Immune To What?
Meanwhile, talk in whispers if you must. In a quiet place away from the shrieking. Upp! Another call. Excuse me.
Painting: Salvador Dali
posted by jm at 3:52 AM
Friday, June 20, 2008
About Me
- Name: jm
I am a brilliant creation of the universe formed from the cosmic protoplasm sailing into eternity. I have two hands, two feet, a couple of great ears, and I'm clipping through life at a moderate pace; minding my p*s and q*s, crossing my t*s, dotting every i.
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15 Comments:
If anyone really needs privacy, it's available. Just use encryption. Encryption software and various services are freely available over the internet. Some very robust services charge reasonable fees. You can encrypt your emails and even your entire computer if you want. You can post to message boards and blogs using only anonymous email addresses. You can navigate the internet thru completely private proxies making it very hard if not impossible to trace. I'm not sure of specifics, but I bet there is a way to encrypt your phone calls too if both parties are participating. The widespread availability of encryption makes me wonder who the government is really going to catch? And if the government starts spying intrusively on citizens, awareness of encryption will greatly increase.
It's just another one of those synchronicities. :-) I'm currently reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.
This guy was instrumental in bringing strong encryption to the masses:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Zimmermann
Mpk you are wonderful.
Good information. Power is anyone's if they want it. But hey! The peeps love the fear hormones. And they're lazy. What in the world would they do without their scary oppressors. The trickster is at it again.
Information is always helpful.
last year I opposed the so-called Protect America Act, which expanded the surveillance powers of the government without sufficient independent oversight to protect the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans. I have also opposed the granting of retroactive immunity to those who were allegedly complicit in acts of illegal spying in the past.
After months of negotiation, the House today passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act.
Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over. It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance - making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future. It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act.
Barack Hussein Obama
Very interesting on 527s
Well, I just unsubscribed from the Obama campaign's email list over this. He needed to come out a LOT stronger than he did against the evisceration of the 4th Amendment.
I'm cutting back my election season blog reading in a major way now. As far as I'm concerned, he blew it big-time. This was the only issue I cared about...
John, take a deep breath and listen to me.
This is not the evisceration of the 4th. You are absolutely correct in cutting back your blog reading because you are being grossly misguided. People are fools by and large. Being informed is the antidote.
First of all, have you read the bill? Do you know what's in it? Have any of these people crying hysterically investigated the facts? Do you understand politics? Do you know what's happening?
No. Of course not. You're following this nonsense blindly. And you are all hooking your own fears on this one thing crazily believing that your constitutional rights are gone. Please. Be realistic. For your own health.
Obama's main love is the Constitution. When he talks about history and says "It was written in the documents of our founders", he means it. He has a love of political ideals. And he's also a shrewd politician. Without that, the ideals will never get into the system.
However, fitting them into the system as it is currently is a massive job and he needs our help not our blind rage, although some of that is good momentarily, Pressure is needed. But he knows what he's doing.
His statement was perfect and he is in the midddle of an amazing election. Get real. He can't throw that away for a handful of hysterical bloggers. And believe me if he thought our rights were in real peril he would act.
They are trying to cover their asses after many horrendous years of corruption and the change will be slow. Obama is the outsider. You must understand O's position. Why he can't be a radical revolutionary at the moment and bring you immediate gratification. The immunity is a money, track covering thing not a stripping of our rights. Our rights always have been and will be violated to some extent but in the overall picture, it's not threatening. Spying always goes on. the fact that it's out in the open now is a great sign. Only extreme conditions give way to evisceration and we are far from there and won't be in your lifetime.
The most important thing to look at is why you've hooked your fears on ONE BILL. Do you truly believe that your rights are gone? Has your life even changed that much in the last 8 years? Really really really. Be sensible.
Of course we all want to reverse the direction, And if you believe that withdrawing your support from Barack Obama will achieve that, then by all means, go ahead and do it. You are free.
At the same time I wish you and everyone else on this vast earth, especially so called progressives, would take a good long close look at how we all have been complicit in this corporate greed and how we all have contributed to the present situation.
Then after that's done a reasoned look at what can really be done about it. Crybabying day in and out? If you care to continue with John McCain instead of the logical step by step path to a more progressive environment, including the pains to get there, again that is your choice.
Obama is going to drive a lot of people into hysteria because of his genius, independence, and pragmatism. But I can assure you he knows a helluva lot more about government and how to preserve constituional rights than you and your bloggers do.
Sometimes I lose my glorious patience. Not like him who has the blood pressure of a yogi.
It's not over. There is a political move going on behind this that you and the others are not aware of. Following the crowd can be very very problematic. More problematic than telecom immunity, so think carefully.
And if you are really pissed, do as mpk suggested and block the government yourself.
Jesus god.
All this energy that could be consolidated and used productively. Makes me weep. Blame blame blame. Fear fear fear.
Really!
I do realize that Pluto is opposing the 29 sun so I'll cut you children some slack. The discussion is actually a good thing. I'm just working personally on cutting back on terror.
And could you get the phone, please?
This was the only issue I cared about...
Hmmmm. Really? Maybe he won't miss your support.
