CrazyHorse Loc: Kansas

Herewith a letter from Senator Rand Paul received this date, 9 Aug. 2013, re the NSA:

August 9, 2013



Dear Mr.xxxxxxxx, CrazyHorse



Thank you for contacting me about the National Security Agency (NSA). I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this agency and its practices.

Throughout the summer of 2013, in a lengthy series of investigative reports, London-based newspaper The Guardian published an extensive account of the domestic data-gathering and surveillance efforts under way at the NSA. This documentation, including a secret court order issued in April, indicates that the NSA has been operating on a much larger scale than has previously been made public, indiscriminately sweeping up the electronic communications data of millions of American citizens in a vast digital dragnet, every day, without a warrant and without probable cause.

This is an astounding assault on the Constitution and an extraordinary invasion of privacy. A court order that allows the government to obtain a billion records a day but does not name an individual target is clearly beyond the scope of the Fourth Amendment, which states that warrants are to be issued only upon probable cause and must specify the person and place to be searched. Moreover, it is not at all clear whether the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that issued the order did so lawfully, as much of the communications data being collected is entirely domestic in nature.

The Administration has responded to the public uproar by simply claiming that it is allowed to have unlimited access to all Americans' private information. This response is a clear indication that the President views our Constitutional "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" as null and void. Worse, under direct questioning from my colleague Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on March 12, 2013, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper flatly denied that the NSA was collecting "any type of data at all on millions of Americans" – a claim that we now know to be demonstrably false.

I certainly understand your frustrations, and like you I am profoundly disappointed in this Administration's record on civil liberties. The Constitution is not a negotiable piece of parchment to be ignored or abused at a President's whim. People are deeply suspicious of a government that can take away their rights and they are even more suspicious when these acts are done in secret.

This blatant overreach of power is also just the latest symptom of a much more fundamental problem that we face as a nation - an arrogant federal government that has simply grown too large, too invasive, too distant from people, and utterly adrift from its Constitutional moorings. When balancing liberty against security, the American tradition has always been to err on the side of liberty. I support allowing our national security agencies to conduct surveillance if they respect due process rights and establish probable cause, such as the suspicion of international terrorist activities. However, invading the privacy of every individual who uses a cell phone or the Internet is unnecessary and illegal. Our government shouldn't have unlimited reign to spy on its citizens.

I have long been a vocal defender of our Fourth Amendment rights, and have led the fight against the reauthorization of the warrantless wiretapping and search provisions contained in the USA PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Indeed, even prior to these recent revelations, I had proposed legislation in each of the last two sessions of Congress to try and rein in the ability of the federal government to monitor its citizens. Most recently, on June 7, 2013, I reintroduced S. 1121, the Fourth Amendment Restoration Act of 2013, a bill which would have prevented the data-mining we're now seeing.

I am actively exploring all of the options available to me with regard to spearheading a broad-based effort to remedy some of the excesses that have recently come to light. Rest assured that I will continue to demand answers and accountability, and I will continue to fight for a more principled, limited government that respects the Constitution and the rights of each and every citizen of this great country.



Sincerely,



Rand Paul, MD
United States Senator

Loki Loc: Georgia

He is so much more polite than I.

hprinze Loc: Central Florida

Rand Paul, like his father, is a patriot

Inyourface Loc: East Coast

Rand Paul the anti Government ,nutter will never be President. There just isn't enough low IQ whites to get this idiot elected to anything outside of Texas. Remember, Texas elects genuiuses like Perry, Bush, Ghomert,DeLay,Etc.

Inyourface Loc: East Coast

If you back this nutter ,you have a selective amnesia problem. But don't worry 50,000 Latinos turning 18 EVERY month will soon remove folk like yourself from the decision making posistion.

Inyourface Loc: East Coast

Rand Paul ,Like his crazy old man is a hypocrit and a loser. Name one thing loopy, Ron Paul ever accomplished in all the years he was sucking on the public teat.

hprinze Loc: Central Florida

Obama is not the greatest danger to America.

The greatest danger to America is the abject stupidity of an electorate that allows such an evil creature to infest the White House.

Some members of trhat abjectly stupid electorate post here.

And some of them think Senator Rand Paul represents Texas.

CrazyHorse Loc: Kansas

Quid Pro Quo, Inyourface: You've been on 1PP a grand total of 2 days and you have already identified your self as a deficient intellect. Rand Paul is not in Texas, brain dead. He is an elected Senator from a state outside of Texas, i.e. Kentucky. So keep running your mouth and exhibiting your tedious vacuious drivel.

run back to your hole Inyourface dirt dog, before you get bit

Loki Loc: Georgia

Do all of the 50,000 Latinos turning eighteen every month possess your fiery intellect and incomparable command of the English Language? You still have not told anyone how these 50,000 Latinos are going to change anything, or what I have to answer for. When are these 50,000 paragons of industry, ethics and accomplishment going to start? While we are answering for the alleged crimes of our ancestors, what about the millions of blacks and AmerIndians who were enslaved by these same wondrous miracle workers? Shoudn't they be held to account for the crimes of their ancestors, also? How about the unimaginable wealth that was stolen from the Aztecs and Incas? Do they plan on paying that back? I hear all about how the white Europeans stole North America from the natives, how about the South American continent stolen by the Hispanics? That one doesn't count? It appears you have little room to call anyone a hypocrite. (By the way, you misspelled "hypocrite" ). What, exactly, do whites have to answer for, that singles them out from any other race? You have no real answers, simply bigoted, narrow-minded opinions, and a knack for avoiding answers.

Navysnipe Loc: Old West

Wow! A new troll! How much do you get paid for trolling?

CrazyHorse Loc: Kansas

Quid Pro Quo, Navysnipe: I don't know how much they pay trolls, if anything, but 1PP advertises for them to come on 1PP. Apparently to obstruct any decent conversation conservatives would like to have re current political issues. If they were paid to come on 1PP, I hope the waste of money wasn't more than the cost of powder to blow them up with. There appears to be no limit to the attempts to find some progressive with enough ability to last more than about 50 posts on 1PP, before their exhibited ignorance is such that they get embarrassed and quit posting. We do have a couple of masochists that like the pain that are still around with their vacuous drivel. We'll see how long Inyourarce can take a flogging. Maybe he will make it to the Loulevel where they are just ignored.

Navysnipe Loc: Old West

Yeah, you're right. About 50 posts and they quit. But then show up 2 days later under a different name.

CrazyHorse Loc: Kansas

Quid Pro Quo, Navysnipe: You got that right pard. How many names do you suppose CHE is up to now. Eh? :D :lol: :roll: :thumbup: