kpete
kpete's JournalBUSHCO: “All rules were thrown out the window & they would use any excuse to spy on Americans"
They Know Much More Than You Think
AUGUST 15, 2013
James Bamford
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For a quarter of a century, the rules were followed and the NSA stayed out of trouble, but following the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration decided to illegally bypass the court and began its program of warrantless wiretapping. “Basically all rules were thrown out the window and they would use any excuse to justify a waiver to spy on Americans,” I was told by Adrienne J. Kinne, who in 2001 was a twenty-four-year-old voice intercept operator who conducted some of the eavesdropping. She or her superiors did not have to get a warrant for each interception. “It was incredibly uncomfortable to be listening to private personal conversations of Americans,” she said. “And it’s almost like going through and stumbling and finding somebody’s diary and reading it.”
All during this time, however, the Bush administration was telling the American public the opposite: that a warrant was obtained whenever an American was targeted. “Anytime you hear the United States government talking about a wiretap, it requires—a wiretap requires a court order,” President George W. Bush told a crowd in 2004. “Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so.” After exposure of the operation by The New York Times in 2005, however, rather than strengthen the controls governing the NSA’s spying, Congress instead voted to weaken them, largely by codifying into the amendment to FISA what had previously been illegal.
At the same time, rather than calling for prosecution of the telecom officials for their role in illegally cooperating in the eavesdropping program, or at least a clear public accounting, Congress simply granted them immunity not only from prosecution but also from civil suits. Thus, for nearly a century, telecom companies have been allowed to violate the privacy of millions of Americans with impunity.
With the arrival of the Obama administration, the NSA’s powers continued to expand at the same time that administration officials and the NSA continued to deceive the American public on the extent of the spying. In addition to the denial I have mentioned by James Clapper, General Keith Alexander, the NSA director, also blatantly denied that his agency was keeping records on millions of Americans. In March 2012, Wired magazine published a cover story I wrote on the new one-million-square-foot NSA data center being built in Bluffdale, Utah. In the article, I interviewed William Binney, a former high-ranking NSA official who was largely responsible for automating the agency’s worldwide eavesdropping network. He quit the agency in 2001 in protest after he saw the system designed mainly for intelligence about foreign threats turned inward on the American public. In the interview, he told how the agency was tapping into the country’s communications and Internet networks. He revealed that it also was secretly obtaining warrantless access to billions of phone records of Americans, including those of both AT&T and Verizon. “They’re storing everything they gather,” he said.
the rest:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/aug/15/nsa-they-know-much-more-you-think/
I'm a San Diego Dem-SO, I Post This: The Camp Journal Of Bobby F: An Odyssey Of Growth & Redemption
The Camp Journal Of Bobby F : An Odyssey Of Growth & Redemption
By: TBogg Saturday July 27, 2013 1:10 am
Monday Aug 5, 2013 Day One
My name is Bobby F. and I am a serial groper of women.
I am here at Camp Morningwood high in the hills above San Diego by my own choice so that I might become a better person. Recently it was brought to my attention that I have acted “inappropriately” in both social settings as well as in private with women with whom I have come in contact with on a daily basis or while conducting official government business. According to those who have witnessed my actions or have been on the receiving end, I have acted poorly and therefore have been described as a “walking hard-on”, a “clammy-handed sex lamprey”, “that thing in the Alien movie that shoved its proboscis-thing down that guys throat to implant an egg”, and as a “total dick”. Also, “Headlock McGropeyface” … although I’m not sure what that one means. Needless to say it would seem that I have my work cut out for me as I work with the Camp Morningwood counselors and my fellow campers over the next two weeks to modify my behavior so that I can once again walk amongst my fellow (female) citizens without grabbing their asses or licking my lips in a lascivious manner at the slightest glance. God grant me strength.
Tuesday, Aug. 6 – Day Two
Today we awoke to A New Day of Clear Hearts and Clean Minds. For some it began later than for others as a few of my fellow campers were caught in their bunks masturbating to a light breeze that wafted into our cabin from across the lake. After a brief yet intense communal shaming ritual we had breakfast and then met in the Sharing Lodge where we each spoke in turn about our “difficulties with women” and sexual histories. I was disappointed by one camper who described a sexual encounter he claimed he once had as a freshman at a “small midwestern university”, recognizing it as “Lesbian Gymnast All-Nighter” from the Sept. 1977 Penthouse Forum (page 87, contd. page 188) of which I have but a passing recollection. Our group facilitator, Dr. Phylicia Warburton, seemed to not recognize the obvious act of plagiarism, but in a gesture of solidarity with my fellow camper (or as the medical literature describes us: “uncontrollable cockmonsters”), I did not call attention to his theft which would have only brought him more shame.
