LPEPC APRIL 2015 Newsletter - Libertarian Party of El Paso County
Transcription
LPEPC APRIL 2015 Newsletter - Libertarian Party of El Paso County
1 2 3 APRIL 2015, Issue 16 Libertarian Party endorses Surveillance State Repeal Act The Libertarian Party endorses the Surveillance State Repeal Act (H.R. 1466) introduced by Rep Mark Pocan (D-WI), which would substantially scale back the surveillance apparatus of the U.S. government. Nicholas Sarwark, LP Chair said, “The Surveillance State Repeal Act would dramatically improve the privacy of Americans’ personal and business communications and restore substantial Fourth Amendment rights now routinely violated by the U.S. government.” The New York Times editorial board endorsed an earlier version of the bill, stating that it “deserves full Congressional support.” The Surveillance State Repeal Act would: 1. Repeal the PATRIOT Act (which contains the telephone metadata harvesting provision). 2. Repeal the FISA Amendments Act (which contains the email harvesting provision), with the exception of the provisions regarding FISA court reporting and WMD intelligence collection. 3. Make retaliation against federal national security whistleblowers illegal and provides for the termination of individuals who engage in such retaliation. 4. Ensure that any FISA collection against a US Person takes place only pursuant to a valid warrant based on probable cause (which was the original FISA standard from 1978 to 2001). 5. Retain the ability for government surveillance capabilities to be targeted against a specific natural person, regardless of the type of communications method(s) or device(s) being used by the subject of the surveillance. 6. Retain provisions in current law dealing with the acquisition of intelligence information involving weapons of mass destruction from entities not composed primarily of U.S. Persons. 7. Prohibit the government from mandating that electronic device or software manufacturers build in so-called “back doors” to allow the government to bypass encryption or other privacy technology built into said hardware and/or software. 8. Increase the terms of judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) from seven to ten years and allows their reappointment. 9. Mandate that the FISC utilize technologically competent Special Masters (technical and legal experts) to help determine the veracity of government claims about privacy, minimization and collection capabilities employed by the US government in FISA applications. 10. Mandate that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) regularly monitor such domestic surveillance programs for compliance with the law, including responding to Member requests for investigations and whistleblower complaints of wrongdoing. 11. Explicitly ban the use of Executive Order 12333 as a way of collecting bulk data, which pertains to the collection and storage of communications by U.S. persons. “The Libertarian Party would like to see all aspects of government mass surveillance ended, including complete elimination of the secret FISA court whose work issuing warrants for terrorist and criminal suspects can be easily assumed by existing federal courts,” said Sarwark. “But this bill is a good first step.” The Libertarian Party calls on all Americans to contact their congressmen and women and urge them to support H.R. 1466, the Surveillance State Repeal Act, and to spread this message through social media and whatever other means possible. SOURCE: http://www.lp.org/news/pressreleases/libertarian-party-endorsessurveillance-state-repeal-act Learn More About the Libertarian Party of El Paso County! Visit: LPepc.org Inside this issue: 1. Libertarian Party endorses Surveillance State Repeal Act 2. Treasurers Corner 2. Former Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson falls over during Marijuana debate at CPAC 3. April 2015 Calendar of Events 3. From the Chair – a Message from Paotie Dawson Visit Us Online: www.LPEPC.org facebook.com/LPEPC twitter.com/EPCLibertarians El Paso County Libertarian contact us: [email protected] Former Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson falls over during Marijuana debate at CPAC Treasurer’s Corner By John Hjersman, LPEPC Interim Treasurer - April, 2015 John Hjersman is new to the position and new to Colorado Springs but has been a Libertarian officially since 2001, unknowingly, most of his life. He retired from a long career in the US Merchant Marine in 2012. The Libertarian Party of El Paso County needs your help so that we have the funds needed to do all the things we need to do in 2015! Our donation page at lpepc.org has not been working but once the new Treasurer is accepted by PayPal it should be back in operation. Also, the Treasurer tries to make all meetings and would be happy to accept contributions then. Thank you in advance for your help in spreading the Libertarian message! Please Note: All Contributing Members for 2014 are invited to renew their memberships for 2015 by paying the $25 annual dues. Don’t forget to come to the annual convention on April 11. LPEPC Interim Treasurer, John Hjersman, is always available to discuss ways to give money to the LPEPC or answer your questions about how the money will be spent. [email protected] “Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson was participating in a debate about marijuana laws yesterday, and fell out of his chair. It was just a joke though . . . he was pretending to have a heart attack, because one of the other panelists was talking about the dangerous side effects