 Dear Erick, I know you've read emails from C4L Vice President of Policy Norman Singleton before. But I believe what follows is one of THE most important emails C4L has ever sent. Norm long served as Ron Paul's Legislative Director in Congress. His expertise on the issues has been invaluable to C4L as we've had to fight some of the worst statist plans I've ever seen. I don't think you'll be surprised to hear you're not getting the full story on the NSA scandal from the national media. What Norm has to say will bring you up to speed - and tell you just how you and I can put a stop to it. Please take a moment to read this critical memo. And if you can today, please make a generous contribution to help Campaign for Liberty take the fight to Big Brother - and win. In Liberty,  John Tate President Date: June 24, 2013 To: John Tate President From: Norm Singleton Vice President of Policy Re: NSA Spying Scandal Overview The Washington, D.C. establishment and their mouthpieces in the national media are circling the wagons. Their "take" on this scandal couldn't be any clearer. Immediately following the disclosure of the radical, unconstitutional spying power Obama's NSA now claims for itself, Edward Snowden was initially called a whistleblower. In the days following, the media shifted to calling him a "leaker." Time Magazine's June 24 cover features Snowden, along with the title "The Informers: Why a New Generation of Hactivists is Driven to Spill the Government's Secrets." The fix is in. The real traitors aren't those who swear to uphold our Constitution and then work to GUT it, it's those who oppose and expose these unconstitutional schemes! Instead of focusing on the real and utterly horrific issues surrounding the NSA's spying program, the national media is smearing the whistleblower as "a high school dropout," among other things. Then, the U.S. House held a laughable hearing entitled, "How Disclosed NSA Programs Protect Americans, and Why Disclosure Aids Our Adversaries." After the hearing - and all the "official" propaganda meant to sooth the angry American public had been issued - NSA Director Keith Alexander told the FBI deputy director, "Tell your boss I owe him another friggin' beer" to say thanks for the cover up. But despite the establishment's best efforts - and the effective ridiculing of their opposition - polls show a clear majority of Americans oppose this madness. But who knows how long that will last without an all-out C4L effort similar to what was used to drag the Federal Reserve out of the shadows and into the forefront of American politics? Below is an overview of exactly what's at stake - along with my recommendation of what must be done. Obviously, with all the other battles C4L has taken on, including the National ID fight - which is tied into this spying scandal - the Internet Sales Tax, and the growing threat of gun control coming back before the U.S. Congress, any effort to force Congress to do its JOB and rein in the NSA will require us to ask our members to give $10, $25, or $35. But I don't see any way around this. Our Constitution is being destroyed in ways thought unimaginable just a few years ago. The most effective and terrifying police state in world history is being set up all around us. Already, our federal government claims the right to indefinitely detain and even assassinate American citizens at will. Only after Rand's 13-hour filibuster did the Obama administration promise not to assassinate Americans on American soil with drones. But then, just a few days ago, the FBI admitted it uses drones to spy on Americans. How long until they're armed? This is simply not a fight we can afford to ignore - and one which C4L members must rush to support. NSA Spying Program "Metadata." It's a word American citizens have had to rush to understand in recent weeks since the NSA's spying scheme broke. In its most simplistic terms, metadata is a cluster of data - for example, all emails, Internet clicks, phone calls, texts, GPS signal locations, etc.... The NSA is busy collecting ALL of the metadata from every single American. According to news reports, this amounted to three BILLION pieces of information from U.S. computer networks in March 2013 - to say nothing of 61,000 hacking operations globally. To store all the data, the NSA is completing a new one million square foot data center in Utah - bigger than the size of over 17 football fields. In 2010, according to The Washington Post, the number of Americans with "top secret" clearances stood at 854,000. Today, it's doubled to 1.5 million. The national security state is exploding all around us. Every phone call, every text, every email, and who knows what else from every American citizen all now reside in government's hands. And earlier this month, former CIA Director David Petraeus bragged that common household items - like dishwashers - contained "troves" of data they could use for spying. Nothing is off limits to the government snoops' "metadata" gathering. Of course, the purported purpose is "security" and fighting back against foreign and domestic "terror cells." After all, the most hallowed