Slashdot Mirror
McCain Supports Warrantless Domestic Surveillance
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "While there have been shifting reports about McCain's view on warrantless wiretapping, nothing could be clearer than the latest comment by McCain adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin, who said, 'We do not know what lies ahead in our nation's fight against radical Islamic extremists, but John McCain will do everything he can to protect Americans from such threats, including asking the telecoms for appropriate assistance to collect intelligence against foreign threats to the United States as authorized by Article II of the Constitution.' Article II, of course, is what Bush has argued gives the President virtually unlimited power during war, and McCain has already voted in favor of Telecom Immunity, though he sometimes mentions, to those asking for accountability, wanting to hold hearings about what the telecoms did."
Seriously, is anyone surprised when a Republican wants to erode civil liberties?
That's not Picasso, that's Kandinsky!
This is very conclusory. McCain says he is going to be consistent with the Constitution, so that means he supports warrantless surveillance? That's quite the logical leap. This statement is completely unclear. He may easily interpret Article II differently than Bush (and there are many indications that he does) and this statement shows nothing different from that.
Good old Slashdot political smearing.
the response from the republican party that reads something like:
"Supporting article II doesn't necessarily infer that we're willing to arbitrarily wire tap Joe Citizen.."
and then of course, 3 more months go by, and everyone who is not considered a privacy advocate or a nutjob completely forgets about that they made this statement, the hundreds of others like it from this administration, and the blatant Orwellian nature of the country that we're living in.
Nothing is going to get resolved without a legislative body, preferably congress, stepping in and saying "no, article II does not mean that, and by the way we're burning the patriot act."
Dear Democrats, please win.
Thanks,
-a guy who likes to talk about guns on the phone, but poses zero threat to national security.
-- http://www.criticalassets.com
McCain, spying and executive power: A complete reversal in 6 months
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Obama's voting record, from the ACLU's viewpoint:
http://action.aclu.org/site/VoteCenter?congress=110&repId=25424&session_num=0&page=legScore
And for fun, McCain's:
http://action.aclu.org/site/VoteCenter?congress=110&repId=122&session_num=2&page=legScore
The second quote refers to http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9845595-7.html.
If you want to read it from his site, there's a pdf that explains: Revise the PATRIOT Act: Barack Obama believes that we must provide law enforcement the tools it needs to investigate, disrupt, and capture terrorists, but he also believes we need real oversight to avoid jeopardizing the rights and ideals of all Americans. There is no reason we cannot fight terrorism while maintaining our civil liberties. Unfortunately, the current administration has abused the powers given to it by the USA PATRIOT Act. A March 2007 Justice Department audit found the FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the PATRIOT Act to secretly obtain personal information about American citizens. As president, Barack Obama would revisit the PATRIOT Act to ensure that there is real and robust oversight of tools like National Security Letters, sneak-and-peek searches, and the use of the material witness provision.
Strengthen Warrantless Wiretap Approval Process: Barack Obama opposed the Bush Administrationâ(TM)s initial policy on warrantless wiretaps because it crossed the line between protecting our national security and eroding the civil liberties of American citizens. As president, Obama would update the Foreign Intelligence Paid for by Obama for America Surveillance Act to provide greater oversight and accountability to the congressional Intelligence Committees to prevent future threats to the rule of law. And another that goes on to say: Eliminate Warrantless Wiretaps. Barack Obama opposed the Bush Administrationâ(TM)s initial policy on warrantless wiretaps because it crossed the line between protecting our national security and eroding the civil liberties of American citizens. As president, Obama would update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to provide greater oversight and accountability to the congressional intelligence committees to prevent future threats to the rule of law. I'd say (even from a few of his voting records) that he is against it for the most part. Or at the very least, revising it severely.
Doesn't really matter in a two party system though, does it? Take what you can get over the crap I read about in this article from McCain's campaign.
My work here is dung.
Probably not a whole lot happened to them but they haven't done much in the way of making the news for violence termed "terrorism" in a long time. This, I suspect, is because they "won" the war, at least for a while. So, well, now we call it just plain war when it is done by the extreme Christians (Fundamental Right Wing Republicans seem to fit the bill nicely) and we call what they do "terrorism."
Just for the record I don't support either side in this and the above is just my guess so take it as a grain of salt. I just don't see much extremism (from the view of the masses) from the Christians lately but I'd happily see the view that what is going on could be extreme Christan workings specifically the war in Iraq.
Oh - and if modded troll, well I don't mind. However, this is NOT "Informative." It may be interesting, it may even be insightful, but it surely isn't informative. (I keep getting odd moderations.)
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
They were the best boogie-man ever. The Islamists may, eventually, someday, get nukes. The USSR had enough nukes to sterilize the planet. And a huge conventional army. And chemical and biological weapons galore. As far as keeping the populace pissing itself in fear and doing whatever the authorities tell them to, Islamists just don't hold a candle to our dear former enemies, the Soviets. Well, I suppose they'll have to do until the authorities can cook up something scarier.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Hi guys. This seems like a good opportunity to talk a bit about this new distro we've been working on.
ParanoidLinux is a distribution with a focus on privacy. All network comms will be encrypted and run through TOR by default. IM programs, etc, will be configured for secure communications by default. You'll have to go out of your way *not* to have a secure conversation in ParanoidLinux.
This idea comes from Cory Doctorow's latest book "Little Brother" which describes a Linux distro similar to what we are building, with the same name.
It's a new concept, only a couple weeks old, so don't go looking for downloads... but we are looking for help! Come join us. We're looking for programmers, artists, security experts and unix gurus to help us bring this project together.
If the government takes this basic human right from you, be proactive. Take it back. See you there!
http://www.paranoidlinux.org
irc.freenode.net, #paranoidlinux
std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
Same old, same old FUD tactics we see from GOP since 2001. They *used to* work too! Or is some black op US gov't agency planning a "terrorist" attack to spur people to willingly give up rights? (Sadly, as history and current international events show, this is NOT an unheard of tactic to force masses to comply. Used by various gov't)
Sure, warrants surveillance makes people safer. It's a fact. Just look at Soviet Union with its domestic KGB wing. But then throwing people into Gulags for 20 years because the neighbor doesn't like you and reports you in as a spy - it is not the society that most people would like to live in.
So which will it be? "GITMO USA" or "Land of Opportunity and Hope"? Can't have both. The former gives people almost absolute security (unless the secret police doesn't like you), the latter does not. Let freedom die for sake of security or perhaps die due to lack of security in the name of freedom?
You chose. November 2008.
We do not know what lies are ahead in our nation's fight against radical Islamic extremists
There, that's closer to the truth.
So, by remaining continuously at war, the President has unlimited power?
Brilliant!
What defines a war? Does it have to be against another country? Can it be...
a war on terror?
a war on drugs?
a war on cancer?
a war on poverty?
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
warrantless is meaningless if you have judges in your pocket to give you warrents no?
If bribing a judge is an extra impediment, I welcome it.
The Constitution doesn't let the president tap mail or wire internally; but if it's entering/leaving the country, he can. It's the edge dilemma: at the edge point, you can tap inside or outside. Outside, there's no rules, and you're tapping a foreign national with no constitutional rights.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
To quote a bit from the article on wikipedia just to give some perspective: In the period 1979-2006 a total of 22,990 applications for warrants were made to the Court of which 22,985 were approved (sometimes with modifications; or with the splitting up, or combining together, of warrants for legal purposes), and only 5 were definitively rejected.[4]
That's an absurd argument -- "McCain says he'll follow the Constitution." "You mean, the same Constitution that President Bush says gives him the right to abuse small farm animals? Why McCain must want to abuse small farm animals too!"
There isn't much question that tapping *international* calls is within the government's power. (At least I haven't heard any major Democrats argue with this). There just isn't enough information in this post to know if this is what McCain is talking about, or if it's domestic surveillance.
You should leave the political hack jobs to the professionals.
I think that's about as clear a statement as you're likely to get.
(link courtesy of Glenn Greenwald.)
--
make install -not war
DANGER, WILL ROBINSON.
the united states is a nation of laws; badly written and randomly enforced -- frank zappa
Guess what, Russia still has enough nukes to sterilize the planet, chemical, biological and more recently space weapons and a huge conventional army. And it doesn't do what the US tells it to do anymore. A little bit of a propaganda campaign on TV and the populace will be just about as rabid about it as it was back then.
I just hope he'll constantly bring stuff like this up and drill it into people's heads that McCain is a just as evil as Bush, but smarter.
Responding to my own post.
Yes, I can imagine plenty of situations where a president might commit an act that, while technically illegal, prevents more harm than it causes. By the same token, I cannot imagine any such situation that could not be horribly abused.
Warrantless wiretaps could catch criminals, but it is precisely the penchant for abusing authority that we, as human beings, have that led to laws requiring a court order for warrants. Bush has abused that authority, and in doing so has broken the law.
Warrantless wiretaps may be useful for preventing crimes and terrorism ... but only in the hands of a saint. Bush is no saint, and neither is McCain.
If you haven't been down-modded lately, you aren't trying.
Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
I'm relatively left-right moderate in my political views. It cost him my vote.
In less than two weeks the Swedish government are going to vote for just this type of survelliance. If the propsed new law is implemented, they will connect new cables that will search through all data going over the border.
They can, in theory, read every e-mail going over the border.
Dear Senator McCain,
Please obtain a new copy of the Constitution, and continue reading it all the way through Amendment XXVII.
Thank you,
The American People
Hippy!
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
First Google hit on a search for obama and signing statements Under what circumstances, if any, would you sign a bill into law but also issue a signing statement reserving a constitutional right to bypass the law?
Signing statements have been used by presidents of both parties, dating back to Andrew Jackson. While it is legitimate for a president to issue a signing statement to clarify his understanding of ambiguous provisions of statutes and to explain his view of how he intends to faithfully execute the law, it is a clear abuse of power to use such statements as a license to evade laws that the president does not like or as an end-run around provisions designed to foster accountability.
And just look at some of the "war powers" that Congress is instructed by the Constitution to execute, in the section 8 of the Article I that defines Congress:
These "Article II powers" arguments making Bush a king are lies. Talking about them is bad enough, but protected as free speech. However, acting on them by actual officials, whether to make war despite Congress, or as an official campaign to prevent Congress from exercising its powers, is usurping Congress' rightful power by creating Executive powers that do not exist.
If the Congress passes a law or otherwise officially acts to, say, direct the US armed forces (and subcontractors to it) to put on their boots and march out of Iraq tomorrow (even if that's not quite a good idea), Congress has the power to do so. It is the president who does not have the power to stop them, and is legally obligated to follow Congress' instructions in that march.
--
make install -not war
The only reason for warrantless is so you can hide what you're doing from the other branches of government.
Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
The real value of FISA warrants is more reactive than proactive. FISA judges show pretty broad discretion in what they will approve, but they do so with the understanding that the warrant creates a paper trail of justification and accountability. Without that paper trail, it's almost impossible to conduct a real investigation and hold people responsible for any abuses.
Personally, I consider the original FISA requirements to be reasonable in the context of an intelligence collection mission (not traditional law enforcement). However, what Bush did to FISA is an abuse of Executive power specifically because it removes not only the weaker proactive checks, but also the stronger retroactive balances of an investigative trail.
"Can anyone here imagine a situation where a technically illegal act by the President prevents more harm than it causes?"
President Bush going on a shooting spree in the White House before turning the gun on himself?
and I'll say it again:
The extent to which those who watch over us are unwilling to be watched by us is the precise extent to which we are not a free and just society.
This has nothing to do with war, or terrorism. It is simply a matter of accountability. The people have a right to know what our elected officials do in the name of ensuring our safety, regardless of whether they actually live up to that goal or not. That we are not able to do so is the true barometer of our freedom, despite whatever a centuries-old piece of paper might proclaim.
That's really one of the most disturbing things about Bush's view of presidential power. Why don't they do things according to the law, especially when Congress has made it so easy? They seem to pick and choose which laws apply to them.
It's not surprising that McCain will follow suit. McCain lost my respect when he started flip-flopping like a fish out of water. Now it seems every day brings another reason not to trust him.
I must be completely illiterate but I can not find any passage in Article 2 that gives the President unlimited power in times of war. I see no justification of warrantless wiretapping. In fact, according the Article, he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed and he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--''I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.''. Of course, that is maybe where my logic fails. It only states that he should make the oath but not actually live up to it. Also, Article 2 didn't say faithfully execute the laws at all times, no exceptions. So, obviously, he can just pick and choose when to follow that as well. Then, again, maybe the phrase "best of my ability" is the basis of his argument. As we all know, Bush is incapable of making either ethical or competent decisions.
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
DISCLAIMER: this is purely speculation, although I consider it in character for the current US administration.
It helps to put a very precise face on it.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
The point of FISA is not so much to maintain oversight itself as it is to keep records so if Congress ever came up with a single functional cojone, it could subpoena the records.
This is the contempt that Bush shows for the rule of law. And it's what he got away with, and thanks to that, what future presidents will get away with.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
Maybe Obama will go back to using surveillance for more important things like helping create jobs: ECHELONG.
It is amazing to me that people go with their guts on the domestic wiretap stuff. First of all, from what I've been able to figure, there has been no domestic wiretaps without FISA. Any NSA wiretaps that lead to a domestic connection can be follow up with a FISA warrant. FISA was just worried about where the requests were coming from. Previously the FBI could not get a warrant from a NSA lead. After 9/11 this was allowed. See:
Secret Court's Judges Were Warned About NSA Spy Data: [...] "the government's failure to share information about its spying program had rendered useless a federal screening system that the judges had insisted upon to shield the court from tainted information."
That was deemed stupid and changed after 9/11. There are some hold outs though.
Remember that you can I can call a tapped number and law enforcement can listen to our call. The tap request only covers the tap target, but they can certainly listen in to anyone that calls that number. So when NSA is listening in to communications in the battlefield, that routes to a domestic number, that does not constitute "domestic wire tapping" since the tap is on the foreign source.
The other aspect of the "domestic" part is Call Detail Records. You do no own your call history, the phone company does. They can do whatever the heck they want with that information. Some states are making CDR's private, but traditionally, it is owned by the phone company. The FBI could use CDR's to see who has been talking to you and get a FISA warrant based on that information.
So, do I think things will change under Obama? Nope, not at all. Even under Clinton's "wall" of separation between the NSA and the FBI, there were still warrantless wiretaps.
England and America have directly been involved in dividing up Arab land and resources since they switched their militaries from steam-powered equipment to oil powered equipment. We've been militarily involved in Iraq since before WWI. We destroyed the democratic government of Iran becuase they dared to demand that they keep the profit from their own natural resources. We formed al Queda when we used them as cannon fodder to fuck around with the Russians. We supplied Israel with capital and military equipment to commit acts of genocide against the Palestinians (mostly because we didn't want Jewish refugees in America) and they allowed us to establish a military base without too much fuss. We helped the invade Lebanon, destroy the entire country, and the direct result was Hezbollah. We funded the army of Saddam Hussein knowing full well that it would be used to murder thousands of his own people. Our military has helped with the slow crush of the PLO, which resulted in Hamas.
So, after a hundred years of oppression and suffering, they strike one blow about a ten thousand times less deadly in the number of dead and about a hundred thousand times less damaging as a matter of culture and economy.
And then they won after they proved that the infidel doesn't have the moral fortitude to give everyone the right to a lawyer, no matter how heinous their crime. They proved that we have no moral superiority when it comes to torture and human rights.
America is not the same place it used to be. All there is to do now is sit back and watch what's left of the power structure squabble over the table scraps until we run out of resources and the next revolution occurs.
But don't pay any attention to this. Listen to the President. Go shopping, and he'll take care of the rest.
Who knows what might happen when he gets in office, though.
That's a stupid objection that could be applied anywhere to anyone. Why bother with what the candidates say or have done at all, in that case? "Vote Hitler! I know he *said* he'd kill all the Jews, but who knows what might happen when he gets in office?"
