War on Terrorism

It’s ok, the pres told me to do it.

This entry was posted in Constitution Federal Government Privacy US Politics War on Terrorism on by

The dems do more for bush and the police state than the repubs:

I’d like to underscore the fact that in 2006, when the Congress was controlled by Bill Frist and Denny Hastert, the administration tried to get a bill passed legalizing warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, but was unable. They had to wait until the Congress was controlled by Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to accomplish that.

In short form, the house just passed legislation (to call it law completely demeans the concept of law) that says that even if it is illegal if the president says it was ok it’s, well, not illegal. So why do we have a congress and judicial system….?
Unfortunately, the legislation is even worse…read the above link and, heck, even the Washington Post for more nauseous details.
Blue Girl suggests that there was some big lever used on the dems:

But there is one thing no one knows–and that is, how bad was the thing that was used to threaten the Democratic Party to roll over on this issue? How bad was the thing they were threatening to use against anyone who opposed them? Was it the fact that there are archives on every Democratic politician kept sealed away–archives of their personal conversations, archives of their monetary dealings, details of their sex lives?

Nah, this is just the way these folks are. dems and repubs alike continue to cravenly build executive power, line the wallets of their corporate masters and shred the constitution.

Some day all you folks that wear your donkey and elephant pins will realize that these parties and their hacks are not interested in you but only in the power that they wield.

Hat tip to Steve for the original abomination sighting.

Toss’m All Out

This entry was posted in bush Democrats Government Iraq Republicans War on Terrorism on by

Brad Delong quotes Matthew Yglesias and rightfully finds fault with some of the perpetrators:

Matthew Yglesias (March 31, 2008) – The Horror (Foreign Policy):
There was a time when I never could have imagined I’d be reading stuff like this about my own country:

At the age of 19, Murat Kurnaz vanished into America’s shadow prison system in the war on terror. He was from Germany, traveling in Pakistan, and was picked up three months after 9/11. But there seemed to be ample evidence that Kurnaz was an innocent man with no connection to terrorism. The FBI thought so, U.S. intelligence thought so, and German intelligence agreed. But once he was picked up, Kurnaz found himself in a prison system that required no evidence and answered to no one…

Read the whole thing; I don’t really have the heart to make a witty remark.

Only those people who embrace the idea of being evil and think that evil is cool have any business voting for the Republican Party ever again. Ever. Again.

Or, for that matter, voting for the democratic party which has spent the past 7 years enabling the republicans.

Just Say No to Real ID

This entry was posted in Federal Government War on Terrorism on by

The other 49 governors need to follow Montana governor brian schweitzer’s lead:

Schweitzer emphasized that his state’s licenses already contain holograms, secure digital photographs and a magnetic stripe on the back. But says he has no intention of sharing his state’s residents’ data with the federal government, as required by Real ID.
The information the government wants the states to keep and share in Real ID is ripe for abuse, despite the government’s privacy and security promises, he said.
“They tell us our data is safe,” Schweitzer said. “You tell that to the passport people,” he said, referring to news that State Department employees snooped in all three major presidential candidates’ passport files.
“Do you want your government to have the ability to track where you went, how you got there and when you got home?” Schweitzer asked. “It would be naïve for someone to think this information will not be abused in the future. Virtually every decade these kinds of files have been used to violate people’s privacy.”

schweitzer and the rest of our government servants would do well to apply this kind of thinking and action to any other program that invades our privacy or compromises our personal information with particular emphasis on banking institutions and telecommunications companies that apparently routinely violate our rights.

Via The Technology Liberation Front.

Telecom Immunity

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It is likely that congress is going to roll over for the bushies once again and grant immunity to some telecom companies who broke the law.
As noted at The Left Coaster the issue from the administration perspective is not about the dollar penalties that might be assessed. It is about covering the administration’s ass.
So why are the dems licking it?
The only reason that I can think of is that the congress critters and their presidential candidates think that violating the 4th amendment might be a good tool for them to have in their kit as well.

It is not as if the democratic party has ever been all about respect for individuals and their rights both real and as expressed in the constitution. Quite the contrary.