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Embracing Big Brother
CANDACE COHN
Counterpunch
Friday, June 27, 2008
It may be June, but Christmas came early this year for Big Brother and the telecommunications giants. Unfortunately, it is average Americans who will pay--dearly--on three separate counts.
First, precious constitutional and other legal protections against warrantless domestic surveillance have been shattered. The federal government may now secretly and legally eavesdrop on virtually any American's e-mail, cell phone and landline communications--without first getting a court-ordered warrant.
New federal legislation gives the government and phone companies sweeping new domestic surveillance powers. It allows for mass, untargeted, warrantless eavesdropping against ordinary American citizens and political activists. It sets back hard-fought free speech, civil rights and privacy protections that were won by popular pressure following the Vietnam War and Watergate era.
The second price that Americans will pay is by those who have been illegally monitored since 9/11. They will lose billions of dollars from dozens of anti-spying lawsuits pending against the likes of Sprint, AT&T and Verizon. These suits, covering the last seven years, will now be dismissed in a huge giveaway of immunity to the telecommunications lobby and big campaign donors.
The lawsuits arose from the government's secret eavesdropping on American citizens, carried out since September 11 by Verizon, AT&T and others at the behest of the Bush administration, without court-ordered warrants--which until now had been legally required.
Third, Americans will be unable to discover the extent and details of the government's post-9/11 domestic spying operation, which barely came to light three years ago. That domestic eavesdropping campaign will now continue and expand further--with legal sanction--in the dark recesses of total secrecy. The new bill is a huge and blatant cover-up. CANDACE COHN Counterpunch Friday, June 27, 2008 ... more -
House OKs update of bipartisan spy law
Bill would allow U.S. to eavesdrop without court warrant
The House put aside more than a year of partisan wrangling Friday and approved an update of the nation's foreign surveillance laws, despite calls from civil libertarians and some lawmakers it doesn't go far enough to protect privacy rights of Americans.
The bill, which the White House endorsed, now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass next week.
The bipartisan measure would modernize the 30-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), allowing U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop, without court approval, on foreign targets thought to be outside the United States. It also provides certain retroactive immunity from lawsuits to telephone companies that participated in a post-Sept. 11 surveillance program that operated outside court review.
(End of excerpt)
Full story at link by Sean Lengell// The Washington Times
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Additional sources covering this story:
Associated Press: "House passes new surveillance law"
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hJKgeE0Z-SivATjok-ut...
The New York Times: "House Passes Bill on Federal Wiretapping Powers"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/washington/21fisacnd....
Wall Street Journal: "FISA Amendments Act of 2008" [fact sheet]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121391360949290049.html...
The Washington Post: "Obama Supports FISA Legislation, Angering Left"
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/20/oba... Bill would allow U.S. to eavesdrop without court warrant ... more -
Take the FISA bill OFF the table! Call NOW!
New email from DFA: Dear Angelina,
What is wrong with our Senate leadership?
Three times now, DFA members like you and me have made phone calls demanding Senators stand up to the Bush administration and pass a FISA bill without granting immunity to telecommunication companies who spied on innocent Americans.
Each time, Washington insiders predicted that we would fail to stop it. And because of you, each time the insiders were wrong.
But President Bush is determined to get telecom immunity passed before he leaves office because he knows the lawsuits against AT&T and Verizon are America's last chance to hold the Bush administration accountable for spying on you. He's even promised to veto any FISA reform bill that doesn't let his cronies off the hook.
How many Americans will die in Iraq while the Senate spends another worthless day fighting over a flawed bill that only the President and his friends want passed? How many children will continue to go without health insurance because the Senate is too busy helping AT&T instead of fighting to expand S-CHIP or provide health care for all?
Why is a "get out of jail free" card for Verizon more important than stopping global warming?
It's time to take FISA reform off the table until America elects a new President next November. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could end this once and for all -- today.
Call Senator Reid right now and demand: No new FISA reforms while President Bush is still in office.
Democratic Majority Leader
Senator Harry Reid
(202) 224-3542
Suggested Script:
"Take telecom immunity off the table. Pull the FISA reform bill and extend current law until President Bush leaves office. The U.S. Senate has more important work to get done than figure out how to let AT&T get away with spying on Americans."