That's all well and good, but the ACLU only defends most of the freedoms protected in the Bill of Rights; they deride and ignore the 2nd amendment. And in regards to the 2nd amendment, Obama is very much anti-rights. I may vote for Obama anyway, with the hope that the Supreme Court will save the 2nd, and Obama as president may save the 4th...
Article 2 does apply. If you are a foreign power or working for one, it falls under executive powers inherent in the Presidency.
If they find something that pertains to civil criminality, they shouldn't use it in a court of law. But if they find out that you are talking with al Qaeda, this seems fine.
They did far, far more in WWII. I think it is time for people to have a reality check on the ramifications of this. Not saying you need to be for it. But a lot of the fear seems exaggerated.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
I don't see any harm other than the fact that he may miss someone
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
Citations, please?
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
We need terrorism. Without it, we have no plausible reason to maintain a military presence near valuable US business interests in the middle east.
The real reason all of these stupid decisions are being made is because we have no representation in government. Power is concentrated in the media, which is a for-profit enterprise, the military, which the biggest part of our for-profit economy, and the executive branch, where we have no voting authority over the cabinet that infests it, who also through strange coincidence go on to or come from large corporations who participate in huge government contracts.
Our involvement in the middle east has been a disaster for ONE HUNDRED fucking years. The only thing that's changed in the last twenty or thirty is that they are finally fighting back effectively. As the most powerful and morally hypocritical force in history, we're finding that we have no palate for our own medicine.
http://www.aclu.org/police/gen/14523res20020304.html
I think the typical American "liberal" sees it this way, while the stereotypical American "liberal" is more extreme.
I would like to point out that the view that the Second Amendment applies only to "a well-regulated militia" is irrelevant because of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, in concert or alone. The right to defend oneself against coercion with any means is neither enumerated nor disparaged, and it is reserved by the people.
Lack of a constitutional guarantee is not license to legislate away whatever powers and freedoms we choose, as noted explicitly and in plain language at the end of the Bill of Rights.
I'm starting to think that the commentators who call a McCain presidency a "3rd Term For Bush" are more accurate then people give them credit for. Sounds like more of the same.
Mod parent up. Shagg is right on the money, although I would throw in the extra possibility of "or if you want to hide what you're doing from the populace."
While it is very, very unlikely that the FISA court would leak a request for a wiretap, if the request were groundless/abusive enough, I suppose it is a possibility.
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
The only thing that can really throw the federal bench out of whack is if you had a president and justice department who was pressuring federal judges and prosecutors to bring (or not bring) cases based upon a political agenda. Somehow, the system had been pretty good about that until Bush and the Gonzalez Justice Department came along. Even Ashcroft, who I disagree with totally, was an honest justice who put the Constitution before political gain. But not 'Berto Gonzalez, who is probably the most crooked Attorney General since the late 1800s. The funny thing is that these guys got elected pushing the notion that the judiciary was crooked and "activist" and then turned around and made it crooked and activist.
Even though the reign of these little shits is coming to an end, it's going to take a committed leader to chase the rats out of all the little nooks and crannies of our judicial system. It can be done, however. Now that the Dem nomination is settled, I think we'll see some of the prosecutors in Congress (Leahy, Conyers) start to dig into the meat of the criminal activity of the last eight years, and I think the filthy way they prosecuted the Alabama governor will be the starting place. It's going to be an interesting five months.
I hope Senator McCain really pushes the warrantless eavesdropping thing hard. It's the kind of thing that goes against most Americans' deeply held beliefs and it will show just what McCain is made of. "War on Terror" my pink hairy ass.
You are welcome on my lawn.
No, conservatives stand for small government; Republicans stand for getting Republicans elected.
At no point in my 36 years have Republicans been any more conservative than Democrats.
Apologist!
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
IOW, you, for one, welcome our new judge-bribing overlord?
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
Thisd whole story is a troll. Hey look, a McCain piñata. Everyone take a swing! Meanwhile Obama make an overt threat against Iran, about a complete a flip-flop as you can have from his lovey-dovey approach from two weeks ago and you guys let it slide.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
Why not divide up the middle east? Because it doesn't belong to us, and we lack the cultural understanding to effectively govern it. They have merely proved that the US isn't perfect. That should come as no surprise if you look at US history. Look at how the US behaved relative to Mexico or the Phillipines. The US has always thrown its weight around and taken what it wanted. That's what American voters want their government to do. And why not? Are you a hedonist or a Nazi? I can't really tell. No, it is actually a better place than it was a century ago or even half a century ago. There is less racism, less torture, less unjustified military intervention, less empire building. Less racism because of civil leaders and people like Martin Luther King who the FBI considered "the most dangerous Negro leader in America." I'm not sure if that was before or after they assassinated some of his colleagues.
The Japanese, Germans, and other prisoners of war were not tortured, as far as I'm aware, in WWI or WWII. Torture in the War on Terror is officially approved as long as you don't call it torture.
There's been no decline in military spending since WWII. We have hundreds of more military installations around the world, and we're building many permanent installations right now in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have not left any significant amount of the bases we established nearly seventy years ago.
Every single improvement in American life since WWII has been the result of popular movement, and the government has been dragged with it kicking, screaming, and killing it's own citizenry in the process. Throughout its history, the US has primarily looked out for its own interests and improved lives for its own citizens. True until recently. The current government does not care about it's citizenry. That's why it's acceptable not to pay attention to polls or popular votes (presidential or involving medicinal marijuana). Occasionally it has tried to do a little bit for other nations when it was convenient to do so. Example? That may not be much, but it is still a whole lot more than you can say for most other nations. Except every other developed western nation since WWII (which I consider a definitive paradigm shift worldwide.) The whole of Europe have learned their lesson. For some reason we don't seem to get it.
Israel kills Palestinians with American weapons, and keeps their economy afloat with American funds. Over one hundred billion dollars thus far (close to 150 billion with interest, I believe.)
Palestine has received less than four or five billion in the same period if my guess is right, with the added bonus of our veto of any United Nations resolution in their favor.
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
â" Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000
"You don't get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier." - Governing Magazine, July, 1998
"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it." - Business Week, July 30, 2001
[Middle Eastern nations] were flourishing democracies with vast untapped resources threatening to break free of the bonds of colonial Europe.
Read something about the history of the Middle East before you spout such bullshit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Middle_East
The Middle East was a social and political dump before the Europeans got involved, and it still is. And given Arab aspirations for re-building their empire and imposing their religion on others, I don't even particularly care that the West imposed its rule on the region.
Except every other developed western nation since WWII (which I consider a definitive paradigm shift worldwide.) The whole of Europe have learned their lesson. For some reason we don't seem to get it.
First of all, the Europe you see today was largely constructed by the US; if it had been up to the French, British, and Russians, they would have repeated the mistakes of WWI and we'd have had WWIII by now.
Furthermore, you really have no clue about the attitudes or motivations behind European politics.
Are you a hedonist or a Nazi? I can't really tell.
Well, I can tell that you are an uneducated lout.
in america, "liberty" should be EVERYONE's agenda.
Hey, I don't mean to sound like a troll, but I'm thinking that Bush should just go all out and roust up a private little army, and go and arrest all the Democrats and liberal leaning supporters in sort of a knight of the long knives. You know, all the Republicans would have guns would, on some night, just go and break the back of the Democratic party and kill off the leaders. The worst part of Bush these days is that no one on the left even really fears attacking him. But, if he say had a pistol and shot Harry Reid and gunned down the Senate ala Al Capone's massacre, then, you know, you could give the guy his props. Yeah, diversity would go out the window, but we could be much more efficient with a mono culture.
This is my sig.
That's why you can apply for the warrant retroactively for up to 72 hours. There is no excuse to have NOT gone through a FISA judge.
Um. You can begin surveillance immediately under FISA. You have up to 72 hours after the start of the tap to get a warrant, from a judge who is on call 24-7.
Any excuse about FISA being "restrictive" is bullshit.
