i am blathering now

there is only so much i can say. there is only so much i can rant. there is only so much i, a rose is a rose, can personally handle. this is insulting to my intelligence. this is incredulous. why isn't this man and his boss (ex, the king of america) in jail right this second? at the least, why aren't they CHARGED with something?

Report Describes Careless Handling of U.S. Secrets

Gonzales Says He Does Not Recall

By Carrie Johnson

Washington Post Staff Writer

Former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales told investigators that he could not recall whether he took home notes regarding the government's most sensitive national security program and that he did not know they contained classified information, despite his own markings that they were "top secret -- eyes only,"(WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTT????????? and we're just going to sit here and take THAT shite?) according to a Justice Department report released yesterday.

Gonzales improperly carried notes about the warrantless wiretapping program in an unlocked briefcase and failed to keep them in a safe at his Northern Virginia home three years ago because he "could not remember the combination," the department's inspector general reported...........

there are SO many reasons i would never in a

ZILLION YEARS vote for mccain. here are just two (and they're BIG ones in my book)
his position on a woman's RIGHT TO CHOOSE (well i'm not quite sure WHAT it is since he's been ALL OVER THE MAP)
his position on the murdering of our men and women sent to iraq (i consider it murder since i cannot fathom, nor can YOU fathom no matter WHAT excuse you think you come up with)

and i'm NOT surprised by this:
McCain: I'd Spy on Americans Secretly, Too
by Ryan Singel
If elected president, Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president's wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight, according to a statement released by his campaign Monday.
McCain's new tack towards the Bush administration's theory of executive power comes some 10 days after a McCain surrogate stated, incorrectly it seems, that the senator wanted hearings into telecom companies' cooperation with President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, before he'd support giving those companies retroactive legal immunity.
As first reported by Threat Level, Chuck Fish, a full-time lawyer for the McCain campaign, also said McCain wanted stricter rules on how the nation's telecoms work with U.S. spy agencies, and expected those companies to apologize for any lawbreaking before winning amnesty.
But Monday, McCain adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin, speaking for the campaign, disavowed those statements, and for the first time cast McCain's views on warrantless wiretapping as identical to Bush's. ..........

draw your brakes brodda*

and in this case i mean BIG BRODDA (cause he really IS watching)

US drafting plan to allow government access to any email or Web search
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a "walk in the park," according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today.
Debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act “will be a walk in the park compared to this,” McConnell said. “this is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we’re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens.”
The article, which profiles the 65-year-old former admiral appointed by President George W. Bush in January 2007 to oversee all of America's intelligence agencies, was not published on the New Yorker's Web site........

things like this just leave me wondering. right now let's just say, screw MY rights (just for now). i must wonder why our government is spending money on shite like this when our returning veterans (just as ONE instance out of a kazillion) aren't getting the care they need.

*one of my favorite reggae songs. it was on the album the harder they come by jimmy cliff

now THIS is justice!

dang, this is GREAT

FBI wiretaps dropped due to unpaid bills

Lax FBI Money Controls Lead to Shutdown of Surveillance, Justice Department Audit Finds

LARA JAKES JORDAN

Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.

In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal and intelligence investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies........

what happened to probable cause?

it went the way of habeas corpus and democracy and our entire constitution it appears.
(i have NO problems with tapping phones IF there is a warrant AND PROBABLE CAUSE AND it's all within the LAW)

Cellphone Tracking Powers on Request
Secret Warrants Granted Without Probable Cause

By Ellen Nakashima Washington Post Staff Writer
Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers.
In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.

help

chris dodd bring our constitution back!

hmmmmmmmmm

doctor doctor, it hurts when i do this................

(well don't DO that)

so verizon provided data without warrants (yeah, we KNEW that already. we also knew at&t and goddess only knows how many other phone companies did it) for HUNDREDS OF EMERGENCY cases .... HUNDREDS mind you

'hello grandma? this is koko calling. just calling to find out how you're doing. oh good! ummmmmm and oh by the way, can i borrow fifty bucks?'
Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders
Firm's Letter to Lawmakers Details Government Requests


By Ellen NakashimaWashington Post Staff Writer
Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005.
The company said it does not determine the requests' legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations.
In an Oct. 12 letter replying to Democratic lawmakers, Verizon offered a rare glimpse into the way telecommunications companies cooperate with government requests for information on U.S. citizens. ......

what's wrong with

THIS picture?

people are afraid to air 'howl' by allen ginsberg on the radio waves. but we can be illegally spied upon and the fcc does NADA?

