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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
VERY IMPRESSIVE!
Now, let us see if the weak kneed Democrats do anything about it, or if the Pelosi/Emmanuel wusses prevail.
If you can't abuse it?
One of the reasons the president is getting away with this is that the public is not asking the questions. God knows the press won't ask.
The first step for people who are appalled at this problem is to demand that politicians at every level make a public statement about surveillance. Make them say on the record that they support the government snooping on its citizens. Ask not just senators and congressmen, but all officials, all the way down to dogcatcher.
Send letters, send emails. Corner them on the campaign trail. Force them to render a specific opinion, on the record. If they refuse to answer, put them down as pro-snooping. Then document it all in one place, on the internet, where anyone can find it and use it against them.
One of the politician's oldest tricks is to finesse an issue by never publicly commenting on it. We have to draw a bright line and force these knuckleheads to pick a side. The NRA has done that beautifully, causing gun control advocates to crumble. The same approach can work for surveillance.
I actually did not know about "Main Core" or at least, nothing this specific. It looks like they have used the 'war on terror' to focus on dissidents in the U.S. Be nice to get more hard evidence next.
The crimes of Bush go way beyond those of Nixon. We have all the information we need right now to impeach, indict and convict. No more investigation is required. Evidence is not lacking. All that's lacking is the political will.
timothy3: '... But we can work, at the local and federal Congressional levels, to bring forward progressive candidates who actually value human decency, fairness and equity....'
A lot of people have been doing that for a long time. Meanwhile, things have gotten worse and the hero of the current moment has already turned in his lance.
Maybe most people don't want governors who value human decency, fairness and equity -- maybe they want a police state and plutocracy. That's the way they vote, and their chosen representatives have faithfully represented their will.
The minority who want something else need to think of something besides bringing forward progressive candidates who will either be defeated or turned. A new society, a new culture, built from the ground up in the shell of the old. If you can't do it help someone who can.
I am quite sure that the government alphabet soup has, and has pretty much always had, any number of databases on American citizens, and citizens of allied countries too for that matter, over and above terrorists, and they have always been assiduously mining to the limits of the technology they have at the time. And in fact I am also sure that the NSA has some VERY GOOD technology, they have some very bright people working for them.
And as long as it isn't used as the basis for legal charges, there is no way at all to find out. I too would be disappointed if I wasn't on a list or two. Not that that worries me much either; those lists are Very Big, and never shrink, so I am in an awful lot of company, I am sure.
But what I was trying to point out was the extraordinary weakness of the article. When it relies on a source like William Hamilton (pretty much the only named source in the whole piece at that!) and relates the extraordinarily murky and very old history Inslaw/PROMIS mess with breathless awe, well the quality of the reportage is obvious. (And that Mr. Shorrock and the Salon Editorial staff have never heard of Google or Wikipedia.) Making the "revelation" that the government is using something scary and super powerful called PROMIS to investigate citizens pretty much undercuts any credibility that the article might have. I kept waiting for Shorrock to excitedly reveal the existence of Echelon and the Berlin tunnel.
Did you know that Santa isn't real? Neither is the Easter Bunny, sorry to say. Time to wake up and smell the coffee! It's all a vast conspiracy I tell ya!
No, what this whole story has me wondering is who decided to float it, and why? And what on earth were Salon editors thinking?
"...a potential investigation of the White House that could rival Watergate."
As if that would ever happen. Dream on.
And as long as we are taking a peek down the Rabbit Hole, let's discuss the implications of a program like Main Core. Anyone here who thinks they are of legitimate interest to the government, raise your hand . . . that's right, they are only interested in deciphering the works of GoodCelery! and BeBop-O.
I have to take offense to this on two counts:
First off, GoodCelery/bebop-o is one of the kindest people I am acquainted with, and does a lot to undo the things this government slimes itself with in not supporting the troops/veterans. Many of his posts are full of insights and are not always easy.
Second off, the government would literally start pulling all of everyone's eye teeth down at NSA if that's what it would take to get a computer program that could understand his posts. Government contractors begin to salivate and develop a far off gleam in their eyes if they even hear that someone is working on such a program, and it produces an immediate business card and a "Let's talk." Not because of what bebop-o is saying, but because poetry is the ultimate form of encryption.
This is more or less the mechanics behind all the junk mail you get.
I have to take offense to this on two counts:First off, GoodCelery/bebop-o is one of the kindest people I am acquainted with, and does a lot to undo the things this government slimes itself with in not supporting the troops/veterans. Many of his posts are full of insights and are not always easy.
Please take no offense. I meant that remark as the highest form of praise for GoodCelery/bebop-o. If one were to trawl through the posts on this site, they would find primaruly countless lukewarm rehashes of left-leaning talking points. (My own senseless blather included)
The gleaming exception would be the work of GoodCelery/bebop-o whose unique style and substance would legitimately send NSA sensors spinning much in the manner you describe. Poetry as Encryption is an apt metaphor and his stuff is good enough and "out there" enough for me to say it would be the only thing of interest to the All-Seeing Eye.
I do not have the benefit of the person's acquaintance, but have read pretty much all comments and have, indeed, gotten the sense that they are a first rate human being.
Rest assured, I meant my remark as a compliment.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