That is what the 72 hour after the fact warrant request is for. If the authorities must act right now they can, but that doesn't excuse them from judicial oversight. Nothing should ever exclude law enforcement from judicial oversight, ever. Not gag orders, not the need for expediency, not national security letters, not "sorry it's classified". Law enforcement without oversight and transparency is Fascism.
We are all just people.
While it is very, very unlikely that the FISA court would leak a request for a wiretap, if the request were groundless/abusive enough, I suppose it is a possibility.
They shouldn't have to "leak" anything. There is no reason for warrants not to be public knowledge after they have been carried out or rejected. It should be a necessary monitor both of police/DHS actions and judicial competency.
We are all just people.
Even if you assume that all the candidates are lying, it is still useful to see who they are trying to pander to.
Are they trying to pander to some particular interest group, some noisy part of their
parties political base, or are trying to pander to more general concerns?
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
This is just all part of McCain's (and the now fallen Republican party's) disrespect for the Constitution. Some of the campaign finance stuff he proposed was very chilling--bloggers would have had to jump through hoops as if they were lobbying orgs, or they wouldn't be able to post political stuff. That struck at the very heart of the 1st ammendment. Then there's the flag burning issue. I swear, if McCain gets in, I'll burn a flag that very day. That he would be in favor of warrantless wiretaps is no surprise.
I hope Obama et. al. will take up the cause of the Constitution, and use it in their campaign ads. OTOH, a campaigning style that purports to educate people might not be well received. Obama is already being painted as an "intellectual elitist", which sounds GOOD to me; but unfortunately it doesn't sound good to the electorate at large. Just do the right thing this time, guys, and don't figure out how to lose like you did the last two times.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
When citizens make it hard for Big Brother to see what's going on, it called "Obstruction Of Justice".
When Big Brother makes it hard for citizens to see what's going on, it's called "Privacy".
Ever notice how pissy and elitist congress gets when citizens what to snoop throught their business to see what they have their hands in? Yet, they have no problem going through our business, especially when there are far, FAR fewer of us actual working folk doing shady things.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
It is NOT within the traditional role of the AG to fire U.S. Attorneys, simply because they chose to not pursue frivolous, politically motivated charges, which was a part of the agenda of a vengeful administration.
Yes, U.S. attorneys are chosen based on partisan decisions, but they are supposed to be largely independent after appointment, and not taken to task by a venal AG, whose motivation was electoral gains, because they refused to file charges without substantiating evidence.
Rush Limbaugh is a perfect real world example of an oxycontinmoron
Just to follow up on what you've said:
I recommend this article for a critical view of McCain's attitude towards personal freedom.
In short, he doesn't believe you should have it. You're all soldier's in McCain's American army and insubordination will not be tolerated.
There is a progression in effect with these evil-doers; these holdovers from the Nixon years, (half of them are the same people, for goodness sake.)
Here's an example of that progression. This disturbing article is current; it's happening right now
This new program starts in D.C. next week. . .
Now, here's an article from 2002, New York. The original link is dead, but the Internet Archive had it on file. . . Notice the difference in intensity? The new version of this program doesn't include guys mowing your lawn. What will be the next step in the process?
... or you're doing it on such a large scale, getting court approval is not practical.
...or wht you are doing is so far out of bounds that even the FISA court wouldn't go along with it."Article II, of course, is what Bush has argued gives the President virtually unlimited power during war" There is a problem with that thinking. We're not at war and haven't been for decades. It's pathetic that our leaders don't know dick about our Constitution. Congress alone has the authority to declare war. No declaration, no war, no war powers. Before some tard trots out the oxymoronic term "undeclared war": If a man and woman live together, fuck, share income and responsibilities, are they married? Not unless they are *married*. They are either married, or they are not. They married if and only if they went through the procedure to become married. Calling them married does not make them married. A couple is married if they are married. A couple could be married and live a thousand miles apart, never fuck and never speak to each other. Is a bar fight a war? It has all the symptoms of a war, but it is not a war because it ISN'T. We're not at war because Congress hasn't said we are. With that fact in mind, we should be able to tell BushCo that unless he gets a declaration of war he doesn't get war powers.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!