This really is an NSA poster
The Bush administration’s anti-terrorist surveillance efforts are more extensive than top officials have acknowledged, going beyond the controversial no-warrant eavesdropping program, Mike McConnell, the U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is being asked to provide records about a data-mining program.
Read this sleazy rationale:
In a letter defending the embattled attorney general, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell states that eavesdropping is just one of the programs President Bush authorized after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
“This is the only aspect of the NSA activities that can be discussed publicly because it is the only aspect of those various activities whose existence has been fully acknowledged,” McConnell wrote.
Congressional whizbangs are confident the “other” aspects are NSA data mining emails and more. Of course, we are reassured by Bush’s Dick –
“”I think the key is whether or not [Gonzales] has the confidence of the president, and he clearly does.”
>>Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is being asked to
>>provide records about a data-mining program.
Jesus. Talk about pissing into the wind. Anybody who still thinks asking ‘berto ANYTHING is a productive use of time ought to be euthanized.
“I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. ”
Got that?
The only way we can defend freedom is to sacrifice liberty.
#2 WTF I can’t tell if you are being serious or what.
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
It’s frustrating that they bring 9/11 back into this to try to justify their blatant violation of 4th amendment rights, especially since it’s starting to come out that the NSA warrantless wiretapping started at the beginning of Bush’s first term, not as a response to 9/11.
I’ve got to ask. Is it the feeiling of those here that if the NSA is taping OBL phone and he starts talking to an American citizen that is in the USA, that the NSA should hang up until they get a warrant?
#5 If they are already tapping his phone on his end what would they need a warrant for?
#5 um, i’m gonna go out on a limb here and suggest OBL IS NOT STUPID ENOUGH TO CALL A US PHONE NUMBER
billions of dollars spent wiretapping the whole nation for that? good grief man, wake up.
>>Is it the feeiling of those here that if the NSA is taping OBL
>>phone and he starts talking to an American citizen that is
>>in the USA, that the NSA should hang up until they get
>>a warrant?
Uh, they don’t HAVE to hang up, Gigster. In an emergency, they can wiretap to their hearts’ content; they just have to fill out the paperwork AFTERWARD (with the FISA court, which is pretty much a rubber stamp) to show why it was necessary.
But showing that something is (or was) necessary goes so far beyond what Little King Dumbya and his butt buddies are willing to do, that they refuse.
As a result, there will be a Democrat in the Oval Office in January 2009.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
#5 Under existing law they could get a warrant after the fact from a secret judge and not only not miss the call, not circumvent centuries of jurisprudence.
But out of curiosity, why are you so quick to give up the rights so many millions of Americans over the past 200+ years have died to defend?
#9 why are you so quick to give up the rights so many millions of Americans over the past 200+ years have died to defend?
ooh! ooh! ooh! i know this one!!!!
because conservatives are actually terrified of terrorists, and have already conceded their desire to have liberty, instead of standing up for what they believe!
>>because conservatives are actually terrified of terrorists
Christ. They’re terrified of terrorists, they’re terrified of liberty, they’re terrified of freedom, they’re terrified of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they’re terrified of just about EVERYTHING.
No wonder they’re all ChickenHawks. If they’re scared of a piece of paper, imagine the panic they would feel if somebody put an M-16 in their hands and told them to defend their country!!
anyone notice when gonzales actually recalled anything, he would only comment specifically about “this” program, or the program “we’re talking about”, or “this specific” program. read between the lines.
>>anyone notice when gonzales actually recalled anything
Did he really do that? I guess his recolletions got lost for me among all the “I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. I don’t recall. I can’t recall, Senator. I don’t recall. At this time, I can’t recall. ” mumbo-jumbo he was spewing.
I thought when he DID recall, his reply was “I can’t answer that question”.
These are the people who are supposed to be leaders of the free world. Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Sweet mother of God.
#3, Steve,
While that is a great quote, it has not been shown to be Franklin’s. It wasn’t until a couple of decades after his death that anyone bothered to attribute it to him.
As I said, a great quote. It stands on its own, it doesn’t need to be attached to someone’s else’s name.
#14 Thanks, and I guess it depends on what source you want to believe and what you want to read into. I’d be happy to read yours as well.
Virtually all governments invade your privacy every time you leave or reenter the country. Why should your telephone call crossing the same border be any different?
#10 hit the nail on the head
my response to all of this is a deep sigh of remorse
One of the things that wasn’t brought up in this article is the fact that you can “wiretap” foreign calls in the US. Modern phone systems are now packetized digital systems that route just like the Internet and acutally use some of the same backbones.
If OBL made a call from Pakistan to Bahgdad, it’s possible the packets might actually route through the US because we have the most backbone capacity.