Okay, my first blog post ever. It seems recent polls put Congress' approval rating down in the single digits, and the President's in the low teens or twenties. Is it any wonder?

There's a debate happening in the Senate now, about FISA and the telecom immunity issue. Here's a letter I sent off to my senators earlier today. I hope it helps but I'm not holding my breath.

Please read on and enjoy if you care to ...

Dear Senator Feinstein ---
Dear Senator Boxer ---

Thank you for reading my message. My wife Debbie and I are two regular, registered voters here in Pleasanton, California.

Please do not grant immunity to the telecom companies for cooperating with the NSA. As a U.S. citizen, I want the pending court cases about these matters to go forward, and for all the evidence to be heard and adjudicated in open court. The federal government and the telecom companies should be held accountable for these actions, and should not be permitted to invoke the state secrets privilege or to have special legislation passed, to avoid judicial review.

As I read the news accounts (please see, for example, http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70621-0.html), I have come to believe Mark Klein blew the whistle on an illegal wiretapping scheme that the NSA had been operating in San Francisco with AT&T's cooperation, against law-abiding U.S. citizens and contrary to U.S. law and AT&T's own privacy policies. I further believe, although I have no direct evidence of this, that equivalent illegal wiretapping schemes have been in place at numerous other telecom companies for roughly the same period of time.

These illegal actions against American citizens must stop, and certainly must be subject to judicial review. This is a core issue with regard to individual freedom and sovereignty, and it is a core issue with regard to the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of government. No executive, however well-intentioned, should be permitted to exercise this degree of intrusive power over the affairs of free citizens.

While I accept that an incoming telephone call to a U.S. Citizen, originating from a foreign country and from a non-U.S. citizen may be monitored without judicial oversight, my understanding of the law is that any monitored conversation between two U.S. citizens, wherever those two people are located on planet earth, has to be authorized by the appropriate court of law, following the due process of law.

I do not consent to having my privacy invaded without proper judicial oversight and due process.

I do not consent.

I do not consent to the use of any technology that makes it possible for anyone, whether or not they are a direct or indirect, covert or overt agency of any level of the U.S., state or local government, to be used to screen, eavesdrop, parse, intercept, listen, record or otherwise interfere with my verbal or written communications over any network.

I do not consent.

I object to this abuse of power in the strongest possible terms.

I object.

Please understand that the context of my dissent and objection comes most recently from principles grounded in the foundation documents of our country, specifically paragraph three of our Declaration of Independence: "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

I urge you and your staff to re-read that paragraph, and the subsequent paragraphs of the Declaration. Those words will help you regain the proper perspective to confront the current issue.

Just as the actions of the British led to tea "parties" and the eventual overthrow of the British government by the colonists, so too are the actions of our own government eroding what little trust and faith we the people have in our current government. Left unchecked, these actions will surely lead to an eventual uprising by the people and the destruction of a government that has failed to place proper bounds on its own behavior.

I do not consent. I object.

Without my consent, you as an elected senator have no just power. Nor does any senator or representative in the legislative branch have any just power, or does anyone who serves under them. Nor does the President or anyone else who serves in the executive branch have any just power. Nor do any of the Supreme Court Justices or anyone else who serves under them in a lower court have any just power. Especially to enforce an unjust law.

No just power at all. Zero.

Now do you better understand the caustic nature of the consequences of failing to act to limit this abuse of power?

Do you truly understand?

Please reject any legislation that grants any form of immunity to telecom companies for turning over our private phone, internet or television viewing records to the government or any other third party without our prior written consent.

Likewise, please reject any legislation that permits the executive to intrude on the actions or privacy of its free citizens.

I believe the rights of Americans have been violated. Please stand firmly with the American public and against the destruction of our basic liberties and the rule of law. I believe this is one of your fundamental duties as a United States Senator.

Again, thank you for reading this and considering my point of view.

Sean (and Debbie) Sowell

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By email via http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailM...
By fax to Washington DC Office at (202) 228-3954
By fax to San Francisco Office at (415) 393-0710
Issue/Topic: Homeland Security
Subject: No Telecom Immunity, No Illegal Monitoring

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By email via http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm
By fax to Washington DC Office at (202) 224-0454
Topic: Homeland Security
Subject: No Telecom Immunity, No Illegal Monitoring