Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Friday, June 7, 2013

The Conservative Blogs

are all a-twitter and giddy over the revelations coming out about data mining by the government.  They believe their prayers for bringing down the Obama administration have been answered.

Remember when we learned that the Republican President George W. Bush (via The Patriot Act) data mined US citizens' emails and phone calls, and how that brought down the Bush administration.

Oh, and how LOUDLY the conservative blogs SCREAMED about BIG BROTHER?!

No.  Neither do I.

Yes.  I know.  "Change We Can Believe In."  And all that.

Here is something worth reading from the "Immoral Minority" blog:

Courtesy of CNN 

The U.S. government has obtained a top secret court order that requires Verizon to turn over the telephone records of millions of Americans to the National Security Agency on an "ongoing daily basis," the UK-based Guardian newspaper reported. 

The four-page order, which The Guardian published on its website Wednesday, requires the communications giant to turn over "originating and terminating" telephone numbers as well as the location, time and duration of the calls -- and demands that the order be kept secret. 

If genuine, it gives the NSA blanket access to the records of millions of Verizon customers' domestic and foreign phone calls made between April 25, when the order was signed, and July 19, when it expires. 

While the report infuriated people across the country -- former Vice President Al Gore called the idea "obscenely outrageous" -- a senior official in the Obama administration defended the idea of such an order early Thursday. 

Without acknowledging whether the order exists, the administration official emphasized that such an order does not include collection of "the content of any communications or the name of any subscriber. It relates exclusively to metadata, such as a telephone number or the length of a call." 

"Information of the sort described in the Guardian article has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States, as it allows counterterrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be engaged in terrorist activities, particularly people located inside the United States," the unnamed official said in a written statement to media. 

The official also insisted that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authorizes intelligence collection. Activities "are subject to strict controls and procedures under oversight of the Department of Justice, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the FISA Court, to ensure that they comply with the Constitution and laws of the United States and appropriately protect privacy and civil liberties."

Regardless of whether this data mining is subject to "strict controls and procedures under oversight of the Department of Justice, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the FISA Court: or not, the truth is that it is wrong. Just like it was wrong when the Bush administration started it: 

Under the Bush administration, officials in security agencies had disclosed to reporters the large-scale collection of call records data by the NSA, but this is the first time significant and top-secret documents have revealed the continuation of the practice on a massive scale under President Obama.

The difference then was that the news agencies simply did not get as indignant and demonstrate the kind of outrage that they are about to demonstrate now that President Obama is in the White House.

However if anybody expects me to make excuses for this President, and his administration, you are wrong. I fucking hated this crap when Bush was doing it and I hate it just as much now that a Democratic President is doing it.

So if Fox News wants to jump all over this and use it to attempt to attack the President, something they would NEVER have done while Bush was in office, I see that as a good thing, because if people get angry enough perhaps we can finally put a stop to this outrageous spying on American citizens.

You know I heard somebody way back when Obama was first elected say that no President gives up the powers gained by his predecessors. In other words now that this kind of program was in place it was highly unlikely that Obama would not take advantage of it.

Sadly that turned out to be true.


But Charlie Pierce (bless him) gets it just right:

"The companies are so deep in weasel-speak on this one that they never may find their way out. At this point, after over a decade of this, "in accordance to the law" could mean almost anything, and probably does.
(Steve M at No More Mister Nice Blog has caught some interesting by-play about the source of these leaks. I admit that leaking an entire PowerPoint presentation is a whopper and indicates some serious power behind the leak.
Other than that, I don't have a lot to say that I didn't say yesterday. We hid under the bed after 9/11 and let a lot of people who don't care much for the Bill of Rights, with one notable (Bang!) exception, run amok.
The NSA access was enabled by changes to US surveillance law introduced under President Bush and renewed under Obama in December 2012. The program facilitates extensive, in-depth surveillance on live communications and stored information. The law allows for the targeting of any customers of participating firms who live outside the US, or those Americans whose communications include people outside the US. It also opens the possibility of communications made entirely within the US being collected without warrants.  
(And an aside, will you note that, in that paragraph, the previous guy is "President Bush" and the current officeholder is "Obama." That's kind of an odd style quirk, no?)
The government is pushing back, as is expected. There's the "It's not what you think it is" defense, and there's the "It's for your own good" defense, too. (Read all the way through to see Huckleberry Graham wave the Fourth and Fifth Amendments away with his magic wand.) The problem, again, is not what's illegal, it's what's been made legal. Or quasi-legal. Or something. Also, ignore anyone who says that a magic coalition of Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Ron Wyden, and Mark Udall is going to form to repeal The Patriot Act. The Republicans love the Patriot Act, and so do many Democrats. (Hi, Dianne Feinstein!) There are just a few Republicans who don't like the guy using it at the moment..."
DING!  DING! DING!  wE HAVE A WINNAH!





12 comments:

Dervish Sanders said...

Dianne Feinstein: There are just a few Republicans who don't like the guy using it at the moment.

This is exactly right. How many Republicans have ever stood in opposition to the PATRIOT act? The Repubs generally support it, don't they? Those in Congress certainly do, so their cries about what the Obama Administration is doing ring false to me. Unless they come out for repealing the PATRIOT act (which I support) any "scandal" accusations should be seen for what they are... hypocritical bloviating done for political advantage only.