As it is Tuesday, dinner this evening was tacos (Taco Tuesday!) which led to an unfortunate incident where several campers ate their tacos in an “inappropriate manner”. Despite their protestations that their aberrant taco gobbling was a “cultural thing”, they were sent to bed early without their rice pudding cups. There but for the grace of God, go I.
Wednesday, Aug. 7 – Day Three
Today we went for a nature hike because “clean air cleans out the mind”. Once again several campers were discovered fondling themselves in their bunks at reveille and our foray into the great wide open was delayed as each “self-violater” was fitted with a remote-controlled shocking genital cuff (Boner-B-Gone™). The hike was invigorating and fairly uneventful if one discounts the disruptions to our bird watching endeavors as some of the birds were scared away by the shrieks of the cuffed campers who espied beckoning knotholes in some of the trees which had not been properly filled in by camp maintenance. Dinner was pizza (slices cut into squares for obvious reasons) and Hostess Snowballs which were probably a mistake. Six more more campers are slated for “cuffing” in the morning.
Thursday, Aug. 8 – Day Four
We met again in the Sharing Lodge where Dr. Warburton explained to us that women are not merely disposable sex toys composed of firm breasts topped with pert nipples, long lean legs that go on forever, and “an ass that a guy could could get lost in”. She explained that women were human beings worthy of respect and honor and dignity and some other stuff that I wasn’t really paying attention to because I was thinking about the breasts and the nipples and the legs and then when Dr. Warnburton called me out for not paying attention I felt ashamed. This is progress! Feeling that I had to make it up to her after the session, I complimented her on having a pretty nice ass for a seventy year-old woman.
With my mind occupied with the thought of my scheduled genital cuffing tomorrow morning at 7AM I was not able to fully appreciate this evenings Enchilada Frito Pie dinner.
MORE camp news::
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2013/07/27/the-camp-journal-of-bobby-f-an-odyssey-of-knowledge-redemption/
Maher: "All Republicans hear when Obama says anything about race is “Kill Whitey!”
Maher moved the conversation to the “white backlash” to the Trayvon Martin verdict, and Bill O’Reilly’s racist tirades from earlier in the week.
Even when they are saying the exact same things, Maher said, they don’t hear each other, because all Republicans hear when Obama says anything about race is “Kill Whitey!”
“They don’t hear what Obama says, because they know what he’s thinking!” Maher said. “They know he’s thinking ‘Kill Whitey!’”
Greenwald: Democratic establishment unmasked: prime defenders of NSA bulk spying
Democratic establishment unmasked: prime defenders of NSA bulk spying. The Obama administration made common cause with the House Republican leadershipOne of the worst myths Democratic partisans love to tell themselves - and everyone else - is that the GOP refuses to support President Obama no matter what he does. Like its close cousin - the massively deceitful inside-DC grievance that the two parties refuse to cooperate on anything - it's hard to overstate how false this Democratic myth is. When it comes to foreign policy, war, assassinations, drones, surveillance, secrecy, and civil liberties, President Obama's most stalwart, enthusiastic defenders are often found among the most radical precincts of the Republican Party.
To say that there is a major sea change underway - not just in terms of surveillance policy but broader issues of secrecy, trust in national security institutions, and civil liberties - is to state the obvious. But perhaps the most significant and enduring change will be the erosion of the trite, tired prism of partisan simplicity through which American politics has been understood over the last decade. What one sees in this debate is not Democrat v. Republican or left v. right. One sees authoritarianism v. individualism, fealty to The National Security State v. a belief in the need to constrain and check it, insider Washington loyalty v. outsider independence.
That's why the only defenders of the NSA at this point are the decaying establishment leadership of both political parties whose allegiance is to the sprawling permanent power faction in Washington and the private industry that owns and controls it. They're aligned against long-time liberals, the new breed of small government conservatives, the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, many of their own members, and increasingly the American people, who have grown tired of, and immune to, the relentless fear-mongering.
The sooner the myth of "intractable partisan warfare" is dispelled, the better. The establishment leadership of the two parties collaborate on far more than they fight. That is a basic truth that needs to be understood. As John Boehner joined with Nancy Peolsi, as Eric Cantor whipped support for the Obama White House, as Michele Bachmann and Peter King stood with Steny Hoyer to attack NSA critics as Terrorist-Lovers, yesterday was a significant step toward accomplishing that.