of smoking weed.” Watch the Viedo Here: https://youtu.be/QNZYLconqvU SOURCE: http://wsfl.com/2015/02/27/watch-former-governor-ofnew-mexico-gary-johnson-falls-over-during-marijuana-debate-at-cpac Libertarian Party of Colorado State Convention Friday April 24th - Sunday April 26th, 2015 DoubleTree by Hilton Aurora, Colorado MORE INFO: LPcolorado.org/convention WRITERS NEEDED! If you have a passion for Liberty and want the world to know what you have to say, you are needed! The Libertarian Party of El Paso County is looking for contributors to their monthly newsletter … THIS newsletter! … Interested? Please send your submissions to [email protected] Visit Us Online: www.LPEPC.org El Paso County Libertarian Party March Calendar of Events Keep track of events and meet-ups with our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LPEPC/events You can keep up with the latest events, news, and updates about the LPEPC, county political issues and more with our social media posts on Facebook, tweets on Twitter, and Meetups. If you haven’t yet, please bookmark our website: www.lpepc.org 3rd Annual Libertarian Party of El Paso County Convention Saturday, April 11 at 10:00am Tilted Kilt – N/E Corner of Commerce Center/Woodmen Please RSVP as soon as possible so that we can reserve plenty of room! At this election meeting we will choose Board Members and possibly changing the bylaws regarding who can be a board member. Contact us if you would like to run for a Board Position [email protected] El Paso County Libertarian Libertarian Party of El Paso County Calendar of Events Third Thursday of Every Month El Paso County LP Meeting Various locations throughout El Paso County 6-9 pm LP Colorado Calendar of Events www.meetup.com/lpcolorado 3rd Annual Libertarian Party of El Paso County Convention. Saturday, April 11 at 10:00am Tilted Kilt – (Old TGIFridays) Commerce Center & Woodmen From the Chair Spring’s in the air, and for us in Colorado, that means a time of renewal and regeneration are upon us. In political terms, that means we will be watching the April elections in Colorado Springs to see if, and how political change(s) will happen. As the political seasons come and go, one thing seems to remain constant: the threats to our freedoms and liberties continue to grow each week. Liberty and freedom are under assault from nearly every aspect of today’s media. Each day, a new proposal is inked in the press and hailed by many as the next, viable solution to whatever imagined problem. For example, President Obama has floated the idea of mandatory voting … I really don’t need to say more than that about how such a thing would be disastrous for our country, to say nothing of how mandatory voting would ruin more of our liberties and freedom. But this is spring, and this is a time for hope and sunshine, not doom and gloom. For as long as there will be Libertarians, there will be someone to shine a light and offer warmth and nurturing for our liberties and freedom. That is our job as Libertarians: to protect our Constitution from those who would destroy it for the most whimsical of things. Libertarians, I encourage you to help us continue to shine a Liberty-enhanced light on all political issues we face, whether at the local, county, state, or national level. We must continue to fight ignorance, fight deliberate indifference, and fight against horrible ideas that do nothing to protect our freedoms and liberties and do everything to destroy our Constitution. Get involved. Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers. Call in radio shows. And most importantly, get involved with the Libertarian Party of El Paso County, and help us continue to fight the good fight. We need more volunteers, more financial resources, and a few other things to help us move up to the next level. I am proud of my time involved with the LPEPC, from its formation to where we are today. We have made many mistakes along the way. And yet, we have managed to make quite a big difference in the Pikes Peak region: in the last general election, two LPEPC board members generated among the highest percentage of votes in their election races in all of Colorado. We do much with very little! And we need more: we need YOU. We will be holding our Annual Convention, Saturday, April 11th. Please click this Facebook link to RSVP and to sign up for more updates and information. You can help us grow the party, protect our freedoms and liberties, and above all, make the world a better place -- because that’s what Libertarians do. See you in April! - Paotie Dawson - Chair, LPEPC El Paso County Libertarian facebook.com/LPEPC twitter.com/EPCLibertarians TAKE ACTION! Register as a Libertarian info: • • www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/vote/VoterRegFormEnglish.pdf https://www.sos.state.co.us/Voter/ Pending Board and Committee Appointments: • Voter Registration Drive Chair • Platform Committee Chair – required by LPCO • Political Issues Liaisons • Fundraising Committee Chair • Campaign Committee Chair • Convention Committee Chair If any of these interest you please, send a message to [email protected] or visit: LPEPC.org/volunteer-opportunities Note: If you wish to run for a Board position you must be a Contributing Member. **In order to be a Contributing Member you must be registered with the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder's office as a Libertarian & have paid your $25.00 2015 LPEPC Dues. El Paso County Libertarian Party P.O. Box 7952 Colo Spgs CO 80933 (719) 445-1949 [email protected] pinterest.com/LPepc