Bush Claims Program That Monitors Tens of Millions of Americans ‘Strictly Targets Al Qaeda’
Bush Claims Program That Monitors Tens of Millions of Americans ‘Strictly Targets Al Qaeda’
President Bush spoke moments ago about a USA Today report on a massive NSA database that collects information about all phone calls made within the United States. Bush did not deny any of the contents of the article, but he did say:
First, our intelligence activities strictly target Al Qaeda and their known affiliates. Al Qaeda is our enemy, and we want to know their plans.
USA Today, 5/11/06:
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime.
Collecting information on “tens of millions of Americans” doesn’t seem very targeted.
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Great I have Verizon and AT&T. I am feeling violated..
May 11th, 2006 at 12:30 pmThere’s a very simple explanation for all this: The president lied.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:31 pmTargeted? Half this administration couldn’t aim their wizz into the toilet.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:32 pmBut hey, as long as we are fighting “turrists” it doesn’t matter that rights are being raped. When will America get a clue on this issue?
I blame the phone companies too. Why did they let the government do this?
May 11th, 2006 at 12:34 pmYikes! So there are ten million al Qaeda terrists in ‘murka?
Glad we’ve been spending those trillions on “defense” all these years.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:35 pmPay to play Linda. I wonder what sort of legislation would have come down the pipe if they had refused.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:35 pmThis is an outrage. The NSA is by law excluded from monitoring domestic communications of Americans. So tell me Mr. President, why is the NSA monitoring my DOMESTIC records and the records of millions of Americans?
This is illegal in every respect and I hope the lapdog press gets the facts straight on this for once and not confuse the issue.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:35 pmIt’s the criminal’s dream — to have authority over whether or not your crimes are investigated.
Do you think Arlen Specter will actually get anything done on this front? Doubtful. He’s just a Rove spook. My guess is that Mr. Specter gets the “information†(wink wink) he is looking for behind closed door and is all of a sudden “satisfied with the explanation†without any public disclosure.
It’s easier to convince NASCAR Americans of something if they see that someone is against something (Specter) and then, suddenly, they say that they’ve had it “explained†to them and now they think it’s OK. hook… line… sinker… …like a giant perch.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:35 pmI have Verizon and AT&T, too. Now I have to write letters to both companies letting them know how disguted I am that they are sharing personal information. What ever happened to warrants and due process? I’m sick and tired of the imperial presidency.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:36 pmYikes, I guess this means that America has about 200 million people affiliated with al-Qaeda. So that means that strategery of fighting them over there so we don’t fight them over here didn’t work out too well.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:36 pmThis is a bombshell and the end of Bush’s Presidency
The outrage about it will come from all Americans left and right of the political spectrum
This cannot stand.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:37 pmThe Bush-Republican version of America does not give me the chills that our National Anthem does.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:38 pmI blame the phone companies too. Why did they let the government do this?
Comment by Linda — May 11, 2006 @ 12:34 pm
Because they are in bed together.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:40 pmSomeone asked me at a Bush protest why I was protesting because Bush will be out in a few years. My answer to him was: I am not so sure he will leave when his time is up. He just makes up the rules as he goes along.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:41 pm300,000 million people, now how many employees does NSA have to check thoes calls 24/7????????????????…..so that is where all the ‘new jobs’ are coming from (at taxpayer expense).
May 11th, 2006 at 12:41 pm“First, our intelligence activities strictly target Al Qaeda and their known affiliates.”
Excellent, and that’s how it should be. BUT, after “first”, comes second , third and home base. That’s why FISA exists. To make sure that you don’t steal 2nd and the rest. There are rules to this game.
Please also define “known affiliates”. Also, please explain how you determine who is “Al Qaeda”.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:41 pm#11–you’re assuming that Murkans will even pay attention. Isn’t “Survivor” on the teevee tonight? Or is it “American Idol”?
It might enrage three or four citizens but beyond that, most people will simply shrug and go on their merry way.
