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FBI Releases Secret Subpoena Information
gollum123 writes to mention a CNN article, reporting on an FBI information release. The number of secret subpoenas the Bureau filed last year reached 3,501. These documents allowed access to credit card records, bank statements, telephone records, and internet access logs for thousands of legal citizens without asking for a court's permission. From the article: "The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the same panel that signs off on applications for business records warrants, also approved 2,072 special warrants last year for secret wiretaps and searches of suspected terrorists and spies. The record number is more than twice as many as were issued in 2000, the last full year before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001."
How people are there living in the US? The FBI only issued a little over 3,000 subpeonas. What are the odds that I (or any one of us) had our private info examined this year? I don't think they're high enough to worry about. How many arrests did the FBI make as a result of these warrants? That's the significant question here.
And yet I'd say 75% don't know enough to care about it and 60% wouldn't care if they did. I made up those numbers but you get the idea.
secret Subpoena are they? Still, I am amazed that this information was ever released, I don't know how the US legal system works but in England the Government an stop the release of any information (even under the Freedom of information act) which might affect "national security", it seems strange to me that the US adiminstration has actually let this stuff get out. I also wonder how many of the people were bona fide terrorists...
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
At least such subpoenas are theoretically legitimate. It's kind of sad that while normally one would be concerned over whether or not this level of secret activity is justified, these days this seems pretty same since at least they're actually going through a legal process at all.
English is easier said than done.
George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.
From time to time, after hours, I kick back with my colleagues at Princeton to argue idly about which president really was the worst of them all. For years, these perennial debates have largely focused on the same handful of chief executives whom national polls of historians, from across the ideological and political spectrum, routinely cite as the bottom of the presidential barrel. Was the lousiest James Buchanan, who, confronted with Southern secession in 1860, dithered to a degree that, as his most recent biographer has said, probably amounted to disloyalty -- and who handed to his successor, Abraham Lincoln, a nation already torn asunder? Was it Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, who actively sided with former Confederates and undermined Reconstruction? What about the amiably incompetent Warren G. Harding, whose administration was fabulously corrupt? Or, though he has his defenders, Herbert Hoover, who tried some reforms but remained imprisoned in his own outmoded individualist ethic and collapsed under the weight of the stock-market crash of 1929 and the Depression's onset? The younger historians always put in a word for Richard M. Nixon, the only American president forced to resign from office.
Now, though, George W. Bush is in serious contention for the title of worst ever. In early 2004, an informal survey of 415 historians conducted by the nonpartisan History News Network found that eighty-one percent considered the Bush administration a "failure." Among those who called Bush a success, many gave the president high marks only for his ability to mobilize public support and get Congress to go along with what one historian called the administration's "pursuit of disastrous policies." In fact, roughly one in ten of those who called Bush a success was being facetious, rating him only as the best president since Bill Clinton -- a category in which Bush is the only contestant.
The lopsided decision of historians should give everyone pause. Contrary to popular stereotypes, historians are generally a cautious bunch. We assess the past from widely divergent points of view and are deeply concerned about being viewed as fair and accurate by our colleagues. When we make historical judgments, we are acting not as voters or even pundits, but as scholars who must evaluate all the evidence, good, bad or indifferent. Separate surveys, conducted by those perceived as conservatives as well as liberals, show remarkable unanimity about who the best and worst presidents have been.
Historians do tend, as a group, to be far more liberal than the citizenry as a whole -- a fact the president's admirers have seized on to dismiss the poll results as transparently biased. One pro-Bush historian said the survey revealed more about "the current crop of history professors" than about Bush or about Bush's eventual standing. But if historians were simply motivated by a strong collective liberal bias, they might be expected to call Bush the worst president since his father, or Ronald Reagan, or Nixon. Instead, more than half of those polled -- and nearly three-fourths of those who gave Bush a negative rating -- reached back before Nixon to find a president they considered as miserable as Bush. The presidents most commonly linked with Bush included Hoover, Andrew Johnson and Buchanan. Twelve percent of the historians polled -- nearly as many as those who rated Bush a success -- flatly called Bush the worst president in American history. And these figures were gathered before the debacles over Hurricane Katrina, B
The number of secret subpoenas the Bureau filed last year reached 3,501.
