of Independence says this about illegal searches and what would become our 4th Amendment: "He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good....He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers." (The "he" is King, um, George.)

If you want to spy on an American, get a warrant. That compels the phone companies to spy, and they can't get sued! If you want to spy on a terrorist - please do. And if a "terrorist can sue a phone company" - as Allard's guy stupidly said - let's arrest the terrorists when they show up to court!

Amy completely abdicated her and the Independence Instutute's principles in that short yet lie-filled exchange with Senator Allard's staffer. Maybe the II should let their Director of Operations stick to operational stuff, like B.S. bill names, and have someone who actually cares about the Constitution try to uphold those principles.