Public radio station in NYC won't air "Howl" for fear of the FCC
Posted by Cory Doctorow
The FCC's war on dirty words is having a chilling effect -- even WBAI Pacifica, the radical radio station in NYC, is scared of airing Allen Ginsberg's magnificent poem, Howl. "Why, 50 years later after a judge ruled that children could read this poem, people are afraid the courts will say that their ears shouldn't hear it," said Ron Collins, a constitutional law instructor and First Amendment advocate who is leading a small group of authors, broadcasters and free-speech advocates pushing to broadcast the poem eventually. "Yet they can go on the Internet and see far, far worse things."
Another irony: WBAI, the Pacifica Foundation station in New York that plans to post "Howl" online, is the same station that took on the FCC more than 30 years ago over the right to air George Carlin's comedy routine featuring the "seven dirty words." The challenge led to a 1978 Supreme Court decision governing what naughty words can be broadcast and when. ........

FCC refuses to probe telecoms over giving customer data to NSA
As Reuters reports, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has declined to look into allegations that telecommunications companies colluded with the NSA to collect information on American citizens in conjunction with warrantless wiretapping.
Martin cites "national security concerns."
EXCERPTS:
#
The reports have prompted scrutiny by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Democratic Rep. Edward Markey, the chairman of a key Energy and Commerce subcommittee, asked Martin to investigate.
In his response, Martin included Tuesday's letter from McConnell. A spokesman for the FCC declined further comment..........

whoops!

who needs the TRUTH when you want to shred our constitution and take away the rights of all (well NOT quite all) americans???

Spy Master Admits Error
Intel czar Mike McConnell told Congress a new law helped bring down a terror plot. The facts say otherwise.

(don't ya just LOVE the headline? they're calling it an 'ERROR' instead of what it REALLY is, a bold faced LIE)

By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Sept. 12, 2007 - In a new embarrassment for the Bush administration's top spymaster, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell is withdrawing an assertion he made to Congress this week that a recently passed electronic-surveillance law helped U.S. authorities foil a major terror plot in Germany.
The temporary measure, signed into law by President Bush on Aug. 5, gave the U.S. intelligence community broad new powers to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications overseas without seeking warrants from the surveillance court. The law expires in six months and is expected to be the subject of intense debate in the months ahead. On Monday, McConnell—questioned by Sen. Joe Lieberman—claimed the law, intended to remedy what the White House said was an intelligence gap, had helped to “facilitate” the arrest of three suspects believed to be planning massive car bombings against American targets in Germany. Other U.S. intelligence-community officials questioned the accuracy of McConnell's testimony and urged his office to correct it..........

and now after all of the war talk and animal abuse talk

and natural disaster talk, here's a little JOKE

100*

yes that's right. they claim they are ONLY tapping 100* people in the united states. they've outright lied about EVERYTHING they've done. 100* my big fat ass

McConnell: Fewer Than 100 Secret U.S. Wiretaps
Domestic Terror Cases 'Manageable'

By Joby Warrick Washington Post Staff Writer
Law enforcement officials are targeting fewer than 100 people in the United States for secret court-approved wiretaps aimed at disrupting terrorist networks, the top U.S. intelligence official said in an interview published yesterday.
The relatively low number of those under surveillance in this country stands in contrast with "thousands" of people overseas whose calls and e-mails are monitored for possible links to terrorism, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said.................

*on second thought they said 100 LEGAL COURT APPROVED wire taps. i DO believe that. what i want to know is how many ILLEGAL wiretaps they have going. FAR MORE than 100 and if you don't believe that get the f**k away from me

NEW MISGIVINGS?

you pack of gutless spineless whining do-nothings! new? YOU F**KING SHOULD HAVE HAD MISGIVINGS ALL ALONG! so many, this NEVER should have been passed to begin with.

believe me, if i have to vote for ralph nader come election time i will. the democrats are pissing me off almost as much as king george and his court.

New misgivings on wiretap law
Some Democrats regret updating FISA to expand the NSA's ability to tap American calls.