Wow! I bet they have a lot of terrorists to show for all that work. Right...?
::crickets chirping::
-Grey
Silver Clipboard: Time Management Tips
England has no constitution and no bill of rights (except, arguably, the 800-year-old Magna Carta). The United States does, despite efforts by the current administration to marginalize them.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
They had a process for putting Jews in camps as well. :-)
Just thought I'd let you know that.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Better keep on your toes...
Many Bothans died to bring you this sig.
Do they secretly subpoena slashdot posts? Maybe it's the Feds that keep modding me down...
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
When will the percentage bother you? Maybe you'd like it broken down by race, gender, or socioeconomic group? How about political party? Then you won't have to worry as long as they're only surveilling commies or jews or mexicans. That's right, the best approach is to ignore the whole issue until you personally are affected. Insane.
it, not Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone just published it.
Link : One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush
“[The Justice Department’s] definition of torture would have permitted pulling out fingernails and burning with hot irons. And it so overstated the president’s powers that, under its logic, Mr Bush could order genocide without Congress or the courts being able to stop him.”
——
United States / Civil liberties
Just a few bad apples?
Jan 20th 2005
From The Economist print edition
America’s quest to win over hearts and minds in the war on terror has been dogged by human-rights complaints. The first of two pieces looks at its record overseas
IMAGE (Eyevine)
THE United States is a “nation of law”, George Bush insisted after the sickening photographs showing American soldiers abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison appeared last spring. The “disgraceful conduct” had been the work of “a few bad apples” who would be brought to justice. He also promised that America’s treatment of terrorist suspects and “unlawful enemy combatants” such as those it has sent to the Guantánamo Bay base in Cuba would conform to both domestic and international laws. The United States, Mr Bush declared, was “committed to the worldwide elimination of torture, and we are leading this fight by example”.
Since then, the administration has suffered a number of reverses. Last summer, it emerged that it had sanctioned two memoranda redefining the concept of torture more narrowly. The Supreme Court has allowed the 550-odd foreigners being held in Guantánamo to challenge their detention in the American courts. Under international pressure, it has had to release ever more detainees. And a ruling by a federal district court judge has put on hold its planned system of special military commissions at Guantánamo.
Mr Bush seems unrepentant, judging at least from this week’s events. As The Economist went to press, it looked certain that Alberto Gonzales, the White House counsel who was involved in both torture memos, would be confirmed by the Senate as the new attorney-general—America’s highest law officer. Meanwhile, officials have cited the tough sentence doled out to the chief bad apple at Abu Ghraib as evidence that the problem is being sorted out.
In the first contested court-martial relating to abuse at the prison, the alleged ringleader, Specialist Charles Graner, was sentenced on January 15th to ten years in jail and given a dishonourable discharge; he had been found guilty on all five charges of assault, maltreatment, indecent acts, conspiracy and dereliction of duty. Four other soldiers have entered guilty pleas, including three who have been given custodial sentences, one for eight years.
Another three soldiers are awaiting military trials, though in view of Mr Graner’s sentence they may now be tempted to plea-bargain. They include Private Lynndie England, Mr Graner’s former lover, who was pictured holding a prostrate naked prisoner on a leash.
The sentences, if completed, are certainly tough by historical standards. After the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968, when some 500 civilians were slaughtered, 25 American soldiers were charged. But only a few were tried and just one, Lieutenant William Calley, found guilty. He was sentenced to life but, after less than four years’ house arrest, he was released.
Has Mr Graner been made a scapegoat? All along, he—and most of the others involved—have claimed that they were simply following orders to “soften up” the detainees before interrogation. Strangely, at his court-martial his defence counsel called no senior officers or officials who might have been able to corroborate this, and Mr Graner himself declined to take the witness stand.
Eleven inqui
While I agree that citizens' privacy needs to be protected, obviously there is a much greater focus on terrorism since the September 11 attacks, and the US has engaged in conflicts in two countries. It seems only natural that more activities of a secret nature would be taking place, now that we have clearly been made aware that there are people out there that actually would launch an attack on the United States, instead of substance-free posturing.
However, since we cannot really know what the secret requests were for, we cannot simply acquiesce to the potential eroding of our civil liberties. I just think that secrecy (at least not necessarily) == (evil|bigbrother|invasionofprivacy), which is the inevitable conclusion some here will reach.
