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Wiretap Whistleblower, a Life in Limbo?
Newsweek has an interesting report on Thomas M. Tamm, the individual who blew the whistle on the Federal Government's warrantless wiretaps. The piece takes a look at some of the circumstances leading up to the disclosure and what has happened since. "After the raid, Justice Department prosecutors encouraged Tamm to plead guilty to a felony for disclosing classified information — an offer he refused. More recently, Agent Lawless, a former prosecutor from Tennessee, has been methodically tracking down Tamm's friends and former colleagues. The agent and a partner have asked questions about Tamm's associates and political meetings he might have attended, apparently looking for clues about his motivations for going to the press, according to three of those interviewed."
He will be recognized as a hero for defending the constitution, like those civil rights advocates who once violated state/local ordinances on segregation.
Unfortunately, today is not that day. But he is a true hero none the less.
My rights don't need management.
An article everybody should read: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment
I'm afraid it could be too late already.
nothing different than what the organized crime people will do... well except they kill everyone, the Feds are not at that level yet.
In something reminiscent of The Prisoner, the CIA threw a former LSD researcher out of a hotel window when he told his colleagues that he wanted to quit his job because of ethical issues dealing with his research. Although the CIA denied the claims (and the referenced URL doesn't get into details), there is evidence that contradicts the CIA's claim that he committed suicide by jumping out of the window. In fact the forensic evidence indicated that he was thrown out of the window (according to the American Justice account). "Frank Olson's body was exhumed in 1994, and cranial injuries indicated Olson had been knocked unconscious before exiting the window." (Ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA).
Though that is just one account that was made public and that the CIA denies (even though the government eventually awarded the family financial damages).
It should not be possible to classify illegal government activity. This man took a chance to protect my freedom and yours, if you don't respect that then I have to ask: why do you hate America's freedoms?
Let me make a wild guess... The AC is not a natural born U.S. citizen and thus he has no paranoia about his legal status. If you know a thing or two about immigration law you will realize that unless you have U.S. citizenship by birth, then your legal status in this country is still up in the air even if you become a naturalized citizen and never leave your home state for 80 years after that.
Our country has pretty open departation policies and even if one becomes a naturalized U.S. citizen that person can be denaturalized via a judicial process; the process can be started at any point after naturalization until the person dies. Moreover, a naturalized citizen can be deported for crimes that took place before naturalization even if the individual was not aware of such crimes during application process. A resident alien can be deported for any crime that contains elements of moral turpitude. NIS and BIA have to show only one thing: A person was inadmissible due to a crime or because the person lacked good moral character.
Let's say that you do something questionable. If you're a permanent resident this questionable act can be turned into a crime of moral turpitude and you have your one way ticket back home. It does not matter how many years you have lived in the states or if you're a well known philantropist/community leader. If such questionable action took place before you became a citizen and a federal judge says that this as a crime of moral turpitude then you may kiss your naturalization application good-bye becuase you were not a person of good morals, a requirement for becoming a U.S. citizen, before applying for citizenship. This does not happen often but it has been done at least several times in the past. The last time it hit a 56 year old Haitian immigrant who, according to undercover cops, "knew where to buy crack cocaine." The guy got 5 years on conspiracy charges and when he got out he faced deportation proceedings. The fact that the person was indicted and convicted after becoming a U.S. citizen did not play any role because the judges ruled that the defendant was not a person of good morals to begin with. So please answer me this: What is the chance that this is not going to happen to another immigrant?
If you start some shit or express your political views in one way or another, you may hit a wrong radar and then you'll have to attend a bunch of hearings and listen to people debating about your morals. Who says that they will rule in your favor? For many immigrants who have no home other than the United States the sole question of returning to where they came from may mean life and death. Would you want to risk that? I think not. Oh and by the way stating your opinion in public media may just very well fall against you. Take a look at a deportation case against Frank Costello.
This is exactly like a woman jaywalking on the way to the police station to report her own rape. When she gets there, the police not only refuse to arrest or even investigate her rapist, because the rapist is the chief of police, but they do make strenuous efforts to investigate her jaywalking while running to the station to report the rape. Those at the Justice Department (no irony in the name huh ?) who are abusing their authority to harass a genuine Patriot should be sacked, disbarred, and charged themselves. Perhaps our new Chief Executive can do something about this, I don't think he will though. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Like his vote on telcom immunity.