Well, we know Obama flipped and voted for FISA as a candidate, would we expect anything else but a continuation of the Bush surveillance program? Nope, more of the same. How’s
this working for you? Is it better than what we would have gotten from a President Hillary Clinton who voted against FISA? Is this some kind of 11th dimensional chess move that will eventually show the ACLU that there’s nothing to worry about a little domestic snooping. What’s it with privacy anyway? Isn’t reality TV voyeurism just the beginning? Well, Einstein 3 is a major way for the NSA to watch any internet connection that goes to a government site and then, after that, we’re not sure. It’s still under discussion. Stay away from the Smithsonian gift shop! You could wind up in Guantanamo if you’re just a little too interested in the wrong parts of American History.
This from today’s Washington Post.
The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials.
President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve “monitoring private-sector networks or Internet traffic,” and Department of Homeland Security officials say the new program will scrutinize only data going to or from government systems.
But the program has provoked debate within DHS, the officials said, because of uncertainty about whether private data can be shielded from unauthorized scrutiny, how much of a role NSA should play and whether the agency’s involvement in warrantless wiretapping during George W. Bush’s presidency would draw controversy. Each time a private citizen visited a “dot-gov” Web site or sent an e-mail to a civilian government employee, that action would be screened for potential harm to the network.
“We absolutely intend to use the technical resources, the substantial ones, that NSA has. But . . . they will be guided, led and in a sense directed by the people we have at the Department of Homeland Security,” the department’s secretary, Janet Napolitano, told reporters in a discussion about cybersecurity efforts.
Okay, so the Left Blogistan should be afire with protest yes? Well, maybe they’re all watching something, I dunno, maybe a football opener in Canada. Read the article carefully. What we basically have is the NSA promising it won’t break any laws even though it will have a hell a lot of a capacity to do so. All I can remember is all those folks processing the overloaded passport system last year that had a hey day looking up their favorite pols and celebs. Can you imagine what they could do with this? Can you imagine what they will do with that?
Is this the change we could believe in?
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Filed under: FISA, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act | Tagged: Domestic surveillance, NSA, Privacy Rights, warrentless wiretapping
No, but it’s change I believe could happen.
you’re so jaded … and correct!
You’re a very cynical person. Yes we can! trust government agencies to use vast levels of unregulated power for good.
Creepy. Worse than Bush.
after so many incidents like this it amazes me how friends, family, and *especially* teachers (including two history teachers i’ve debated with… they really should know better) still continue to write me off as a crazy because i say obama is similar to bush.
well, we have the propaganda out there so unless they really stay informed in a high intensity way, I don’t think they’d get any truth
i know, its sad. i caught one using a near direct quote from chris matthews when we were debating.
Is that the same AT&T that sponsored the corrupt Dem Convention? Yes. Just checking.
yup, yup … you betcha!!
the same AT&T that had the illegal “read all your emails/data sweep room” in San Francisco?
I’m disturbed when I call to order a pizza and they don’t have to ask for my name or address!! The other day I was out at a state park and they typed in my name and knew every place I had camped, my fishing licenses, what vehicles I own. It’s already like something out of Enemy of the State or Minority Report. We’re living in science fiction. I speak from experience when I say that one clerical error, one data entry mistake, and through no fault of your own, your life can spin out of control. I haven’t even addressed potential deliberate government abuse of power. Suffice it to say, the accidental abuses are bad enough.
By the way, I remember Obama promising to go through all those executive orders signed by President Bush and rescind any that over stated the power of the executive branch and violated the Constitution.. Bahahaha, how’s that coming along? ?
yup … we know who the real face of big brother is … it just started out as Cheney/Gonzalez/Dubya
Yes-they do all that, but to vote not even a photo-id is required, and election machines have no paper trails.
Obama was one of the Acorn lawyers who argued successfully in the 90s against photo-id-because it might make it hard for poor little old women without driving licenses to vote. They would be disenfranchised…
I can only add that in countries such as Canada (photo id plus proof of Canadian citizenship), and Europe (photo id plus some sort of election card), UHC exists.
It is expensive to get a photo id. People who can afford cars have them, but for everyone else it can be a big rigamarole just to get to the DMV, plus the expense. Personally, I’m not that worried about people trying to vote under someone else’s name, I doubt that happens enough to make much difference (as opposed to things like ballot box stuffing, tampering with ballots, screwing with electronic tallies, etc, which are much less labor intensive with much greater impact), I’m a lot more concerned about masses of people being prevented from voting through a variety of schemes, and requiring photo ID would just be one more barrier scumbags like Obama could use to deny people their rightful votes. I don’t trust them.