First, at least we are being told they happen and to what extent. At least our country still has that much going for it.
/. posters have. In a perfect world we would not have to worry about who comes here, who they have business with, and what they do. Unfortunately it has come to be that our freedom is easily exploited by those who wish us to do harm. The problem I have is that the very idea of trying to find these people seems to be an affront to the very people the government wants to protect.
What is truly insane are all the ignorance many
You cannot have it both ways. We still have our freedom. We have a legal framework to keep tabs on what the government is doing. I am actually surprised that the number is so low. I look at it this way, the intelligence community is now having to make up for being slack for a very long time. It used to be viewed the our enemy was going to come from outside our borders. Instead we know through some public arrests that they are doing their best to come from within. They just don't sneak someone in and act in weeks, they set up operatives who attempt to blend in and build up a base from which to operate. They don't plan on the short term and neither can we.
People are worried that some government agency is going after bank records and phone records convienently ignore the fact that businesses do it all the time and legally. The government actually has to get permission from the courts. That is our protection. The idea of secret warrants has been around a long time. It is one way that the mobs were brought down. This is just another version of the same idea.
Yeah mistakes are going to be made, some people who have no guilt are going to have their records examined. Thats a small price to pay to at least try and stop another 9-11 from occuring. Yeah I know, its the right wings mantra, hide behind the fear of another 9-11. Too bad its a valid point. It sucks but there are far more loonies out there looking to deprive us of our freedom and lives than there are government workers trying to take your rights.
You freely give up your privacy to any number of corporations, publish your thoughts out in the open on the net, and yet when the government follows the laws established to insure that it operates in the intrest of you and others you cry about it?
Be more worried about the stuff they do we don't know. This at least is something going on that we can track.
As far as a great number not caring or not knowing enough. True on both accounts, and for the many here that fit the first category nothing will stop them from posting.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Last year, when trying to kill time in DC (I'm from Ohio), I decided to head out to a bar. I noticed a bachaelorette party going into a particular bar and decided that's wehre I'd spend my evening (seemed like an easy decision). I handed over my credit card and opened a tab.
I kept trying to get the attention of some of those girls, but none of them so much as returned my glances. So I struck up a conversation with the friendly guy next to me.
Turns out the girls were ignoring me because it was a gay bar!
Now, if someone looks through my credit card history, they're going to think I'm into men.
So all I can say is, these secret warrants suck! And if you're FBI and monitoring my internet use and credit card history--I'm not gay! Really! I just hope your software is good enough to corelate this post with that Visa log.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
I was never here.
parent post is stolen from: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/996 1300/the_worst_president_in_history
These figures don't count George Bush's "we don't need no steenkin' paperwork" illegal wiretaps.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
An employee suggested to me that we use secret subpoenas on a few people here as an evaluation of the current Department of Justice bureaucracy. I was skeptical at first but he explained the benefits of using it for our employee's day-to-day operations. So I decided to let him file secret subpoenas on 5 of our fellow employees to see how much information. Besides, our Human Resources manager had been doing it for some time and it seemed to work fine, why not try it ourselves?
Once he'd got the employees' information we let other employees file secret subpoenas on random people. It all seemed fine to start with: secret subpoenas were a pretty good replacement for slow police investigations and the users could still do their work as normal.
Alas it did not stay that way. After a few days, I had lost count of the number of complaints received from users who couldn't find information they were used to or tasks they could not perform that they previously could with ordinary police investigations. The final straw came when one employee lost several hours work when a secret subpoena suddenly came under question by some liberal lawyer.
Needless to say, the United States Department of Justice offered no support whatsoever. I made the employees destroy all subpoenas and lets just say we're not doing that anymore.
:-)
Glad you find humor in that. Faggot.
Seán always uses the same lame post to try to prove his argument. He should probably stop linking to an antiquated score 1 post!
NOT.
So much for that whole limited government thing.
Instead of Clinton using the FBI to investigate his political enemies, we now have the FBI investigating 3000 people without court approval or even accountability (until they're pressured).
Exactly how does this qualify as 'limited Government' again?
