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By saul anuzis Posted in Chuck Yob | Jack Hoogendyk | Jane Abraham | MI GOP UPDATE | Platform of the American People | Republicans | Saul Anuzis — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

262 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
State Representative Jack Hoogendyk kicked off his race for the U.S. Senate this weekend. Rocky Raczkowski announced that he was being called up for active duty and will NOT be running for the nomination.
See Jane Abraham’s comments and text of her speech at our state convention here:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2008/02/notes-from-jane.html
Our party honored Chuck Yob for his service as our longest serving National Committeeman:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2008/02/chuck-yob-honor.html
Newt Gingrich presented his “Platform of the American People” to our State Convention via his video and encouraged our support. Prencilla Smith from Newt’s group, American Solutions, joined us and distributed sign up cards. You can sign up online here:
http://www.americansolutions.com/actioncenter/petitions/?Guid=bf4a5257-4...
On the Presidential front…now we all start speculating about who would be a good Vice President???

FISA: House Democrat leaders blocked a good piece of legislation that would give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect America from a terrorist attack. By blocking this piece of legislation our country is more in danger of an attack. Democrats decided to play politics rather than do what is needed to protect America.

FOR THE LATEST NEWS, COMMENTARY & INFORMATION:
www.migop.blogs.com
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THE REST OF THE STORY:
If Congress lets the Protect America Act expire without passing the bipartisan Senate bill, the Intelligence Community’s ability to obtain vital foreign intelligence information, including the location, intentions, and capabilities of terrorists and other foreign intelligence targets abroad, will be weakened.
The Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General warned Congress of this problem in their letter to Senator Reid on Feb. 5, 2008, stating in no uncertain terms that “[e]xpiration would result in a degradation of critical tools necessary to carry out our national security mission.”
In particular, if the House permits the PAA expire:
• The Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) would be stripped of their power to authorize new certifications against foreign intelligence targets, including international terrorists, abroad. This means that as terrorists change their tactics to avoid surveillance, we may not have the tools we need to continue tracking them.
• The Attorney General and the DNI may be unable to issue directives to compel the assistance of private entities not assisting the Government now but whose assistance may be needed in the future to collect this foreign intelligence information about terrorists and other threats. This means that the government may be without a means of obtaining information essential to our Nation’s security.
• If a new target fell outside the scope of an existing certification or directive, the Government would be forced to go to the FISA Court to obtain prior court authorization for new collection to acquire the communications of terrorists and other foreign intelligence threats abroad. This means that our intelligence professionals would be operating under the pre-Protect America Act legal framework that resulted in dangerous intelligence gaps.

http://migop.blogs.com/

Saulius "Saul" Anuzis
Chairman
Michigan Republican Party