Please report your call here:
www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/reportfisacalls
Wait! Don't stop there. Contact your senators too! They need to know where you stand. Senator Reid is more likely to stand strong if your senator stands with him. Please call your senators now:
Senator Barbara Boxer
(202) 224-3553
Senator Dianne Feinstein
(202) 224-3841
Don't forget to report how your calls went here:
www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/reportfisacalls
Washington insiders say we can't stop this bill. Maybe they are right, but we've heard it before. Let's see what they are saying after you and I and our progressive community make thousands of calls today.
We will stand up to President Bush today. Together, we'll demand the Senate follows our lead.
Thank you for everything you do,
-Charles
Charles Chamberlain
Political Director New email from DFA: Dear Angelina, What is wrong with our Senate leadership? ... more -
Speak out against telecom immunity with your photos, videos, and phone calls!
Don't just tell Congress to stop the spying -- show them.
Countless citizens have told Congress to reject telecom immunity, but the Senate is still threatening to pass a bill giving immunity to lawbreaking phone companies. It's time to get creative and move beyond words. Let's show our elected representatives who supports the rule of law -- ordinary Americans from across the country. We'll deliver your multimedia messages to lawmakers to drive the point home: no immunity for lawbreaking telecoms! Don't just tell Congress to stop the spying -- show them. ... more -
AT&T still wants to stalk you
Last week AT&T announced that it is seriously considering plans to examine all the traffic it carries for potential violations of U.S. intellectual property laws.
The prospect of AT&T, already accused of spying on our telephone calls, now scanning every e-mail and download for outlawed content is way too totalitarian for my tastes. But the bizarre twist is that the proposal is such a bad idea that it would be not just a disservice to the public but probably a disaster for AT&T itself. Last week AT&T announced that it is seriously considering plans to examine all the traffic it carries for potential violations of ... more -
CIA = LIE Part 2: Lies Permeate Our Government
Here's an interesting Op Ed from the NY Times today written by Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton who served as chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the 9/11 commission. It's about how the newspaper asked the CIA numerous times for information after the law was put into effect to release all information about these serious attacks on America.
Don't get me wrong, I love my country as I love my wife. But the lies and deceitfulness incorporated into many facets of our Government needs to be stopped dead in its tracks.
Lies from the city, county, state governments to lies on Capital Hill. Lies that put people in prisons, Lies that keep people in prisons, Lies that keep people below poverty level, lies, lies and lies. Lies about our Social Security system AND Numbers. The old SS Cards had a disclaimer on the bottom that said: The SS# Will never be used for Identification purposes.
Now we are merely a number with our government. Furthermore, the SS system is unfortunately broken. Another major lie is that SS helps people after retirement or if they are disabled. Some, but not all that deserve it.
Lies.
This CIA bit really brings out the problem the people of our country need to address when the votes start. We need to lobby for laws making lies by our government officials a major felony without any pardoning (look at the Valery Plame case, what a crock that turned out to be with 'Scooter' getting pardoned!) We need to clean up the governments act and hold people responsible for their lies. On every level of government. Lies from a prosecuting attorney to get someone convicted? Give that attorney the max the law provides for the crime he was prosecuting. A rule/law like this for every level in government would almost stop the lies. Lets call it the SLAM law: Stop Lies in America More
Read the article and comment back on how we can clean our government up. It's all summed up in the last paragraph there.....
"What we do know is that government officials decided not to inform a lawfully constituted body, created by Congress and the president, to investigate one the greatest tragedies to confront this country. We call that obstruction."
I call it a terrible and destructive evil that is tearing our Government apart. Here's an interesting Op Ed from the NY Times today written by Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton who served as chairman and vice... more -
Warnings Unheeded on Guards in Iraq
This story has more importance that what is going on in Iraq. Black Water is bidding for contracts to operate in America. If they are not held accountable for what they have been doing in Iraq, will they be held accountable for what they do in America? We need to stop this group of rogues now before they are turned loose on the American people. George W. is putting laws into place making their endevors legal here. I don't want to be a refugee in America. I don't want private police patrolling our streets, invading our privacy, and carting us off to the facilities built by Halliburton. This story has more importance that what is going on in Iraq. Black Water is bidding for contracts to operate in America. If they ar... more
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FBI Prepares Vast Database of Biometrics
Sounds good until they come for YOU! What laws will be enacted enabling them to use this technology on average Americans? Will we loose our voices? Will they use this technology to silence voices of decent? Who will protect us from abuse? Sounds good until they come for YOU! What laws will be enacted enabling them to use this technology on average Americans? Will we lo... more
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Spying on Americans