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
Judging by the war in Iraq, bungled response to Katrina, the military wholesale spying on US citizens, the Justice Dept. all but admitting AT&T is helping them monitor communications in America, bankrupting the budget and the endless lies how are we supposed to trust that the government is doing the right thing? Just because Gonzales says this conduct is constitutional doesn't make it so.
I think it's pretty safe to assume this expansion of police powers does not make us any safer. It's a waste of resources, it's intrusive, and further undermines the pitiful remnants of our civil rights. Another failed policy from a failed administration. If it wasn't so dangerous and being wielded by corrupt, incompetent people it would be laughable.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Sad?
Consider that, if you strolled around Rome in the time of Marcus Aurelius, (when Russel Crowe was doin' his thang) and posed the question: "Was Rome better under the Republic, or the Empire?", you'd get a lot of confused expressions. Why?
There was no overt break between the eras. They still had a Senate, Tribunes, and all. The circuses, in fact, were better.
Bureaucracy corrupts, and absolute bureacracy expands to meet the needs of an absolutely corrupt bureaucracy[1]
This one is worth panicking about in a calm, persistent manner, lest we go the route of Rome. The government may need some extra tools in the information age, but it, too, needs to justify those requirements and be subject to its own level of scrutiny.
[1]Paraphrase of CivIV. Anyone with a better ref?
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
So, you're Mr. Perfect then? People do things wrong in their own and other's eyes all the time! Then there's being framed, which is a whole 'nother ball of wax, which includes being a convenient object to cast blame on.
Newsflash: They aren't.Did you miss the first attack on the World Trade Center?
That certainly wasn't "substance-free posturing".So, we managed to catch terrorists in this country before, without all these secret requests
There are instances where secrecy is necessary. But those instance need to be linked to results.
If we aren't capturing terrorists with these secret requests, then we need to get back to protecting the civil rights of our people. And that means checking the validity of those requests more closely.
I wanna know if my name's on that list...O:-)
"From time to time, after hours, I kick back with my colleagues at Princeton to argue idly about which president really was the worst of them all."
Wow...sounds like a party.
Name a President, and his worst policy, take a shot. Do this cronologically... First person to make it to Taft, and still standing, wins...
Recomended Prizes: A liver
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
They causes will be blatant corruption and incompetence of the federal government, elections processes that clearly favor those with money, the federal power grab of all decision making, the lack of decision making on important issues, the transition to a surveillance culture, the ability of big business and other special interests to buy legislation, the rube goldberg tax system, the unaccountability of those in power and the abuse of the court system.
As an IT guy there comes a point where a system is too antiquated and been kludged too much to continue throwing money at it. You have to start from scratch and use lessons learned to build a new system. Or move to another job.
what exactly was it that Nixon did, and of that what has Bush not done?
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
is the fact that we are actually seeing this info. I am not a big fan of this administration or the tactics it is using but I do have faith in the foundations of our federal government and the infallibility of karma.
Expecting the neo-con mod down in 3..2..1....
You have to remember, the US Government is completely bogged down with cronyism and the GWB personality cult. Much like the totalitarian states of the 30s and 40s, they have no real idea what's going on -- they're too busy admiring their "grand works", and patting each other on the back.
About what Chenney is saying... this reminds me of the Simpsons.
Homer: Well, there's not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol is sure doing its job.
Lisa: That's specious reasoning, Dad.
Homer: Thank you, sweetie.
Lisa: Dad, what if I were to tell you that this rock keeps away tigers.
Homer: Uh-huh, and how does it work?
Lisa: It doesn't work. It's just a stupid rock.
Homer: I see.
Lisa: But you don't see any tigers around, do you?
Homer: (Looks around) Lisa, I'd like to buy your rock.
Slashdot should just put a big banner at the top....everything that George Bush does is evil, the republicans are evil, the United States is evil, capitalism is evil, other peoples' freedom is evil and I want everything done to protect my IT job in the US - the rest of the world be damned - because I'm a shining light of purity and correct on all of my non-fact based, illogical opinions.
Why shouldn't I. The americans are so proud about their WW2 victory and now they're essentially in the same path as the Germans were. I personally find it funny that they would sacrifice their dignity for their perceived safety and future.