“I don’t trust the government but I don’t care if it spies on me illegally”.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:42 pmJust because this administration claims something is “legal” certainly doesn’t mean it is. There is no oversight, judicial or congressional, to make that objective decision. I am appalled that more people aren’t outraged over this behavior. In the name of the war on terror this administration with the complicity of the mainstream media has perpetuated such a state of fear in the American public that they are getting away with the erosion of our constitutionally gauranteed freedoms. It is sickening.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:42 pmUnbelievable-you are right Bush=Corporate welfare
May 11th, 2006 at 12:43 pmComforting words from “Mister Credibility.” Impeach this lying bastard now!
May 11th, 2006 at 12:44 pma glimpse into the black cancerous brain of the neoconservative jihadist:
well, tens of millions of americans haven’t said they are NOT with the terrorists, so they must BE with terrorists.
well, the cells in guantanamo seem clean and freshly painted, but, i look awful in orange… does anyone know if the halliburton detention camps will perhaps offer green outfits…and, please, no jumpsuits! i prefer black, really…
and that sound you hear coming from washington is the collective bending over of the democrats as they touch their collective toes and promise to change all the laws so that the ‘program can fit within the law’…
without a spine, the democrats can bend over without much effort these days….
May 11th, 2006 at 12:44 pmWhat’s the problem here? Obviously Al Qaeda has recruited tens of millions of U.S. citizens. We are over-run by terrorists.
Good thing we can lock up these tens of millions of terrorists without trials. We better build some more secret prisons.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:45 pmAt least Qwest did not give up the info too. Good company!
May 11th, 2006 at 12:46 pmI just checked AT&T’s privacy policy and it seems as though they may actually be breaking their own rules (see below):
“We must disclose information, when requested, to comply with court orders or subpoenas. We will also share information when necessary to prevent unlawful use of communications services, when necessary to repair network outages, and when a customer dials 911 and information regarding their location is transmitted to a public safety agency. “
May 11th, 2006 at 12:46 pmAl Qaeda is ALL OF US!! Oh NO!!
May 11th, 2006 at 12:46 pmI look terrible in orange.
JR-We need more Boxers and Feingolds, less Feinsteins and Liebermans. Can I trade my Feinstein for a Feingold?
May 11th, 2006 at 12:47 pmBefore we jump the gun the article says, that they don’t listen in on the phone calls, they instead have a record of who you called and for how long. I imagine this would be similar to your billing statements you receive each month. This may not be illegal. the police often look at phone records when. It is a little strange however. I don’t know if there is any value to phone calling patterns.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:47 pmKrazny-The police need a warrant don’t they? I still feel violated.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:49 pm#9 I am glad I have niether. I especially don’t have a home phone any longer. I hear Qwest is the only one not giving up their records because they can’t see the legality. Qwest says that they would gladly offer them if there is a warrant.
I really think this has sealed the fate of the corrupt admin. You just can’t spy on Americans for no good reason – warrantless. I am finding it difficult to even speak to republicans anymore. The shame they have brought on our good nation is utterly horrendous. Anyone who is still happy they voted for this monkey I have nothing to do with. It’s like they themselves have tapped my phone. It has gotten that bad.
Here in TN, that’s where the 31% who favor him live. All they want is their dang guns. So, skim off about 20% who live in trailer parks, have diseased dogs chained up, call all their girl children Sissy and their grandmothers Mamaw, drink homemade liquor, smoke corn husks and have a ‘backhouse’ which holds all their weaponry, and then you have the last 11% who appear here daily.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:50 pmIs the Chimperor saying that those of us who think he’s full of shit are actually Al-Queda? Wow, he must really be the most stupidest man in the entire universe.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:50 pmThe problem, Krazny, is they repeatedly lie.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:51 pmP & P- Come to the Bay Area we sneer at the few who still have Bush/Cheney Stickers on their car.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:52 pmI don’t know Linda, I would think so. However I wanted to point out that according to the article they do not listen in on the conversations, they have a large database of all of our call records though. I have heard rumours of course of the predator program, which monitors emails and telephone calls, and looks for specific words or phrases. Rumours only. If it exist, that would be much scareier.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:53 pmAll they want is their dang guns.
Comment by progressive and proud — May 11, 2006 @ 12:50 pm
Sorta ironic how a group of liberals set up the Bill of Rights so that hey could have them, huh?