Over here photo-id is cheap.
Because we’re so anti-tax, we get Governors who promise not to raise taxes, then they have no revenue coming in, so they jack the price of everything they have control over and say it’s okay because it’s a “fee” not a tax.
I was curious so I did a bit of googling.
here in MA, a license fee is $75. State ID is cheaper at $25, but that’s still a pretty significant fee IMO. There are 34 RMV branches in a state with 350 towns. Outside the larger urban areas, we don’t have great public transit, so many people will have trouble getting there. They also require a birth certificate, proof of residency, and proof of legal signature, which I’m guessing will all cost additional fees to acquire. I’ve been wanting to change my registration for months, but I can never get to the Town Hall when it’s open. So many people would probably have to take at least one day off work to get the documents, possibly another to find a way to get to the nearest RMV, then possibly a third to go register after actually getting the ID. All in all, it seems like it could get pretty expensive and burdensome for low income people.
And the fee for a certified birth certificate is $45, so right there it’s starting at $70 between that and the state ID fee.
They’re cheap here in Lousiana. The DMV nearly hands them out because we have tons of poor folks without cars who need them.
Problem is that this news does NOT surprise us — OK — so what else does he have to do to prove that he really is a bush clone?
Government surveillance of her citizens doesn’t protect us — it is merely a way to control us. Just like the stupid “security” at airports — it is just a way to keep us passive and under control.
“Learned Helplessness” ask Riverdaughter — she’s written articles about learned helplessness in lab animals.
0bambam started out using psychological warfare tricks during his campaign and they worked well enough that he now has the white house — he will NOT give up any and all forms of psy warfare.
“Flipped and voted for FISA”
Went back to his real self, I’d say. Insecure sonuvab*tch that he is.
You know the NSA just happened to look at all of Bill Clinton’s emails it was reported a couple weeks ago. They said they were collecting emails and his just happened to be one of them. No apology or letting him know when it happend. No details if it was old or new email of his.
unfuggin believable! I’d sue their backsides!
What a coincidence! The first person targeted just happens to be hated and the object of an extreme vendetta from POTUS and the political establishment. He would seem likely to have a higher degree of security than most, too.
Exactly. How does his email get picked up with everyone else’s emails.
Remember the passport thing during the primaries,obots said it was hillary. I think someone was trying to get into hillary’s personal information. Obama’s was reported first in the media,but I think hillary’s was the first one’s to be breeched and now bill’s emails. Looks like someone is obessed with the clintons.
all part of the illegal warrantless wiretapping biz…
Off topic: PDS is alive and well at Hullabaloo:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/answer-for-doug-mackinnon-by-tristero.html
I love digby. Most people who publicly admit to being chickenshit would follow that admission by trying not to be so chickenshit. But not our digby! I regret it so much I’m just going to let it continue to make sure my scaryass devotees don’t turn their fire on me.
I hang out there some as “Monster from the Id”. At least Her Digbyness tolerates Obamaskepticism. I probably should be ashamed of myself for how I enjoy mixing it up with the Failbots.
I’d have to wash my brain with bleach or some such disinfectant — if I ever visited that back stabbing wrench.
YECK!
Me too. I don’t think he even commented because it was swept under the rug. The only two places that reported it were NY times and crooks and liars. They and I don’t know who they is told the NY times.
BO eavesdrops like Dubya, he pursues wars like Dubya, he refuses to prosecute Dubya’s torture gang, he bails out Wall Street crony capitalist robber barons just like Dubya would have done, he got big bucks in campaign contributions from Wall Street just like Dubya and other Elephascists–and yet the Failbots still paint Brand Obama as some kind of populist hero. *headdesk*
To be fair, it’s not like he’s a complete clone of W. There are definitely some Nixonian overtones in there as well.
Hmmm…yeah, BO’s intellect seems about halfway between Dubya’s and Tricky Dick’s.
GWB is a narcissist — as is 0zero — but was Tricky Dick also a narcissist — or just a typical politician?
“you won’t have dick Nixon to kick around anymore!”
i believe TD was a paranoid.
Reagan overtones too.
Saying that makes him too happy….
I don’t think he does have Reagan overtones, myself. Not in his person, nor personality. St. Ronnie was actually pretty TRUTHFUL about what he wanted to do, where his ideology lay.