excuses are always reserved for the most egregious assaults on our liberties. Yet, this massive dragnet of a program couldn't stop the Boston bombers, even when our own government was warned by overseas governments. Communication among government agencies remains a mess. And as Dr. Paul has pointed out time and again over the years, our borders are left wide open, and no serious effort to control them is seriously considered in Congress even for a second. Any objective person can clearly see government's real targets are American citizens. Their real enemy is freedom. Their goal is to track, trace, and register our every move - and set the stage for the further regulation and CONTROL of OUR lives. The Danger "I'm not doing anything wrong, so I don't have anything to worry about." Oh, yes you do. How any American could say that with a straight face in recent weeks after learning about the IRS' targeting of Tea Party organizations and the wiretapping of reporters is beyond me. The truth is, there is much to fear. Men aren't saints. Neither are government politicians and bureaucrats - which is why the Founders crafted the Fourth Amendment. If people would not trust their family and friends with the radical powers the Obama administration and the statists in BOTH parties now claim for themselves, how does any American think it's ok to trust the jokers we see in Washington, D.C. today? Metadata in itself is enough to provide the federal government with a host of information about us, including: *** Religious beliefs. Under the NSA's spying program, they'll know if you go to church every Sunday, if you send your children to Vacation Bible School - all of your personal religious beliefs. How long before they use this information to tell us what God we are allowed to worship? What church we are allowed to attend? What we are allowed to teach our children? *** Political beliefs. Should President Obama wish to wholesale target American citizens with pro-limited government political beliefs, what better way than to compile a list of those who frequent certain political websites, attend political rallies and events, or even sign a petition? Buy "too many" pro-liberty books, and you may become a target for surveillance; *** Gun ownership. Does President Obama really need a national gun registry if he can register all our Internet activity, phone calls, purchases, and travel? This radical NSA power grab is designed to give the federal government virtually any power they want; *** Personal relationships. If they see we've called a hospital or doctor, visited a funeral home, or have frequently called close family and friends, they'll certainly know we're experiencing a heart-wrenching crisis. How long until a special visit to a government psychiatrist under ObamaCare is mandated? How long until special drugs are required so we don't "crack"? Of course, all of this is just touching the surface. One news report claims that metadata relationships were how the FBI discovered the relationship between former CIA Director David Petraeus and his mistress, Paula Broadwell. Petraeus remained silent about the Benghazi scandal and didn't resign until after the 2012 elections. Could he have been a target of blackmail? Could other public officials find themselves targets of similar government-initiated smears or blackmail campaigns? Could more Americans, even those outside of government, find themselves pressured for fear of having embarrassing incidents, long in their past, exposed? And should the statists' National ID scheme pass - part of the so-called "Immigration Reform" Bill - all of this data could suddenly become linked to a massive national database federal bureaucrats could access with the click of a mouse. What if a power-hungry President simply wants to seize NSA metadata records to more effectively target voters for a reelection campaign? Could we be looking at a permanent President? Of course, that would be unconstitutional under the 22nd amendment. Just like this eavesdropping program is unconstitutional under the 4th. Past Government Abuse Sound far-fetched? It's not. The federal government has already been caught red-handed abusing this kind of power. In fact, the FBI created a massive dossier on one million American citizens from 1960-1974. President Nixon attempted to use the CIA to cover up the Watergate break in. In 2008, news broke that the NSA routinely eavesdropped on troops' personal phone calls - and "pillow talk," "phone sex," and other conversations with "entertainment value" were shared for laughs between government operators according to an NBC news report. One study shows that every President from FDR to Nixon allowed and encouraged government agencies to handle purely political intelligence. Add Obama to the list. One CBS News reporter who dared to report on the Fast and Furious scandal and Benghazi in the days leading up to the 2012 elections had her computer repeatedly hacked by an "unauthorized" (likely government) source. According to Russ Tice, former intelligence analyst during the Bush Administration, the abuse is far more widespread. In a recent