May 11th, 2006 at 12:53 pmI’d like to hear Verizon and AT&T explain themselves. Any attempt at a PR clean up is fading, especially each time they won’t provide a response.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:53 pmThe spying has been a cheap substitute for real security. Shame on them. Why secure the borders or inspect containers when you can simply spy? These Bush Republicans need to be locked up.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:53 pmThe problem with the program, however, is that it is highly subject to abuse. Given this administration’s track record of going to lengths to discredit those who it perceives as a threat to its agenda, it is not hard to imagine that those in power can decide that Citizen A is a threat, dummy-up records from this database, and then have that person arrested and prosecuted as a terrorist, or, worse, held indefinitely as an enemy combatant.
Considering the related story that the Justice Department is dropping its investigation into the warrantless-wiretap program because the NSA refused to grant clearance to the investigating attorneys. I could foresee a scenario just like I described and the accused’s having no way to show otherwise because the NSA would refuse to let anyone see the records.
It’s a frightening, frightening situation that anyone, liberal, conservative, moderate, or what-have-you, ought to be concerned about.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:53 pmI agree with other comments who’ve said the president simply lied. A total bald-faced lie. It will be interesting to see what the talking heads on TV do with this–it’s a hard one to ignore.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:54 pmThe CNN.com poll- Does this make you feel creepy or more secure. 24% said more secure! Are you kidding me?
May 11th, 2006 at 12:55 pm#27 Actually this is illegal. Whether you eavesdrop or merely take the records, you need a court order. Well, you USED to. I’m sure this dickhead has changed that as well in some signing order.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:56 pmDoes anyone know it Civil action can be taken against these telcommunication giants by the public? I know the story of why Qwest didn’t give up information sheds light on the non-legal nature of this program. Qwest requested a letter of approval from the attorney general and a FISA warrant. The administration couldn’t get the warrant, so that is why Qwest didn’t give in. We must take action against the other companies for giving in to the admnistration’s illegal request.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:56 pm“Would you buy a used car from this man?”
May 11th, 2006 at 12:57 pmSprint is in on it, too. I have home and cell service through them. I wrote a note to their customer service asking if they shared their customer info and then later found a post on dailykos.com indicating that they did. Will await Sprint’s response, and then follow up and ask what law requires them to cooperate.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:58 pmWell I sure feel better now that Bush explained the wiretapping of U.S. citizens. What a f*cking liar!!! “It’s legal, trust me” NO thanks. The doublespeak and contradictions in his explaination are astounding. What good are numbers if they don’t listen to the calls? How many times did he say al queda, aren’t there any other terrorists in the world. Al Queda. al queda al queda terror terror terror, afraid yet? F*CK NO!!!!! Quit wiping your ass with the constitution, bush. STep down before your ass is impeached.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:58 pm#33 True, but whenever I make a call to a company to ask a question or make a complaint, the automative voice usually says that “this conversation may be recorded in order to provide better service.” While I think it’s a good way to teach proper customer service to employees, on the other hand it’s a going to be a nightmare if the intelligence community is listening in.
So, I just feel that I’m being violated by a company that won’t stand up for its’ customers.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:58 pmMy understanding of the law (or what’s left of it after 6 years of this b.s.) is that the companies probably would have qualified immunity from suit if they were acting pursuant to the directives of the government. Wicked unfair, but probably correct.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:59 pmquery: does al qaeda offer dental?
May 11th, 2006 at 12:59 pmpolice often look at phone records when.
From my regular watching of Law & Order, there is usually a statement to the effect of going to a Judge before the eventually “looking at the LODs” part of the dialog. But that is just TV, so what do I know?