I'm with you in liking Charlie Pierce, btw.

Jerry Critter said...

Here is a reasoned discussion of the phone survalence.

Les Carpenter said...

Shaw, your point is well made. The Patriot Act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, compliments of the GWB presidency is as responsible for this as anyone or anything.

But like is always the case, it is here and likely to stay. Big brother gov compliments of the "SMALL" government rEpublican party.

billy pilgrim said...

I'll bet the snoops get more info from facebook than from wiretaps.

i'm looking forward to the broonz and hawks.

Dave Miller said...

It's all BS Shaw...

The GOP was for this program before they were agin it. The Dems, a good many of them, we're also in support of this.

Only Russ Feingold voted against the Patriot Act, the mother teat of what we are seeing today.

Sadly, this is one more example of something Obama, like he has before, decried in his campaigns, but now defends.

It strains his credibility.

By the way, you noted on your last post that you support Pres. Obama because he most closely aligns with your political views.

I asked a key political candidate in Mexico last week how he could support a party that is not in line with his views.

He, like you, took the pragmatic stance. David he said, I am a leftist and that means I must be part of the most left party if I hope to have my views heard.

It was a very real, very honest moment. Politics is hard and full of constant trade offs.

It must be even harder to choose to live a totally rigid life as some on the left, and many on the right choose to do.

Ducky's here said...

When Verizon and others turned over that data during the Chucklenuts administration I remember a strenuous, absolutely strenuous, outcry at one of my favorite ultra conservative blogs.

The concern had nothing to do with violating privacy, rather the concern was that by publicizing the matter we were aiding the terrorists.

Anonymous said...

Obama is the one who should push for the elimination of the Patriot Act, but embraces it.
These scandals will take all the media attention til the day Obama leaves office. Thanks to his corrupt administration we will get nothing done for another 3 years

FreeThinke said...

Most here seem to miss the true significance of these invasions of privacy by tying the issue to "Party Politics." Democrats are eager to blame Bush, Republicans seem eager to use the issue to discredit President Obama.

BOTH miss the POINT:

An ever-tightening net of increasingly complex, sophisticated and intrusive surveillance techniques has been in the works for decades. It hasn't stemmed from one particular party but from both.

I mentioned The Puzzle Palace yesterday over at Western Hero. That books was written in the 1960's and chronicled the invention and implementation by the CIA and the FBI of hair-raising surveillance techniques reminiscent of Orwell nearly fifty years ago. As usual The Great Gray Brotherhood, that dreary legion of the Fat, Dumb and Happy, took little or no notice of it.

The threat is real, all right, but for EITHER party to use it as a POLITICAL football is inane.

Shame on ALL of us for failing to look out for our own best interests by working ceaselessly not to EXPAND but to CURB the powers of government.

Whoever said that no president -- or anyone else in authority -- never gives up power accrued to his predecessors was right in the money.

Crises and emergencies present two kinds of danger -- one short term, the other everlasting.

In order to meet the exigencies of temporary problems people usually panic and grant the authorities all SORTS of broad powers that would be UNTHINKABLE in a normal situation. Sadly, these powers once gained are NEVER given back.

The inherent nature of government is to TYRANNIZE.


Anonymous said...

"Trust us. Really, trust us. Except only transparency can make that happen. And while we are on the topic, note that nothing Republicans say on this matters. They are the ones who routinely vote for this. On the other hand, little that Democrats say matters either, because they voted for it as well. As for the press, well, they ignored the story for seven years (first reported in 2006). So that's why transparency is so important."

Doctor Tomato said...

"The inherent nature of government is to TYRANNIZE."

B.S...that is wrong...how is US government "tyrannizing" you...how many rights taken away...from you...has goveernment been knocking down your...door and taken...away your personal belongs...children...put you in jail...beaten you...thrown you in jail...for blogging...stopped you from...going to worship...stopped you from saying on blogs what you want to say about government...those are real tyrannical actions by government...which of these has happened...to you...

FreeThinke said...

Naturally, I hope not, LOL Anonymous, but I'm pretty sure you and others like you are probably in for a rude awakening.

"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

~ Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

"In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will cultivate, and improve. Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe their minds must be improved to a certain degree."

“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”


~ Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

I recommend too that you read -- or reread -- Orwell's ANIMAL FARM.

The French Revolution HAPPENED.

The Russian Revolution HAPPENED.

The Holocaust HAPPENED.

I hate to tell you, but there is no reliable evidence from history to support the notion that IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE.



Les Carpenter said...

Well said Free Thinke! Although I am sure that much of what you say here will be lost on SOME.

Animal Farm, I first read this fabulous book when my ninth grade literature teacher Mrs. Halikas suggested I do so. That was about 46 years ago. It remains one of my favorites even today. A constant reminder of what COULD happen even here.

As to Jefferson, President Kennedy said it best when he said, and I paraphrase... During a White House dinner President Kennedy said perhaps the gathering was of the greatest minds ever assembled in the White House, except when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.

Pretty much sums it up methinks.