April 11, 2009 archive

Wow people. Did anyone actually look up why we are in such mob mode over wiretapping? I see the torches head towards the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice when it should be marching on Capital Hill.

The radical departure the Bush Administration made in regards to intelligence gathering.

was between active and passive wiretapping.

While FISA has been legal since the 1970s, you still had to present probably cause to the FISA court to get issued your search warrant for wiretapping. This even included retroactive warrants, due to time constraints in the modern age and instantaneous global communication, so you could even go back and do the paperwork.

What it did not allow for was passive wiretapping filling up databases to be sifted through over a course of time. If the NSA program under the Bush Administration is still live, then every moment of every day every citizen’s 4th Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures is being violated.

Also, no Warrants shall issue be issued, but upon probable cause. It’s plain as day in the Constitution, no legal opinion by some obscure court required.

The NSA has no probably cause to gather and store information on citizens, it is unconstitutional.

And to equate the passive gathering of personal information of private citizens with that of active investigation associated with FISA is disingenuous at best.

And “trust us” is no longer a valid response.

Which leads us to redress. This is where it gets funny.

The claims made by the DOJ is actually in line with the rule of law. The right to sue was taken away by Congress.

Not the Executive Branch. That is one of the keys here that is often over looked.

Section 223 of the Patriot Act

   *  You can no longer sue the government for “intentional” violations of the law, like you can sue everyone else. Instead, the violation has to be “willful,” a much higher standard.

This is the exact defense the DOJ of the Obama Administration is making, actually based on the laws of the lands passed through Congress.

   * Before, you could get a trial in front of a jury if you sued the government. Now, suits against the government are heard only by a judge.

The next one is particularly grand in a Rubenesque bureaucracy fashion:

   # Unlike with any other defendant, if you want to sue the federal government for illegal wiretapping you have to first go through an administrative procedure with the agency that did the wiretapping. That means, essentially, that you have to politely complain to the illegal wiretappers and tip them off to your legal strategy, and then wait for a while as they decide whether to do anything about it before you can sue them in court.

And last or not least, the legal pickle:

   # Before PATRIOT, in addition to being able to sue for money damages, you could sue for declaratory relief from a judge. For example, an Internet service provider could ask the court to declare that a particular type of wiretapping that the government wants to do on its network is illegal. One could also sue for an injunction from the court, ordering that any illegal wiretapping stop. PATRIOT section 223 signficantly reduced a judge’s ability to remedy unlawful surveillance, making it so you can only sue the government for money damages. This means, for example, that no one could sue the government to stop an ongoing illegal wiretap. At best, one could sue for the government to pay damages while the illegal tap continued!

All this can be found on the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s page about Section 223 of the Patriot Act:

http://w2.eff.org/patriot/suns…

If people want to get serious about this, we have to repeal the law first.

All the Obama administration’s DOJ is doing is following the law as they are on the books.

Nancy Pelosi wants them to sunset, end in December as per the law.

I say they get off their duffs and take care of a pressing issue the rabble is all roused about.

But it’s Congress who must repeal this part of the Patriot Act if you want any changes on illegal wiretapping.

Otherwise, you are getting made at the Obama Administration for following the rule of law, while claiming he is doing the exact opposite.

Because the laws on the books, are the law of the land, which is the rule of law.

Harass your congresscritter today.  

Though perhaps President Obama will have a chance to implement some long term strategy when he cleans up all the other messes the Ruling Class and Bushco have made over the last years, the answer, for now, has to be….yes.

The CIA have taken  Panneta’s initial statement of no prosecutions and run with it. They now feel free to pursue their agenda of controlling foreign policy. Just as when Nancy took Impeachment off of the table, all leverage that could have been used to rein them in has been lost.

The NSA have apparently convinced Obama that the TIA model of information gathering is not only too valuable to shut down over such minor counter arguments as the Constitution. He has been ….apparently…been convinced not just to continue it, but to defend it in court as well.

I cannot blame Obama for this.

The network of 16 acknowledged Intelligence Agencies, which Bush combined (to some extent) after 9/11 into one vast Intelligence Entity, with the power to spy on everyone in the world now, and massive amounts of information at their disposal, and 50 years of studying and practicing information and disinformation manipulation, has…..considering all that….unsurprisingly convinced the President of the United States that they are too valuable to fuck with.

Or too powerful to fuck with.

Iow, more powerful, in at least some ways, than the President.

After all, what CAN Obama do to fight against them? Especially since they obviously suckered him into making promises during the chaos of the transition. promises which have now muddied and lessened his ability to control them.

So let me stray far into what would have been tin foil territory before all of these new developments that have taken place in semi-plain view are assembled in to some kind of tapestry of what is happening to all of Obama’s campaign promises and principles in this area.

The CIA and NSA are now running America. Or have a VERY unhealthy level of power in influencing how….and for who…it is run.

At least the foreign policy. But given the new reach and powers of law enforcement and intel agencies under the Patriot act, Telcomm immunity, and the indemnification of the CIA and NSA, they also have vast powers domestically.

From the ACLU:

A new institution is emerging in American life: Fusion Centers. These state, local and regional institutions were originally created to improve the sharing of anti-terrorism intelligence among different state, local and federal law enforcement agencies. Though they developed independently and remain quite different from one another, for many the scope of their mission has quickly expanded – with the support and encouragement of the federal government – to cover “all crimes and all hazards.” The types of information they seek for analysis has also broadened over time to include not just criminal intelligence, but public and private sector data, and participation in these centers has grown to include not just law enforcement, but other government entities, the military and even select members of the private sector.

These new fusion centers, over 40 of which have been established around the country, raise very serious privacy issues at a time when new technology, government powers and zeal in the “war on terrorism” are combining to threaten Americans’ privacy at an unprecedented level.

Due to the increase of power and reach of these agencies and their melding with domestic ‘Law Enforcement’ agencies, and the steady stripping of our Rights…We are now at the mercy of a giant entity that apparently even the President of the United States has no, or very little at best, control over.

The decisions of what, where and how to use the vast power of information and enforcement they now possess are now made by faceless bureaucrats with no real accountability (since indemnification) to the Constitution or the American People. And you can no longer sue for redress for being spied on. How long before THAT indemnification spreads to other areas as well?

Who will, as has become obvious, do anything to protect their power.

Game over?

Or is their some way to curtail this power?

We need to fight fire with a blow torch. (pun thoroughly intended) If they think that they can get the common schmucks to giggle and send their pathetic tea bags in order to promote more giveaways in tax cuts for the rich vampires already sucking us dry… I say we give them something to suck on.

Is this the best they’ve GOT?

Rancid pictures of green eyed, chipmunk-cheeked porn stars with preternaturally huge sacs stuffed in their mouths aside; we need to rub their faces in something far less pleasant than a friendly ol’ lick and nibble of a testicle.

No, wait, there has to be something BETTER!

Yes, yes. I’m talking about douchebagging them. PERFECT!

Lets DOUCHEBAG Faux News, lets DOUCHEBAG the RNC, lets DOUCHEBAG Wall Street, lets DOUCHEBAG the Banks, lets DOUCHEBAG Congress.

If you are unable to purchase even a douchebag, because the douchebags already have all your assets, a Ziplock of good old vinegar and water will suffice. Any brand’ll do ya!

Lets give America a “Fresh” feeling that lasts all Year!

It`s Friday night again & maybe these might help distract you from this past weeks troubles or remind you of it`s joys.

The images are of things you feel, soft or harsh to the touch, but never too hot, I hope.

Happy Easter, Passover, or Week-end.

EASTER SKY