I don't think the average American gets it. I could go right now, buy a ticket to fly to any state, walk up to a stranger and end their life. How safe are you really? I wouldn't do this for the reason that I respect life as I would hope they respect others [including myself]. Now that I said this I'll probably get an anal probe at the airport next time... oh well.
So the key to "safety" is co-operation. That means no hording the planet for your own use [oil, pollution, etc, etc], that means equal chances to make it in life [e.g. no class system, rich getting richer, etc]. Right now life is so cheap in most countries [including the States]. Of course this means that most Westerners [and I'm a cannuck so I mean myself too] would have to tone down their quality of life. Why should we live like kings while others suffer? What have you done to build your country? Maybe your grand parents grand parents helped to build your nation but that's long since removed from our lives. We just take everything for granted.
If the states could just get along with others instead of trying to impose imperial rule over them they wouldn't have to treat their own citizens as the enemy.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
allow a real election, which is not stolen. I would say that means open voting rather than the new diebold closed voting.
Why did you fail to include the name of the author of this piece? He is Sean Wilentz, and his name is RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE YOU CUT-AND-PASTED. If you are Sean Wilentz, then I admire your humility and deference to the matter at hand. But I kind of doubt that this is the case.
If you are not Sean Wilentz, then plagiarizing his work to fluff up your karma on Slashdot, and failing lazily to even credit him for the words he wrote, means that you are a disgracefully lazy person.
The lemmings that reward this sort of behavior are the dregs of society, and are at least partly to blame. But you chose an excellent article, presented it as your own, and unless you are in fact the author of the article, you ought to be ashamed of your behavior.
It's such a tiny (but significant) thing to credit the author of a piece of writing -- why not do so?
Remember that what's inside of you doesn't matter because nobody can see it.
Remember they are talking about individuals! So fellow slashdot reader, when they tap you, they tap your mother and father upstairs..
Think about it in terms of households involved; then those people they communicate with.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Bush will be remembered by history quite differently.
It will be all those "fools" who accomodated the Islamic thugs in the Middle East who will be considered failures. Like Jimmy Carter and W's father.
That's a big "if"...
Forgot a big name on your fool list. You know, the guy who claimed that Osama+Pals were "the moral equivalent of our founding fathers".
3501 secret subpoenas from the FBI. . .throw in twice that many across the DEA, Customs, Secret Service, and IRS, we're talking 7000 subpoenas.
If you figure this is about 1/40000 people across the US, it's easy to see why no one cares. Probabilistically, you're pretty damn likely to escape any sort of scrutiny. Furthermore, given the Justice department's resource constraints, it's clear they're going to waste their valuable time on people who *need* investigating.
Sheesh, get a grip people.
Gee, sounds like today's FBI (a k a Feeb Central) who ignored over 124 tips portending to 9/11/01 attack.
Gee, who would want to commit an attack of terror on the US? Isn't it the US who commits acts of terror on others (a la Cocoa Cola, United Fruit, etc., etc.)?Terrorists should just be shot instead.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Yeah, that will be a great victory!
Just look at the wonderful people democracy in Palestine brought to power!
So you guess you must be a supporter of Hamas? They are one of the first democratically elected governments in the Arab world after all!
And we had a process for putting Japanese in camps. Yet, somehow, nobody seems to remember that it can happen here too.
A wise man once said "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing." We would do well to remember that.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
In all fairness, the comment subject is "Rolling Stone said it best...". Perhaps its not the ideal citation, but when someone posts a multipage article 8 minutes after the story hit the front page, it should be pretty obvious that they didn't just make it up.
And yes, I am comparing the Cheney/Bushco cabal to the Nazis - the invasion of Iraq not to qualitatively different from the invasion of Poland. And if they nuke Iran, definitely in the Nazi mold.....
That's how most men become homosexuals. They accidentally go into a gay bar, and the next thing they know, they're sucked into the homosexual lifestyle.
we started to notice . . . a few rainbows posted around the place
I'm sure you know by now to only go into bars that have a leather motif if you want to avoid gay bars.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
There was no overt break between the eras. They still had a Senate, Tribunes, and all. The circuses, in fact, were better.
The overt break was that the numerous civil wars stopped for a while. People noticed and were very grateful to Augustus.
Canadians did it too...
Except now we're run by "immigants" [purposefully mispelt] so I think we got enough diversity to avoid "they took er juubs!"
