Sunday, March 26, 2006
Government Eavesdropping Part 5
There's a major underreported story in Seattle and it has nothing to do with a sensational house party massacre. This potential evidence appears as the DOJ responds to Congress that it believes the President is above the law. Where's Barbara Jordan when we need her to spank another President and send him behind the woodshed? This is not a question of privacy or civil liberties. This is a question of whether the people will accept lawlessness of the government.
From U.S. News and World Report:
Update: From an older U.S. News article:
From U.S. News and World Report:
Justice Department lawyer Anthony Coppolino tried to convince the judge that handing the document to the FBI for safekeeping would in no way compromise itSafekeeping spying evidence with the spies? That sounds a lot like something out of a movie or Spy vs. Spy from Mad Magazine.
Update: From an older U.S. News article:
The searches, if they occurred, were anything but deft. Late at night on two occasions, Nelson's colleague Jonathan Norling noticed a heavyset, middle-aged, non-Hispanic white man claiming to be a member of an otherwise all-Hispanic cleaning crew, wearing an apron and a badge and toting a vacuum. But, says Norling, "it was clear the vacuum was not moving." Three months later, the same man, waving a brillo pad, spent some time trying to open Nelson's locked office door, Norling says. Nelson's wife and son, meanwhile, repeatedly called their home security company asking why their alarm system seemed to keep malfunctioning. The company could find no fault with the system.
# posted by herestomwiththeweather @ 3/26/2006 03:46:00 PM 
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If you haven't seen V for Vendetta, you should. Everyone should see it. Particularly those people who think giving up their civil liberties is a patriotic gesture in a post 9/11 world. God, I hate hearing those annoying Midwestern soccer moms on the news shows saying ridiculous things like, "They can wire tap me. I have nothing to hide. I am not ashamed of what I say or do on the internet or on my phone."
THAT'S NOT THE FRIGGIN' POINT!!!
V's not a brilliant film, per se, but it's spot on with what's going on in our country and our world.
THAT'S NOT THE FRIGGIN' POINT!!!
V's not a brilliant film, per se, but it's spot on with what's going on in our country and our world.
Wait! There's more:
WASHINGTON -- When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.
The bill contained several oversight provisions intended to make sure the FBI did not abuse the special terrorism-related powers to search homes and secretly seize papers. [...]
In the [signing] statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."
WASHINGTON -- When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.
The bill contained several oversight provisions intended to make sure the FBI did not abuse the special terrorism-related powers to search homes and secretly seize papers. [...]
In the [signing] statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."
# posted by 
: 4:30 PM
: 4:30 PM
"deliberative process of the executive" seems like a catch-all. there should be something in there that puts an upper limit on the number of days an executive can spend playing golf.
It is a catch-all that pretty much means he is no longer fettered by Congress regardless of what bills they enact. And with the entire judiciary a rat's warren of turncoats, separation of powers is as passé as the Geneva Conventions.
I think we're all hoping this does not expand the total number of days he can have in office. I have already begun seeing bumper stickers that read "January 20, 2009: Hang in there, America!"
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I think we're all hoping this does not expand the total number of days he can have in office. I have already begun seeing bumper stickers that read "January 20, 2009: Hang in there, America!"
# posted by : 1:57 PM
: 1:57 PM << Home