And as much bad as he did, I do believe that Reagan loved this country.
I think the upper crust’s model for the perfect candidate has been ever more refined. Back then they still had someone who loved America ( in thier way ) hell even Bush loved parts of it . But , for whatever reason, Obama is remarkably free of that, …and there fore he’s the UP’s ultimate dream boat. But it’s a process that has been going on for some time
I’m sorry, off topic.
I was just over at Avedon from a corrente link and they make us sound like bitter crazy bunker nuts.
why is avedon bugged by riverdaughter?
and they say that bostonboomer and myixque dominate with obama bile.
sorry, i’m riled. i saw a comment describing hillary as racist and it made me crazy.
Oh yeah, Bostonboomer is just filled with bile. She’s a rageaholic, we can’t get her to calm down. Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve heard she killed a man in Phoenix just to watch him die.
Lambert has had issues with this blog since before PUMA came into existence. He never misses a chance to talk trash about us.
I think someone is just a wee bit jealous of our success.
I don’t even know what Avedon is. Is it something I probably used to know about but have forgotten? I only heard about Corrente from here.
Avedon Carol runs the Sideshow – a nice kool-aid free lefty blog.
Oh no! What did I do now?
The bile! You’re choking on it! The bile!
Apparently one of us is a bad influence, and for once it’s not me.
Now, now
That’s not entirely fair. Dak, who is notoriously converting all of us with her “right wing WSJ” and her “GOP talking points,” routinely takes the pressure off you Myiq.
I’m sure she’s going to be terribly upset if she finds out she didn’t get a mention.
Do these people really believe that anyone gives a flying fig about their opining(particularly on a topic they only have minmal knowledge about and I’d qualify PUMA as in that category)? It takes a special exaggerated sense of self to believe that they are “experts” on other peoples thoughts and opinions.
or me
As the post in question should have tipped you off to, I’m bugged by Riverdaughter (a) attacking me because I linked to her (which I had even apologized for not doing earlier) and for (b) implying that I’m some sort of Obamabot who is practically on the verge of accusing her of racism because – well, apparently because I don’t read her blog any more often than she reads mine.
Of course, if you’d read what I actually wrote, you’d know that.
I also did not say anything about whether people at The Confluence are “like bitter crazy bunker nuts. And since I have been consistently arguing that the so-called racism of the Clintons is a myth created by the Obama campaign, I refuse to take the heat for that one, either. Although some of my commenters are very smart, I’m not responsible for what they post in my comment threads, although the fact that most threads at my blog are shorter and more related to real issues than the one in question is not something I’m ashamed of.
When you do a whole post attacking someone’s alleged beliefs even though you have never bothered to read them and don’t have the first clue what their beliefs are, you’re a jackass. And you’re an even bigger jackass if you complain that another blog isn’t constantly praising you for your brave stand when the only thing you’ve ever done to alert the blogger that you exist is to do a post unfairly attacking them.
Seriously, if this is the thanks I get for linking to The Confluence, I’m not sure why you think I should ever do it again. Certainly not based on the quality of thought, insight, or priorities revealed in that nasty little attack on me. I have never said one negative thing about this blog or its denizens, I don’t even join in the anti-Palinfests or other sexist roundtables to be found in the blogosphere, and I’m all too well aware of how easy it is to get de-linked by A-list bloggers (and others) for not sharing their testosterone poisoning over female politicians.
And my post made perfectly clear what I was irritated by. I am not demanding that Riverdaughter write lots of posts talking about how wonderful I am, but I don’t expect to be attacked as an Obamabot just because I don’t do lots of posts praising her, either.
I’m heading over to read the post in question. That being said there is always the option of removing the commentary of rude,offensive inaccurate commentators.
I believe that Scoutt was referring to the comments to your post rather than the post itself. And the really bad ones were probably not from any of your regulars but were from some of our deranged blogstalkers.
I don’t think RD was attacking your beliefs, she was addressing the fact that a lot of lefty bloggers treat us like pariahs because we never drank the Kool-aid. I don’t believe you are one of those people. Most of RD’s post was directed at other people
I put The Sideshow on our blogroll and it’s gonna stay there until someone forces me to take it down.
I don’t see any reason why The Sideshow shouldn’t be on our blogroll either. I had never heard of Avedon’s blog until this happened. Now I will be checking it out.
I couldn’t care less what anonymous commenters say about me. I’ve fine with who I am, and like myiq said, there’s no such thing as bad publicity…
Thanks for posting, your blog is interesting . I’ll be visting. I’m always interested in a kool-aid free zone ,as myiq2xu called it.