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
I personally find it funny that they would sacrifice their dignity for their perceived safety and future.
Not dignity but honor. And our Benjamin Franklin didn't think it funny, but he did warn us.
Although, at least in my experience, civil service / government contractors seem to have a higher percentage of union employees than most other groups.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
I had a similar thought when I saw this. But I also had to wonder how long it will be until such information is kept from public view, on the basis of "National Security"?
The best way to predict the future is to create it. - Peter Drucker.
First, I think this story is transparent BS. I don't think any of it happened. But let's assume it did; the false choice the poster presents at the end -- either have your websurfing habits faxed to the field agent or face rape and disease -- is the most ludicrous thing I've heard all week. Exactly how were his websurfing habits relevant? In what way did that information save him from a night in jail? Why would he need to be detained until those records can be released? Never mind the tenuous link to him being raped.
I'm intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
He's just big-boned.
-Robert Heinlein
I have to admit, I was torn myself, until last year. The response to Katrina pretty much proved that the current administration isn't nearly cunning enough to think their way out of a paper bag, much less orchestrate a massive conspiracy involving thousands of people.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
>I also wonder how many of the people were bona fide terrorists...
More particularly, how many were the kind of mass-casualty terrorists who rise to the level of being a national security problem?
It only took twenty hijackers, plus some amount of logistics, finance and support, to commit the New York atrocity in 2001. There have been lots of arrests since then, but a paucity of convictions, so we haven't added much data.
Suppose all 3501 of the FBI information requests were for info on actual terrorists. The question then would be, why have things been so quiet?
Okay, well, it would have taken that to get my attention, yes. The Rolling Stone version is easier to read - narrower column widths make long text passages easier to absorb. Rolling Stone adds credibility, too - to the point of view, if not the re-post action itself.
"The Internet is made of cats."
An outrageously deceptive headline by CNN. Didn't anybody read the damn article?
Report reveals number of secret FBI subpoenas
Disclosure mandated as part of Patriot Act renewal
Associated Press - Friday, April 28, 2006
CNN
The first two paragraphs read:
What is posited is the UnAmerican idea that a National Security Letter issued in direct contradiction to the Fourth Amendment's dictates can somehow justifiably termed a "warrant"
This is what it should mean to you and any other real American. It is reprehensible that the citizenry remains complacent and the acquiescent in the face of tyrannical acts by an exectuive branch so arrogant, incompetent and derelict that the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks of September 11, 2001, happened while they were tasked with duty upon the Nation's watchtower, and their first act, after Mr. Bush quit circling Kansas in Air Force One, was to violate their solemnly sworn duty to defend and uphold the Constitution. Just how many ways does the term Miserable Failure apply to GW Bush and his Administration?
The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution is in clear and plain language. We do not need nine old magniloquent asses who openly display their fetish for black satin moo moos to augur the Constitution's entrails in an effort to divine its original intent:
Was your Education in English so dismal that you fail to undertand the meaning of "shall not be violated". Can you not understand that an executive fiat does not fit within the strictures of "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation"? To Define a National Security Letter a warrant is itself an act violative of the US Constitution.
All legitimacy to govern America is grounded within the Contstitution. Governmental acts which are patently in opposition to the US Constitution are tyrannical acts by unlawful wielders of political power.
There is no terror exception, and the Bush Administration has time and time again shown itself to be derisive of the Constitution, antithetical to the Dreamntime America, and afraid of the Law of the land.
A president, " whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People. "
Now, why doesn't someone prove one more time just how far from grace Contemporary Conservatism has fallen into the sepsis of situationalism, and laughably toss up the lame ad hominem attack that I am a lefty. If my standing to resist obvious tyranny in defense of liberty is of and by itself proof I am a lefty, then I am indeed correct regarding the American Conservatives' absolute lack of personal honour.
Rush Limbaugh is a perfect real world example of an oxycontinmoron
For the record...
Try talking to some actual structural engineers instead of just your fellow conspiracy 'experts'. For instance, a cousin of mine in the southeast US that designs... ta-da! office buildings. He had a vague memory of university professors (circa 1980) being scornful of some of the new skyscrapers for not having enough 'safety net' in the load bearing department. The specific scenario he could remember involved some Houston-area skyscrapers built in the late 1970's, and the new 757 or 767 then entering service. Guess what happened?