By Peter Grier Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Washington - The administration's warrantless wiretapping program looks set to be the subject of renewed and bitter wrangling between Congress and the White House when lawmakers return to Washington in September.
And this upcoming battle promises to be far more complex than a run-of-the-mill dispute over an agriculture bill, say, or tax legislation. The law in this area is unusually dense and difficult. The underlying activity is classified. One of the key administration figures dealing with the issue is Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, an official in whom many in Congress have little trust.
"Essentially, it's a difficult situation to have a rational conversation on the merits," says Benjamin Wittes, an expert on national security law at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
The expanded snooping powers of the National Security Agency (NSA) have been controversial ever since they became public in 2006. To critics, the program opens the door to the possibility of dangerous infringement on the civil liberties of US citizens. To supporters, they're a necessary tool against terrorism in an era of cellphones and Internet communications. ......

there is NO stopping him

unless WE (starting with congress) stop him NOW. he is OUT OF CONTROL and i'm getting more and more frightened. our liberties are ebbing away. no one seems to care

our congress (and senate) is/are full of yellowbellies. cowards. people without stones. i'll remember all of this everytime my reps and senators come up for election. i can only pray everyone else remembers as well

Bush Signs Law Widening Reach for Wiretapping

By JAMES RISEN

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 — President Bush signed into law on Sunday legislation that broadly expanded the government’s authority to eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mail messages of American citizens without warrants.
Congressional aides and others familiar with the details of the law said that its impact went far beyond the small fixes that administration officials had said were needed to gather information about foreign terrorists. They said seemingly subtle changes in legislative language would sharply alter the legal limits on the government’s ability to monitor millions of phone calls and e-mail messages going in and out of the United States.
They also said that the new law for the first time provided a legal framework for much of the surveillance without warrants that was being conducted in secret by the National Security Agency and outside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law that is supposed to regulate the way the government can listen to the private communications of American citizens.
“This more or less legalizes the N.S.A. program,” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington, who has studied the new legislation..........

(and what the hell is he doing signing laws on sunday. shouldn't he be in church or on vacation or something?)

when they actually DO something

like hold king george and his court accountable, THEN i'll be happy. lots of talking, lots of investigations. perhaps a lower level court member gets 'punished' yet no one REALLY responsible for the injustices, illegal activities and treasonous activities gets their just due

maybe one day.....

i can dream


Judiciary Committee subpoenas warrantless wiretapping documents

Nick Juliano

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to subpoena Bush administration documents related to a secret spying program that authorized warrantless wiretaps on Americans, RAW STORY has learned.
Committee chairman Patrick Leahy and Ranking Member Arlen Specter wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales last month requesting documents relating to what President Bush refers to as the "Terrorist Surveillance Program," and Thursday's subpoenas came in the face of the White House's apparent refusal to share the documents.
The subpoena was approved on a 13-3 voice vote of committee members Thursday, a Judiciary Committee source told RAW STORY. Three Republicans -- Specter; Sen. Orin Hatch, R-Utah; and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa -- supported the authorization, according to a release from Leahy's office...............

they broke the laws

our laws. they shredded the constitution, our constitution. this, all at the direction of king george and his court. the papers report it. we talk about it. perhaps a person or two or three goes to court over it, YET NOTHING EVER COMES OF IT. ah, maybe a little person does a bit of time but the big boys NEVER get a finger laid upon them.

why?

it's NOT right for someone to look at our mail, listen to our calls, look at our bank records WITHOUT a warrant. and i'm guessing those warrants aren't that hard to come by either

so

WHY?

FBI Finds It Frequently Overstepped in Collecting Data


By John Solomon Washington Post Staff Writer

An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism.
The new audit covers just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since 2002, and so the mistakes in the FBI's domestic surveillance efforts probably number several thousand, bureau officials said in interviews. The earlier report found 22 violations in a much smaller sampling..............

yet another story

where someone from king george's court has been found to be 'MORE INVOLVED' than previously thought. more involved in what you ask? more involved in nefarious activities. ILLEGAL activities.

we have a constitution. why are we letting them spit upon it? bill clinton got a blow job and the country comes to a screeching halt.

THOUSANDS of our men and women are dead in a country we invaded for NO REASON. thousands of united states citizens are displaced (and worse) because of the disaster that was katrina. our citizens are being spied upon. our emails read (THEIR millions of emails have mysteriously disappeared, yet OURS are safe and sound in their lairs), our phone calls listened to. our snail mail read and goddess only knows what else.

yet, WE ARE ALLOWING KING GEORGE AND HIS COURT FREE REIGN. when will we COLLECTIVELY say ENOUGH?

Official: Cheney Urged Wiretaps
Stand-In for Ashcroft Alleges Interference


By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer

Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday.
The meeting came one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general James B. Comey.
Comey's disclosures, made in response to written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicate that Cheney and his aides were more closely involved than previously known in a fierce internal battle over the legality of the warrantless surveillance program. ..........