Letters to the Editor
tempus
Published Letters: 444 Editor's Choice: 6
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@Scientitian...I disagree. Not yet "genuine"
[Read the article: Signs of life from House Democratic leaders]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If the plan from Pelosi, Hoyer and Conyers was to cave, it wouldn't have gone like this. It would have been over as quickly as possible. A bill would have passed with some fig leaf "protections" for civil rights that still grants immunity and legalizes massive sweeping surveillance with only nominal FISA court oversight.
I am far from ready to call this the real deal. Until they actually pass it and THEN resist Rockefeller's demands that the Constitution be junked and THEN do NOT pass an ultimate bill that contains amnesty, I call this a game.
The fact that they were going to disengage the two parts of the Senate bill so that they could be voted on independently should be all the signal you need to see the TRUE colors underlaying the mold here. The split bill WAS a capitulation move that they got called on. It was inevitable (and the "leadership" knew it) that telecom amnesty would pass if they split the Senate bill and voted. They just wanted to try to win brownie points from the base by making it LOOK like they were really really fighting amnesty when all along they were simply working to allow everyone to vote in a manner they needed to in order to gain re-election.
Because they got called on that move, they have had to scramble to come up with something else. This bill. As Glen indicates, it may well be a good bill (as good as any bill can be that allows the unacceptable FISA system to live as is rather than totally revamping it) but it is, I believe, not actually intended to survive. It is intended to allow members to vote as they feel they need to (and as they WANT to in order to make their corporate masters happy) while also giving some cover for a few more to vote against amnesty. Of course, the "leadership" also knows that this bill will be gutted by the traitorous and useless Senate and the final conference bill will be (Bush's) Rockefeller's bill and the House will then vote up or down and POOF! Out goes the 4th Amendment (and the 5th) officially.
I wont pat them on the head and give the bastards a cookie until the FINAL bill that passes on to Bush's desk includes no amnesty nor basket warrants. Until then, they are all on double-secret probation and on a lockout as far as my money goes (I have happily chewed out the DCCC callers and DSCC callers that hound me for money again and again because of the constant capitulations on EVERYTHING of importance - not a dime until they resist and start rolling back Bush abuses).
They should be given a cookie fragment for the current bill, should they pass it. The rest of the cookie doesn't come until the final bill passed by Congress is the correct one.
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War crime trials...
[Read the article: Signs of life from House Democratic leaders]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But Bush/Cheney will still skate out of office(if they allow the elections to proceed) with not even a slap on the wrist. I want the lot of them tried at The Hague for war crimes, convicted, and imprisoned.
It would be wonderful to see such a thing. It would be wonderful to have Bush and Cheney spending the remainder of their days walking the yard at Spandau (does Spandau prison still exist?). Fitting for these bastards to be held at the same locations as Nazi Germany's criminal leaders.
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Email privacy
[Read the article: Signs of life from House Democratic leaders]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]@jayackroyd
Do keep in mind that one data element many of these places ask for is an email address, which is a unique identifier.
Thank you, I was remiss in not clarifying this point.
I do as much as possible to prevent certain email addresses of mine from being used as a Primary Key or something for tracking my consumer habits.
For some things it is virtually impossible to keep your email address from being tied to you in the real world. However, there are ways available to obtain and use truly anonymous and untraceable emails for privacy and just-in-case purposes.
I have 4 absolutely anonymous and untraceable emails right now. I rarely use them. I NEVER send any messages containing anything that could be tied to me in real life. I set them up using Tor and I NEVER login to these email accounts without using Tor (http://www.torproject.org - supported by the EFF!).
I also have uncrackable PGP encryption keys for these accounts (4096 bit) - and also added spam protection by making them nonsense emails along the lines of pt3891@yahoo.com and the like. Spam bots go through name lists and slight variations thereof when doing plain fishing. It's another thing if the spammer bot fishes emails off online postings...
I have them and periodically login to them to keep them alive. If you get a few regular recipients to do something similar to acquire anonymous emails and also have them use PGP you can obtain both anonymous, untraceable email messaging, but also encrypted, unreadable messages by Big Brother. Do it just to throw a wrench into NSA's assault on the Constitution. Do it just to drive the FBI nuts. Do it to absolutely protect your RIGHT to anonymity, free speech, and privacy.