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
—Patrick Henry
There was a time when some Americans thought freedom was worth risking their safety for. In fact, many people who sign up to serve their country still think that. It's a pity that so many people at home seem to have forgotten and would so easily cast aside hard won liberties. Have the courage to stand up for your freedoms and keep it "the land of the free and the home of the brave" rather than giving in to fear and cowardice.
"You call it a new way of thinking; I call it regression to ignorance!" -- Operation Ivy
It should also be pretty obvious that, by cutting and pasting the final line from the webpage they used (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/99 61300/the_worst_president_in_history) the plagiarist could have given full credit to the author with almost no additional effort.
That's what pisses me off the most -- failure to attribute the words in question to the person who wrote them. It's not too much to ask.
Remember that what's inside of you doesn't matter because nobody can see it.
and other supposed terrorists who are protesting our involvement in the Iraq War.
Meanwhile, Osama is happily living in Pakistan.
Will in Seattle
timation on my part... following...
My opponent only "slightly" misunderestimated me, so I'll be briefer than he, hehhe
Jeeezuhhhssss!!!!!
I'm glad SOMEbody's posting longer ones than I do, hehehhehe.....
I expected only ONE or TWO more paragraphs, but man, I was stunned, amazed AND impressed at the length.... He must be on a school break...
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But, if the Terrorits want the current administration to collapse maybe the only need wait for it to slither out of office by SIMPLY NOT ATTACKING THE US or its interests until this administration is GONE, swept out with the dust and mold. Hopefully, the NEXT administration WILL be less ass-kicking and swaggering. MAYBE the T's MIGHT tone down, too. I believe tht since OBL has NOT been found, and Hussein was a easier target, the most likely is a connection between the OBL family oil ties (and other ties) to the current cabal/cadge and they will NOT just "kill him off". It's easy and distracting to put up a $35 million bounty on the head of "The Brain", and all these other cute/sardonic/witty names to the top lieutenants, but decapitating OBL is like cutting a hornet's nest off the tree and waiting for it to fall and burst open. Only, the admin, the limb cutter, is not wearing enough armor, and too much armor would slow things to a crawl. Best not to have a picnic, ball game, or shit-kicking hee-haw shindig around a hornet's or bees' nest.
Maybe the admin ought to go and watch "Swarm" or similar b-movies and draw analogies to their conduct as it relates to self-appointed spokespeople of the oppressed. The best way to make 'merkuh less of a T-target is to STOP doing the ACTIVE/domination things that piss off not only Terrorists, but the US FRIENDS, too. Most of them are NOT interested in becoming a fricking bomb recipient. Yeh, the LOVE US tech and weaponry and the billions the US prints and trucks or flies over to them for supposed safekeeping of those economies, but if they get hit by collateral damaged instigated by the US (and explicitly, the ELIGIBLE INFORMED (not tarring ALL of the voting-age potentials...) US voting public apathy or willingness to "buy into" whatever they're spoonfed by any given administration), the will NOT want to hear, "Well, so you lost a few people and a neighborhood; welcome to the new era..."
Tellingly, look at Cambodia, which recently reFUSED to send troops to the Middle East. Their reason? "We've been torn apart by war and destruction. We're TIRED OF WAR." I haven't seen any US-administration followups, but I imagine some envoy or kneecapper went over to give them a one-two shakeup call. OTOH, maybe not. The US wouldn't want bad news to keep festering up or indicate henchmen are actually roughing people (leaders/envoys, etc) up. Moreover, China and Cambodia have some ties, and if China so far is not a major or even MINOR Terrorist target when the US is.....
Finally, I've been reading up on some Asian Affairs stuff... MOST Asian nations care more about economy and prosperity and just catching up, and LESS about "democracy", particularly US-STYLE democracy. They are eying CHINA, and China's "Peaceful Growth" messages. These are many of the same nations badgered and bullied by the US during the Cold War in the US bid to staunch and crush socialism and communism China/Russia-style (or, maybe China/Russia-style socialism and communism). They are actually NOT too terribly interested in being mashed up by deep alliances with the US.
