Letters to the Editor
thelastnamechosen
Published Letters: 156
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Optimism day
[Read the article: Michael Mukasey's role in the Jose Padilla case]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Excellent post by ondelette at 1:52.
Throwing out a thought here. The threat is not terrorism, the threat is technology. It is technology that is the root of our current fears. It is technology that makes a small group of non state actors a credible threat.
We fear the inherent power of the universe that is slowly unlocked by science. We fear that this power will render obsolete the previous balance of individual vs state.
We have begun the endless war against science and the individual. The "war" on terrorism is a lie. It is a marketing slogan to make palatable in narrative the truly endless and epic war we face.
Because we are human, there will always be people who are willing to kill others in the name of god, or morality, or just lashing out against a lover or an uptight home owners association. Freewill and the inevitable march of technology cannot coexist forever. The only question is how far the state will go to nullify freewill and the individual's access to technology.
Pervasive surveillance and "torture" that is designed to deprive the individual of will itself is only the beginning.
It is not optimism day on the planet of the apes.
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karrsic,
[Read the article: Michael Mukasey's role in the Jose Padilla case]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No I haven't, but I didn't get far into the wiki article before I realized I should. I had to stop reading for fear of spoilers:)
Thanks.
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USATT
[Read the article: Are Democrats planning still worse FISA capitulations?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A relevant post from the excellent emptywheel.
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/09/the-united-stat.html
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All I offer is
[Read the article: The Beltway Establishment's contempt for the rule of law]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]flu induced mixed metaphors, undefined generalities and unsupported assertions.
There is a point when corporatism and communism become the same thing. Companies own the government == government owns the companies. It is like "Aloha", it just a matter of whether you are coming or going. (ondelette at 12:13 makes my point much better than I could)
The reassembly of ATT now makes much more sense. Every separate corporate entity is one more weak link. A chance that another Quest might balk. Another chance for a leak. Competition is the enemy of secrets.
This bill is not just telco amnesty, it is part of the effective nationalization of our communications infrastructure. When surveillance is the highest of all values there is every incentive to promote the large centralized corporate entity over a collection of small decentralized entities. Every mom and pop bookseller is not only a potential trouble maker and leaker, they are much farther removed from the carrots and sticks in the federal governments arsenal. Mom and pop will require a visit from an agent for records that may not even exist, while Amazon provides direct access to their backend database. (pure speculation)
Centralization and a reduction to the smallest possible number of players is the key to a surveillance society. One store. One phone. One world.
Since computers and communications are joined at the hip, I am curious about what kind of "access" the government has requested of the computer industry. Encryption is a big problem for a surveillance society, and it would only be logical that the telcos are not the only companies asked politely to play ball. I think there is a huge untold story about the participation of the computer industry in the governments vision of a surveillance society. We may need another amnesty bill.
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It has something to do with the telling of time.
[Read the article: The Beltway Establishment's contempt for the rule of law]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gordon,
Thank you. I knew there was something wrong with that line.
WT,
One of the reasons I like Glenn's guests is that I learn new words all the time.
Today's word is koan. Thank you. I also agree. At best, my statement is a mandala in the form of propagandart. I do think there is something to the idea that a government obsessed with surveillance will consciously or unconsciously move toward centralization and de-facto government control of key industries.
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But there's nothing to smile about--Mick Travis
[Read the article: Telecom amnesty would forever foreclose investigation of vital issues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn, keep kicking ass!
Arne :)
Ché Pasa said,
So...the question remains, Why?
To become God. Or at least a god. We are building the new Tower of Babel, this time with fiber optic cable that stretches to heaven. It will be a space elevator that will allow the glorious ascension of the worthy few.
Well I, for one, believe in the ladder to heaven.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah... 9/11.
I said 9/11, 9/11, 9/11, Ni-hi, hi-hine...
...Eleven
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The executive has no fear of being held accountable to the law.
Congress has no fear of being held accountable the law.
It is only the telcos that fear accountability. Since we know that terrorists, like an old Star Trek alien, feed off of our fear, then we must eliminate the buffet that is telco accountability.
We live in a Golden Corral. Why is there so much salt?
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When no one can tempt you with heaven or hell - You'll be A Lucky Man!
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How many licks does it take?
[Read the article: Telecom amnesty would forever foreclose investigation of vital issues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That NY Post article is a thing of beauty. It has everything--Al Qaeda, lawyers, and a grieving wife's appeal to god.
The FISA law applies even to a cellphone conversation between two people in Iraq, because those communications zip along wires through U.S. hubs, which is where the taps are typically applied.
Bull fucking shit. Are we to believe that the administration is prevented by the current Iraqi government from tapping those "lines" before they leave Iraq and begin the efficient journey back to the U.S. and then back to Iraq?
Are we to believe that the current Iraqi constitution has such strong civil liberties protections that our military must rely on taps based in the U.S.?
If this is really the case, we need to pull out all of our troops simply for the purpose of reinvading.
The problem isn't the U.S. congress, it is the Iraqi congress. We don't need to change our laws, we need to change Iraqi law.
The administration needs to lick on this for awhile.