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the rest:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/25/democratic-establishment-nsa
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/27/1227021/-Greenwald-Democratic-establishment-unmasked-prime-defenders-of-NSA-bulk-spying
In Letter Posted By Wyden: Clapper Admits He Lied to Congress - Re: Phone/Internet Data
.....in the letter posted by Wyden this morning, Clapper admits not only that the NSA collects phone data on millions of Americans, but internet data as well:
MORE:
http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-and-udall-important-surveillance-questions-unanswered
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/27/1227008/-Clapper-Admits-He-Lied-to-Congress-in-Letter-Posted-by-Senator-Wyden
Tea Party Congressman's card to Obama filled with misspellings
Tea Party Congressman's card to Obama filled with misspellingseven misspelling of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by writing 1600 Pensylvannia Avenue.
find the others:
More about this:
Sure wish Representative Fleischmann cared about education. As the story pointed out:
Fewer than half of Hamilton County students in grades 3 through 8 can read at their grade level, according to standardized test results.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/jul/27/postcard-runs-afoul-of-spelling-standards/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/27/1226970/-Tea-Party-Congressman-s-card-to-Obama-filled-with-misspellings
UPDATE:
(not snark)
"I literally sent out the wrong attachment," Threadgill said.
Threadgill later sent out a corrected version of the faux postcard.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/jul/27/postcard-runs-afoul-of-spelling-standards/
HOW TO SCARE VOTERS: Hilarious Leaked Doc From Nat' Republican Party In Washington
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/27/197824/interview-with-sabrina-de-sousa.html#.UfPqY9JzGpBLEAKED MEMO: NATIONAL GOP TELLS DAINES HOW TO SCARE VOTERS, ACT LIKE HE CARES
Well this is embarrassing.
Here is a leaked document from the National Republican Party in Washington. I suggest you read it.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/152696844/Fighting-Washington-for-All-Americans
It is hilarious. It instructs Steve Daines and his House GOP colleagues on how to tour their districts during the August recess. Namely, it is chock full of advice on how to seem popular, how to blame “Washington” for all of our nation’s ills, how to frighten people about Obamacare and “red tape,” and how to use all of these techniques, and many others, to increase the chances of getting re-elected.
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find a hospital that is negatively affected by Obamacare, and tour the facility, but ensure in advance that healthcare workers agree with Republican “messaging theme(s)”
tour a senior center, to discuss with seniors their “concerns they have about the current health care system and an out-out-control government.”
invite attendees to events who will “take (the conversation) in a direction beneficial to the member’s goal.”
host a “Millennial health care forum” with a doctor to discuss young people’s health care concerns—but make sure to “select a health care provider with the same stance on the issue.”
take photos outside all of the schools you visits wearing the different schools’ “team gear”.
speak at senior centers, but only with “built-in crowds.”
help constituents pump gas or bag groceries—but make sure to “wear clothes in which you feel comfortable doing ‘hands-on’ work.”
and most important of all: never, ever remind your constituents that it’s your fault Washington is “out of control.”
MORE:
http://mtcowgirl.com/2013/07/24/leaked-memo-national-gop-tells-daines-how-to-fake-interest-in-montanans-concerns/
U.S. allowed Italian kidnap prosecution to shield higher-ups, ex-CIA officer says
Source: McClatchy
WASHINGTON — A former CIA officer has broken the U.S. silence around the 2003 abduction of a radical Islamist cleric in Italy, charging that the agency inflated the threat the preacher posed and that the United States then allowed Italy to prosecute her and other Americans to shield President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials from responsibility for approving the operation.
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– The former CIA station chief in Rome, Jeffrey Castelli, whom she called the mastermind of the operation, exaggerated Nasr’s terrorist threat to win approval for the rendition and misled his superiors that Italian military intelligence had agreed to the operation.
– Senior CIA officials, including then-CIA Director George Tenet, approved the operation even though there were doubts about Castelli’s case – Nasr wasn’t wanted in Egypt and wasn’t on the U.S. list of top al Qaida terrorists.
– Condoleezza Rice, then the White House national security adviser, also had concerns about the case, especially what Italy would do if the CIA were caught, but she eventually agreed to it and recommended that Bush approve the abduction.
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Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/27/197823/us-allowed-italian-kidnap-prosecution.html#.UfPcm9JzGpA
VIDEO: Interview with Sabrina De Sousa, CIA officer, on Osama Mustapha Hassan Nasr's rendition
HERE: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/27/197824/interview-with-sabrina-de-sousa.html#.UfPqY9JzGpB
WASHINGTON — A former CIA officer has broken the U.S. silence around the 2003 abduction of a radical Islamist cleric in Italy, charging that the agency inflated the threat the preacher posed and that the United States then allowed Italy to prosecute her and other Americans to shield President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials from responsibility for approving the operation.
Confirming for the first time that she worked undercover for the CIA in Milan when the operation took place, Sabrina De Sousa provided new details about the “extraordinary rendition” that led to the only criminal prosecution stemming from the secret Bush administration rendition and detention program launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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