interview, he told how government snoops "went after high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the-and [sic] judicial committees." But that's not all. Tice stated they went after private citizens - "heaps of lawyers and law firms." Tice claims he had the wiretap information in his hands of a Supreme Court judge, two FISA court judges, and State Department officials. Does anyone seriously believe these people were potential "terrorist threats?" Of course not. Government officials just saying "trust us" doesn't cut it. NSA Director James Clapper told Congress "No, sir" when asked if his agency collected any data on American citizens. He "misled" or "obscured the truth" with his statement, as President Obama's government officials are doing right now. Regular American citizens would call it a blatant LIE. The TRUTH is this NSA spying authority is more power than a good government should want - and more power than a bad government should have. Today, our federal government has the tools the East German "Stasi" - the secret police of decades past - would have salivated over. Back then, our federal government decried those tactics as Orwellian. Now, it's adopting them at an alarming rate. The calendar might say 2013. But it is truly 1984. The Solution Stripping away power from statist politicians so intent on amassing it won't be easy. But C4L has done it before. Just a few years ago, the Federal Reserve was hardly a blip on Americans' radar screen. Today, Audit the Fed is a dominant issue in American politics thanks to Ron Paul and Campaign for Liberty's efforts. The Fed's control of our economy cannot be ignored. But neither can the federal government's attempt to control our lives. As I mentioned, public opinion is on our side. Americans don't want to be spied on by their own government (go figure). Political experts are discussing the American public's lack of "trust" in their lawless government. A sudden, massive outpouring of opposition to this NSA spying scheme - like only C4L can generate - could be enough to get the statists to back off this program. Permanently gutting domestic spying programs will likely have to include a massive four-pronged program, including: *** Exposing the entire NSA program. You and I must first expose the truth about the NSA's program to the American people - every bit of it. The hearings held in Congress are nothing but statist propaganda. The American people MUST have a full account and know exactly how massive the NSA's program really is; *** Supporting Senator Rand Paul's Class Action lawsuit. Senator Rand Paul filed a class action lawsuit designed to take the legality of the NSA's spying program all the way to the United States Supreme Court. So far, over 250,000 Americans have signed on to his lawsuit against the federal government, with hundreds of thousands more expected to join in the coming weeks; *** Supporting Senator Rand Paul's Fourth Amendment Restoration Act. If passed, Senator Paul's legislation would protect American citizens against Barack Obama's surveillance state by guaranteeing Fourth Amendment protections for our electric communications and requiring FISA courts to grant specific warrants in order for government agents to access the information. *** Repealing the Patriot Act. Congressman Sensenbrenner, the author of the so-called "PATRIOT Act," claims he never envisioned the scheme to be used this way, even despite Dr. Paul's warnings. Let's demand they REPEAL IT. Winning any one of these fights could strike a death blow to ALL domestic spying efforts. The good news is, thanks to our mobilization efforts on these issues already, we have a real shot at winning these battles. Already, we've mobilized a few hundred thousand Americans to turn up the heat on their representatives to stand up and defend our Fourth Amendment freedoms. But we need to massively add to these numbers if we're going to dismantle their spy state. Considering the massive nature of the fight we face, a comprehensive program could cost as much as $6 million. I know that's a lot of money, but I'm confident if we can raise the resources, we can stop government bureaucrats from spying on the American people. Using emails, as well as targeted Internet, Facebook, and Google banners, we should be able to reach about 16 million Americans. This effort alone would mobilize up to half a million more Americans to get involved in this fight. And if funds permit, we can reach another 10 million folks using TV, radio, and newspaper ads. Of course, such a massive program like this isn't cheap - nor easy. But it must be done. This fight is too important to sit on the sidelines. Our nation's future depends on it. As I hope you'll agree from Norm's memo, you and I must act right away. Considering the urgent need to mobilize millions of more Americans in response to this threat, I hope you'll consider a generous contribution of $10, $25, or $35. But anything you can give today will be greatly appreciated as Campaign for Liberty fights against Big Brother's growing surveillance state. - John
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