India, Korea (the South, obviously), Japan, and Australia ARE hard-up to get Aegis SPY-1D-related technology, but I dare say MOST of them wouldn't NEED it if they actually had a heart to heart with their neighbors rather than side with nations that try to keep them divided. Once Korea wakes up, they'll realize that it's harder than HELL to get the US out. Wait, they've already waken from that dream sequence, and they found they LIKE the comfort of the US protection umbrella. Same can be similarly said of Japan. But, this gets really nasty REALLY quick
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
And later....
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Meanwhile at the FBI headquarters in Quanaco, VA...
FBI Director: "DAMN IT! Now they'll know well be spying on them! What would J. Edgar Hoover do?"
Deupty Director: "Sir these instructions were left in a time vault by Senator McCarthy. They cerntainly don't follow the rules of the Constitution."
FBID: "Phst! Consitituion, Monsititution. WWJEHD?"
Flashback 40 years:
JEH: "I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK! I sleep all night and I work all day! I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wild flowers. I put on women's clothing, And hang around in bars..."
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
:long post warning:
A lot of people posting don't get the real scale of this.
From the article: 2,072 from FISC, 3,501 from FBI... in 2005.
2072+3501=5573.
Also from the article:
"more than twice as many as were issued in 2000".
Let's focus on 2000-now.
Let's assume that in 2000, exactly half of the number issued in 2005 were issued.. 5573/2 ~= 2787.
Now.. some quick math tells us that's a ~15% increase per year.
So from 2000-2006: 2787, 3233, 3750, 4350, 5046, 5773, 6697.. total: 31,636.
Here comes the fun part. The "B" side of all these conversations that are monitored. No one talks to themselves on the phone/internet, right?
The average person (according to data I found, no source, insert your own number here) has 17.33 "regular " acquaintances.
That's 548,252 US citizens/residents being monitored.
There were 217,766,271 18+ citizens as of 2003. (source: Census Bureau)
In 2005 the population growth rate was 0.95%. (source: CIA Factbook)
Assuming the pop. growth was the same for 2004, 2005, 2006 there are now 224,031,757 citizens.
548252/224031757 = 408.
1:408.
ONE IN FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHT US CITIZENS ARE BEING SPIED ON.
How is that an "overt break". Your point, while noted, misses the fact that the trappings of the Republic remained, externally unfrobnicated.
Regarding the deficit, the author fails to account for is the huge savings to be realized when Bush implements phase two: remove the Legislative and Judicial Branches. This will save millions and streamline all functions of Government.c les/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/
.. because he must make the people feel the need of a general'."
The population has already demonstrated their willingness to have a single all powerful executive branch by passively allowing Bush to govern however he wants.
As long as we are fighting a global war on terror that pesky Legislative branch just gets in the way. He is considering reinstituting the other two branches of government once we are done fighting the war, but since there are no objective criteria for when the war may be finished I'm not holding my breath.
This is the second time I've seen an article about Bush implementing dubious (outright illegal??) line item veto powers. See http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/arti
From Karl Popper's 'Open Society and it's Enemies':
"The people who have hailed him first as the champion of freedom are soon enslaved; and then they must fight for him, in 'one war after another which he must stir up
The strategy is older than history. The Bush Administration isn't the first to attempt the transition from democracy to tyranny and unfortunately it won't be the last. That we continue to brook it is a complete disgrace.
There are two kinds of people in DC that should scare all patriotic Americans: the "true believers" who want George to be king and the Nihilists who take whatever side of the argument works to their advantage with no regard for the truth. Both groups should be purged swiftly and incisively. They have already done more damage than Al Queda could possibly have hoped for.
In prior years, attacks within Iraq were not happening. You know, years prior to the invasion of Iraq.
My book, podcast
It wasn't a very good process as evidenced by the nation of Isreal.
The most commonly heard pickup line in a gay bar is "pardon me, can I push in your stool"?
HA HA!
Libertas in infinitum
as per my AIM profile: "Your right to walk the streets unmolested by the police outweighs my right not to get blown up." and I stick by it. There will never be another hijacking like 9/11 anyway. The only reason it was pulled off is because somethign like that had never been done with a hijacked plane before. You shout that you're hijacking a plane in a crowded aircraft right now, and even if you have an uzi I bet all that's left of you in 10 seconds is chunky salsa.