And in temporary conclusion.....
99.99% of what we think is the cause of our problems, is not. All those factors are not it nor are they the source of relief. No wonder we go on and on in pain and confusion. Blaming the government is as old as the hills and has never worked.
It takes courage to face ourselves and time to to come to an understanding.
For years I was reluctant to get involved with the group but when Bush came along something compelled me. Group intoxication is an easy thing to get caught up in at the expense of individuality. The group first praises your uniqueness then threatens to reject you if you don't conform. Sacrificing your thoughts is the worst. Keeping your wits about you is more important than a bill in the legislature. And all people are part of the whole and create the governments they need at the time. They didn't come from outer space. They are a path to knowledge.
By the luck of the draw we're in this country and are free from the incredible daily struggles that others have to go through to survive. We are so very very lucky and what we do with it is our choice.
Every single day I see people all around me try to feel powerful by scaring others. Well suffer the fools.
It's up to each one of us to find the jewel of confidence within ourselves. And that includes me. From there we can help others and make the world around us a better place.
I'm very happy right now. I'd like to think it's my spiritual evolution that has enabled this but that might be just hubris. The thing that sparked a radical increase in my state was giving up hope and fear associated with my job and my house. I tried an experiment: quit worrying about them entirely for a week. It was so successful that I just kept with the program. I don't feel that I need much of anything to be happy. A roof over my head in a fairly safe place and food to eat. I think that's it.
I'd like to think it's my spiritual evolution that has enabled this
Always works.
I've had to quit worrying about most of it, although physical problems still can get the cortisol pumped up. And new noises in the car can give me a start.
I find that my worry sort of simmers in some cases without overtaking the whole thing and by now I realize that outrageous spurts of anxiety are usually brief. The whole thing works out.
Food and shelter. Yep. And a few of my favorite things. And of course ... freedom. Thank god for the Amendments.:-)
have you read the bill? Do you know what's in it? Have any of these people crying hysterically investigated the facts? Do you understand politics? Do you know what's happening?
Actually, several of the bloggers raising holy hell are Constitutional lawyers. Check out emptywheel at http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/06/20/obama-replied/ and Christy Hardin Smith at http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/20/fisa-debate-in-the-house-part-iii/ , both of them blogging at www.firedoglake.com.
There are plenty of people, both in blogs and in threads, who have some equanimity about the situation - one commenter remarked that already the domestic surveillance progrma can't do anything with the intel it collects, because there's too much of it to go through, and it's mostly useless anyway.
BTW, jm, have YOU read the bill and analyzed it? How is it different from the Senate bill the House rejected in March? Why is the Bush Administration now bragging that it got everything it wanted, and more?
Yesh, I haven't read the bill but I'm trying to glean the facts. I'm reserving judgement until it goes to the Senate and things calm down. It's far from law at the moment. And I don't ordinarily get upset about these things anyway because they are too complex for my understanding and I trust the overall flow of events. That things work out all right in the long run. So far I've experienced life that way. The Chicken Little factor often mentioned is at work now.
I really don't think it's as big a deal as all that. The telecoms were just doing the bidding of this administration and they'll be gone soon. People are covering their asses. If they all went to court we would end up paying the bill.
The 4th Amendment is still alive and kicking and privacy has been illegally invaded all along anyway to an extent. None of this will change your life and fears of a dark dictatorship are a little premature.
People just seem to be bored primarily. And they love group panic. Adore it. Always hooking on the latest drama. The roller coaster ride. St. Obama's tarnished image is probably good too. And actually, the bloggers are having some impact, however minimal, so if you are concerned just write to your representatives. It's still a democracy, but we are all in the corporate problem together. Politicians are corrupt so what else is new? Who's demanding the corporate products? If we want all our crap we have to put up with the game. While trying to do our best. Things will start to look better tomorrow. Then comes the Senate game. My best advice? Don't believe anybody? Just everybody as whole. No one knows what's really going on. And no one is in charge. Might as well relax.
This report from Demena who read it. You know. The new FISA.
It specifically does not block the current suits against TelCos.
The current suits are largely based on pre 9/11 offenses. The (limited) immunity provided by the new FISA covers only post 9/11 and pre current offenses. The dates specified in FISA could not be better designed to ensure that the current suits can continue. Some smart staffer worked on that one.
With other parts of it, Bush is actually more tightly restrained than he was before. Congress now does not have to ask (beg) the WH for an explanation. They can get it from the judicial branch.
It has not yet been challenged in the supreme court which (if properly constituted) would throw it out anyway. If not for basic constitutional reasons than the fact that it resembles a bill of attainder.
But all that aside, just read the damn thing, and please tell me how we are actually worse off? Oh, yes, if the constitution were being followed it needs a lot more discussion but the constitution is not being followed right now. At least it is a step towards (if not in) the right direction.
It gives Bush, Cheney, the NeoCons, the TelCos, and the Republicans absolutely nothing. And it leaves us with a lot of options.
Interesting. Also covers only civil suits. They can still be prosecuted in criminal court, which would likely be a huge waste of time, effort, and money, since their jig is up now.
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