Letters to the Editor
-
Arne Langsetmo
I think that the winnowing procedures that limit the stuff that is recorded and seen by humans needs to be for the purpose of making sure that only material covered by a warrant is included in the stuff delivered. If not, then the potential for abuse arises.
Can you say what happens concerning evidence of suspected crimes unrelated to the specific warrant items that may be uncovered during the "Hoovering?" Can unrelated information be declared grounds for requesting another warrant for the newly discovered suspected criminal activity? Could an agency justify opening another investigation based on incidental data? Or is evidence of unrelated crimes somehow automatically exluded? Do you even think this is an issue?
It seems like there might be a back-door entry method of "trolling" for evidence to use against an "alleged terror suspect" occupying an unfortunate spot on someone's Enemies List or on the slate of someone's opopsing political party.
Cheers,
-
What it's good for
In addition to reading the comments here today, I've also been keeping up with Digby's reports on the swiftboating of Graeme Frost and his family. Scurrilous stuff. As Digby says, these people are scum.
It seems to me, after a day of following both threads, that one compliments the other in an obvious and altogether chilling way. If you want to know what data hoovering is actually good for, look at what the asshole right is doing to this hapless kid. Imagine what would happen if this disgusting bunch had access to the full resources of the U.S. government to guide their smears. (And don't think for a moment that the GWB administration wouldn't provide it to them.)
-
i'm an independent voter
The goal is to have a Congress that does the right thing, not a "Democratic Congress" that doesn't.
but happen to think copecetic with most democrats; what i like about Glenn's post is the call not to march in lockstep with some of these bozos just 'cause they're dems but to find common ground and ideals and go after candidates that fit. heck, some of them might even be repubs...nah, never mind.
-
@ patg
I imagine there are a number of folks who would prefer to vote for an "honest on the principles" Republican over a "dishonest on the principles" Democrat. I can live with the form of fiscal conservatism, social liberalism of some of my Republican and Libertarian friends. I can't live with the Authoritarians, who if they can't bully you, then try to savage you, like Michelle Malkin has done. As an independent/unaffiliated voter I've reserved judgment on who the parties pick to run, but this year I've pumped as much money as I can afford into preferred Democratic candidates. In a few years I'll be actively supporting a serious challenger to my current Bush-Dog senator.
-
@WT
Went and read the Digby post. Maybe if they pair these "rich kids" up with the "poor family farmers" who were going to lose everything to the "death tax" the kids could get their medical paid for.
-
@bystander
i agree. actually that "never mind" was a rather weak attempt at humor. i can go either way on a ton of issues, but do not want to be told which way is "right".
wasn't sinatra a republican?
-
@ ondelette
I applaud your heroic effort to keep irony alive -- it's certainly a comforting old friend to have a cup of tea and a cry with while waiting for the revolution -- but the truth is that these murdering bastards have done for the ironic muse what Frank Lloyd Wright did for the Corinthian column. We shall never quite be able to rely on it again.
-
Dragonfly or Insect Spy?
According to an article in today's Washington Post, near the stage at the rally preceding the antiwar march in Washington on September 15, strange sightings were made:
Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month.
"I heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,' " the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects."
Robotic fliers have been used by the military since World War II, but in the past decade their numbers and level of sophistication have increased enormously.
Out in the crowd, Bernard Crane saw them, too.
"I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?' "
That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.
The article then goes on to discuss what is known about the state of the art regarding miniaturization of spy drones.
Yet, despite the assessment that the current technology probably isn't quite there yet for a drone the size of a large dragonfly, the details reported at the end of the article suggest that somewhere, someone has indeed advanced the technology:
So what was seen by Crane, Alarcon and a handful of others at the D.C. march -- and as far back as 2004, during the Republican National Convention in New York, when one observant but perhaps paranoid peace-march participant described on the Web "a jet-black dragonfly hovering about 10 feet off the ground, precisely in the middle of 7th avenue . . . watching us"?
They probably saw dragonflies, said Jerry Louton, an entomologist at the National Museum of Natural History. Washington is home to some large, spectacularly adorned dragonflies that "can knock your socks off," he said.
At the same time, he added, some details do not make sense. Three people at the D.C. event independently described a row of spheres, the size of small berries, attached along the tails of the big dragonflies -- an accoutrement that Louton could not explain. And all reported seeing at least three maneuvering in unison.
"Dragonflies never fly in a pack," he said.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice said her group is investigating witness reports and has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with several federal agencies. If such devices are being used to spy on political activists, she said, "it would be a significant violation of people's civil rights."
Link:http://tinyurl.com/2r653m
I realize this reads more like UFO sightings than reporting in the WaPo. Also, I was there and spent quite a bit of time near the stage area since our bus arrived very early. I didn't see anything like the "dragonflies", but I also didn't hang out in the specific area I think they are talking about, which is where the final plans were being drawn up for the "die-in". I did see lots of surveillance from several helicopters flying overhead and provided a one finger salute to someone manning a video camera on the Capitol steps as the police were massing to start making arrests.
Next time I'm there for a march, I think I'll attach a net to the stick along with my sign. It sure would be fun to come home with a souvenir.