Nobody in the mainstream media dares to say anything bad about the recently departed Pope, f'rinstance. (This is part of a general, long-running, PC-of-the-Right reverence for religion.)
Or could it more likely be the Left's "every religious/sexual culture/ethnic/racial group is worthy of respect (except WASPs)" attitude?
This could reasonably be argued either way. Not really a point.
I find people's faith in the Supreme Court laughable. The Court hasn't exactly acted as a guardian of liberty in its history, and you can find all sorts of questionable decisions (Plessy vs. Ferguson, anyone? How about Dred Scott?)
...or maybe Brown vs. Board of Education?
Instead of dredging up cases from over 100 years ago, you may want to find something more timely to back up your arguement.
Sorry my first response was so "trite." I didn't happen to have time to respons in an educated manner, so I guess I shouldn't have responded at all.
Yes, I'm aware of these facts. COINTELPRO did actually happen, and abuses did take place. Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan all approved legislation to prevent these types of abuses from happening again. I'm in a position where I'm annually required to be briefed on intelligence oversight, and abide by all laws in place to prevent infringement on the civil liberties of U.S. Persons. So, I do indeed understand there were events in the past that weren't exactly above bar, to say the least.
However...
COINTELPRO was a matter of the FBI acting independently. Like a rogue agency, arbitrarily abusing those they didn't agree with, without any measure checks or balances.
The case we're talking about is hardly in the category of COINTELPRO. As Martin Blank pointed out, "If I show up at your door, chances are you did something to bring me there." The FBI is investigating something. We don't know what, due to a gag order on the case. Could be that kid that shot up a bunch of classmates in Minnesota... it happened on a native American reservation, so it's under federal juristiction, and the kid was involved with neo-Nazi anarchists on the web... not an unreasonable hypothesis. But I digress... doesn't matter what it was. The point is the feds would have to go to a federal procecutor to see if they even have a case, and that procecutor would have to go before a judge to get a warrant for the IP logs in question. A judge would have to deem the warrant necessary, within the bounds of the law, and constitutional. Only after such approval would the feds would be free to kick in his door and take them.
The article states the feds have a supena. They've gone before a judge. They've made their case, dotted their i's and crossed their t's to enforce the law while following due process. Soon, the very freedom of information act you tout will allow us to see what the real story is here.
To all those screaming, "Conspiracy!" I'm curious to know where you draw the line between "law enforcement" and "abuse of civil liberties."
Yes, that's the reason the Intelligence Oversight legislation was passed, making it illegal for the DoD (and CIA) to collect intelligence on U.S. persons (citizens, resident aliens, etc).
However, that's still the backyard of law enforcement, and the FBI. All I see this meaning is while the CIA can't store fingerprints in a database due to intelligence oversight laws, the FBI still can, and does.
See http://www.dod.mil/atsdio/ for information on intelligence oversight.
As an MFA candidate, I am qualified to make the above aesthetic observations in the stated objective manner.
Doesn't take someone not yet finished with a masters program to judge, "Hey, that really old book looks nice!"
Yes, something taken care of well will last a long time. I take great care of my 8-track collection, and it takes up a whole hellova lot less room than the same number of books.
To your credit, however, there aren't exactly 8-track players readily available at the local Best Buy...doh!
Slashdot Mirror
"This is not IE 6 with a few features borrowed from the competition, but rather a clear step in the evolution of user-centric design."
IE Clippy: "It looks like you're trying to surf porn while avoiding spyware. Sorry, that just won't happen. Would you like to do it anyway?"
* The number of people involved that you are trying to black out information to number in the billions.
If they attack the whole spam problem with as much passion as they pursue censorship, I can see big IT dollars in China's future.
At the very least, we should pack the hotel bar with Slashdot readers for some quality beer time after my session.
I can see it now...
Miller Lite
Color: +2
Taste: +1
This beer modded Hot Waitress! +10
Nobody in the mainstream media dares to say anything bad about the recently departed Pope, f'rinstance. (This is part of a general, long-running, PC-of-the-Right reverence for religion.)
Or could it more likely be the Left's "every religious/sexual culture/ethnic/racial group is worthy of respect (except WASPs)" attitude?
This could reasonably be argued either way. Not really a point.
I find people's faith in the Supreme Court laughable. The Court hasn't exactly acted as a guardian of liberty in its history, and you can find all sorts of questionable decisions (Plessy vs. Ferguson, anyone? How about Dred Scott?)
...or maybe Brown vs. Board of Education?
Instead of dredging up cases from over 100 years ago, you may want to find something more timely to back up your arguement.
Sorry my first response was so "trite." I didn't happen to have time to respons in an educated manner, so I guess I shouldn't have responded at all.
Yes, I'm aware of these facts. COINTELPRO did actually happen, and abuses did take place. Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan all approved legislation to prevent these types of abuses from happening again. I'm in a position where I'm annually required to be briefed on intelligence oversight, and abide by all laws in place to prevent infringement on the civil liberties of U.S. Persons. So, I do indeed understand there were events in the past that weren't exactly above bar, to say the least.
However...
COINTELPRO was a matter of the FBI acting independently. Like a rogue agency, arbitrarily abusing those they didn't agree with, without any measure checks or balances.
The case we're talking about is hardly in the category of COINTELPRO. As Martin Blank pointed out, "If I show up at your door, chances are you did something to bring me there." The FBI is investigating something. We don't know what, due to a gag order on the case. Could be that kid that shot up a bunch of classmates in Minnesota... it happened on a native American reservation, so it's under federal juristiction, and the kid was involved with neo-Nazi anarchists on the web... not an unreasonable hypothesis. But I digress... doesn't matter what it was. The point is the feds would have to go to a federal procecutor to see if they even have a case, and that procecutor would have to go before a judge to get a warrant for the IP logs in question. A judge would have to deem the warrant necessary, within the bounds of the law, and constitutional. Only after such approval would the feds would be free to kick in his door and take them.
The article states the feds have a supena. They've gone before a judge. They've made their case, dotted their i's and crossed their t's to enforce the law while following due process. Soon, the very freedom of information act you tout will allow us to see what the real story is here.
To all those screaming, "Conspiracy!" I'm curious to know where you draw the line between "law enforcement" and "abuse of civil liberties."
Google "COINTELPRO" for a little dose of reality.
I Googled it, so it MUST be true...
Yes, that's the reason the Intelligence Oversight legislation was passed, making it illegal for the DoD (and CIA) to collect intelligence on U.S. persons (citizens, resident aliens, etc). However, that's still the backyard of law enforcement, and the FBI. All I see this meaning is while the CIA can't store fingerprints in a database due to intelligence oversight laws, the FBI still can, and does. See http://www.dod.mil/atsdio/ for information on intelligence oversight.
As an MFA candidate, I am qualified to make the above aesthetic observations in the stated objective manner.
Doesn't take someone not yet finished with a masters program to judge, "Hey, that really old book looks nice!"
Yes, something taken care of well will last a long time. I take great care of my 8-track collection, and it takes up a whole hellova lot less room than the same number of books.
To your credit, however, there aren't exactly 8-track players readily available at the local Best Buy...doh!