I didn’t take RD’s post as an attack on you, but if you don’t read our blog regularly I guess I can understand why you thought so. RD was simply referring to a situation that we are all familiar with after more than a year of it.
Most left bloggers disapprove of us for some reason and they can’t seem to just let us be. They feel they must educate us and correct our politically incorrect faux pas. I doubt if RD is any more familiar with your blog than I was up till now. As I said below, I will be reading your blog now. I’m not sure how I missed it before.
BTW, we aren’t starving for links. It sounds like you think you were doing us a big favor by linking to us. It’s great, but…
You know, you really should read your email.
No one here is or was *attacking* you. Your blog was simply used as an example of people who tend to overlook us even though they seem to think Lambert is some kind of meaningful blogger. Hey, there’s no accounting for taste.
Don’t expect gratitude from us. We don’t need your help getting unique page hits as our numbers will tell you. And the fact that we’ve been largely right about this whole Obama charade in the past year should tell you everything there is to know about how credible we are.
We’re concerned that the people who are cited consistently as A-list bloggers lost all integrity last year. That wouldn’t include you, by the way.
And which one of us ever said you were an Obot? Did you dream that up or has myiq been editing my posts as some kind of sick, zombie practical joke?
Chill.
Meh, just finished reading the Avedon post. I didn’t consider the posting offensive. The commentary was somewhat typical too.
I’m not quite certain why anyone would do an entire post regarding riverdaughter rather than emailing her with a gripe. RD had a substantially longer post and an underlying point other than complaints about Avedon when she wrote her post(it was to rebring attention to the economics post of Taibbi) and this seems more along the lines of I got my feelings hurt so I am going to blog about it and let several posters chime in and pile on TC.
I’ll probably visit the site again to see if there is any meat to it. Particularly when myiq has called it a kool aid free zone. It sounds like I would disagree with the blog owners position on the primaries but I’m never one to let disagreeing with someone get in the way with learning more about a particular viewpoint.
I love it when the blogstalkers go around telling lies about me. Pretty soon I’m gonna start calling myself “The Notorious myiq2xu”
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity”
“The Notorious myiq2xu”, nah, ‘The Infamous myiq2xu’
Of the commenters, lambert is one of my favorites. Could anyone be a more obvious suckup?
Though on health care, corrente is trying to do some good and, for that, I’m glad.
I think corrente is a pretty decent blog barring the PDS. You’d think they’d be encouraging moderate republicans rather than encouraging the brand to go further right by picking on the moderates.
They still are all into the all the eggs in one basket thing though I guess. With them it’s Democrats or bust, which basically means the Dems marginalize them. Whatever. I’m with President Clinton. I’m tossing party loyalty, focusing on the issues and working on BOTH parties. My vote isn’t a given for anyone. The parties will need to fight for it.
I’ve never been to the site mentioned, but will do so to judge for myself. I appreciate the response of the writer but should mention that I’ve never seen or heard of the commenters that were doing the accusations. Avedon, you might have just gotten a few new readers for your Sideshow. I will also add that many commenters seem to gravitate to blogs that didn’t drink the koolaid to give the impression that the blog reflects their views of Clinton/Palin Derangement Syndrome and always include the deadenders known as PUMAs to verify their credentials with other like minded readers. I don’t know about the squabble mentioned. I never pay attention to those things. I’m always open to another point of view until it gets personal – attacking, but not with talking points, just name calling. I carry the labelof PUMA with Pride no matter how we are depicted. We know what we’re talking about. We don’t have to defend ourselves al the time. We are right and they are wrong.
I was always very clear in my posts that most of Palin’s political beliefs were anathema to me, but that I didn’t think it was right to fling sexist/misogynist and hateful verbal rocks at her simply because you didn’t like her politics or her position of power and influence. How that could EVER be mistaken for Palin worship was beyond me. It was just another twisted bit of propaganda used to cause rabid Obots to beat us into submission.
Dear Dakinikat, I did read the post by the way and just to stay on topic. At least the NSA will have a record of our objection to the Bush/Obama policies when it all comes tumbling down on their heads as the public wakes up and starts demanding reform of our corrupt government. You think the passport scandal was to look at the Clinton stuff. I think it was to get rid of (hide) the Obama stuff.
I think you’re on to something here.
“(hide) the Obama stuff.”
lets wait where this thing turn out