All Your Telephone Record Are Belong To Us
I really don’t have time to blog about this, but I wanted to get something up. Please don’t use me as a source until I get a chance to check facts, but from what I’ve caught on the radio and by skimming, it seems that the Bush administration in cooperation with major telecommunication companies have conspired to collect massive amounts of data on who calls whom, within the domestic United States no less, and then the Executive branch has been mining that data without a warrant.
If there’s a bright spot in all this, unless he was misquoted, it seems that the President uttered a sound bite proclaiming that he knows all about this little project, it has his approval, and he thinks it’s all Constitutional.
Uh yea, right. Please to be reading the supreme law of the land again, especially Amendment number Four (and if you don’t have a copy, Wikipedia is your friend).
So, looking at my blood pressure, it seems to be a quarter to Claire time. I don’t think this clock is going to be rolling backwards unless I’m substantially misunderstanding this, or Congress gets going promptly on those impeachment proceedings.
If the only way to keep our country safe from terror is to go “fast and loose” with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, I say bring it on. I’d rather fight ‘em right here, dealing with semtex on the subway, or the threat of a gas attack. Because going “fast and loose” is the same as voiding the mother documents of this country until the perpetual emergency ends.
And make no mistake, it IS perpetual, or did someone declare the War on (some) Drugs over? What about the War on Poverty?
Oh heavens, no! I’d much rather be enslaved by people who spell their name with an R than people who spell their name with a D. Makes all the difference in the world! -Claire Wolfe (Land-Mine Legislation)
Update 12may06: Worth reading from the WaPo: Data on Phone Calls Monitored.
kjaba Says :
WaPo reports a majority of Americans support the NSA spying. That puts me clearly in the minority but, though I may be pissing in the wind, I sent the following rant to my two senators.
12 May 06
Subject: WARRANTLESS SPYING
I am mad as hell and worried as hell about the path on which this nation is descending. The executive branch of our government is steadily, deviously and arrogantly abrogating the authority of the judicial and legislative branches and damned few people, in or out of government, are showing the guts to resist this. The situation is getting worse and more unbelievable with almost each passing day.
George Bush is an unabashed liar and has been deceiving the American people and the world since he was appointed POTUS in 2000. His top administration officials have from the very beginning eagerly and energetically aided and abetted him in what is apparently one of his major goals: to take unto himself and the executive branch the full power to rule as he wishes. He seems convinced that God has chosen him to do this not only for the benefit of this nation but for the world at large.
Since 9/11 this administration?s erosion of our civil liberties has become more accelerated and more brazen. And why not? Who has dared to speak in opposition? Who has even dared to question, for fear of being called unpatriotic or perhaps even traitorous, the Leader of the Free World, the Commander-in-Chief of the War on Terror? ?War on Terror?? How heaven sent! Which one was it ? Rove, Wolfowitz, Cheney, or perhaps Bush himself who said, ?9/11 is the best thing that ever happened to us!?? War against an idea can never be won. Worse yet, a war against an idea can go on as long as someone who claims authority wants it to. We are at war in Afghanistan. We are at war in Iraq. Only our attack on al-Queda in Afghanistan can be justified.
9/11 was an act of unmitigated hatred, savagery, terror and criminality whose perpetrators must be hunted down. But was it really an act of war?
Now we discover that the NSA has, since 9/11, gathered and investigated tens of millions of phone numbers of American citizens. This exposes another of Bush?s lies: that the NSA tapped only phone calls coming into or going out of this country, and the president has the legal right to have this done without warrants. Today Bush says the NSA is not really mining or trolling for numbers and that the privacy of Americans is being ?fiercely? guarded. Right. War is peace. Yes is no. Big Brother is at our door and has been on his way since 9/11.
Senator, you have sworn a solemn and far-reaching oath, one that goes beyond just the interests and well-being of the citizens of your state. It is America?s rights and freedoms that are at stake. You must make your voice heard and get others to join you.
2006-05-12 13:04 PermalinkStandard Mischief Says :
Yea, that ABC/WaPo poll scared the bah-jeebies out of me too. I’d like to see the core data and the exact question asked.
2006-05-12 15:44 Permalink