Legality aside, policy-wise, I don’t think many are going to be happy about this. For all us Terry Gilliam fans, I am just imagining a fly in a teletype room somewhere. “Buttle” instead of “Tuttle”…
Anyway, wasn’t just yesterday we learned about Pres travel details being found on the curbside? It is not like these folks are at least competent when it comes to issues of security. Are we expected to trust them with such a large database? Moreover, what other databases are they constructing based on our communications?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:00 pmCheck with Cingular. I just hope they are not part of this too.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:00 pm“First, our intelligence activities strictly target Al Qaeda and their known affiliates.â€
Maybe Cheney hasn’t fully explained the program to him yet?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:02 pm#46,
What if the government didn’t take it’s due process in obtaining the information? Couldn’t the tele-com companies be just as guilty, and seen as an accomplice or enabler of the crimes?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:03 pmEvery single thing this worthless halfwit cowardly POS says is a f**king lie!
May 11th, 2006 at 1:04 pmGET IT? There’s no suprise, no mystery.
Realize it, then don’t forget it.
They are LYING, STEALING, MURDERING BASTARDS that should be treated accordingly.
That’s one big sleeper cell…
May 11th, 2006 at 1:08 pm[...] Bush Claims Program That Monitors Tens of Millions of Americans ‘Strictly Targets Al Qaeda’ via Think Progress [...]
May 11th, 2006 at 1:09 pmdoes this airhead really think we are that stupid?
you in the secret service, arrest him for the crimes you know he has committed, do the right thing
May 11th, 2006 at 1:11 pmBy logical conclusion there are 10 millions al quaida sympatisers in the good ol’ USA . We must bring back the troops from Irak to look them up , guard our borders and protect the white house , not congress they do not count.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:11 pmI am willing to bet there is a lot more to this story, then what has been told so far. What else have they been logging? I wonder if all those emails sent out every year get logged some where in the same system. I have a background in IT, and have always warned against sending anything truly private out over the internet.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:11 pm#42 – very good and accurate.
Well, well seems dumbya is lying again, I can tell and diagnose just by looking at him (snarky remark belittling Tom “teary eye” Coburn ). When dumbya’s lips move, he is lying.
They are so evil they ache, lying about everything from the important to the unimportant. I guess when you are too old to blow up animals with fireworks you move on to spying and lying.
What idiot buys this latest: we aren’t listening to your conversations? What idiot believes that a “terraist” would not suspect that their conversations are monitored? Dumbya and his handlers are listening so they can go after anyone that points to the illegality and corruption that will bring this so called administration apart faster. They are listening to your calls and if you believe otherwise you are a fool.
I especially enjoyed the line about just monitoring calling patterns. Oh, yes! “Terraist” have different calling patterns than innocent Americans. I knew that, didn’t you? If they had a memo stating that the WTC was a target and couldn’t stop that, what in hell do you think they are going to do with calling patterns?
I really love the cover story: we won’t listen in on any conversations without a warrant….yep, right dearie. This is the same criminal that said that before he ignored getting warrants to spy earlier. Remember?
His sagging poll numbers and impending prison sentence lead me to believe that he is now adopting a scorched earth policy (I just got my unintended pun). There is NOTING he and his handlers are not above doing, including Nuking Iran to salvage the mid-terms.
Grab a bottle, hunker down and pray for daylight. – Karen Walker
This little fool has really got me hopping mad today, much the same as every other day since he invaded the WH.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again, get ready to hear the phrase “are your papers in order?” (heavy Nazi accent)
Dumya may have gone too far again, and again, and again, and again. 750 (at least) laws that he chooses not to follow, illegal war, illegal spying, illegal detention, torture, human rights violations, war crimes, election fraud, phone jamming, cronisym, corruption, kickbacks, ignoring the FISA guidelines……and treason. Did I mention whores?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:12 pmPlease check this picture and you will feel my outrage
http://f3.yahoofs.com/blog/433d24dbz187ae184/94/__sr_/750c.jpg?mg433YEB28MoMpe5
May 11th, 2006 at 1:13 pmIt is important to remember that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda no longer use cell phones to communicate. They are doing it the old fashion way. So, this “targeted” line is complete bullshit.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:13 pmPresident George W. Bush is a liar.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:15 pmKranzy,
That system is called Carnivor. Yes, your e-mails are being read and logged.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:16 pm#51-I think qualified immunity would still apply, but the companies would have to show that they reasonably believed they were obligated to do so at the direction of a government official or agency. If the government lacked probable cause, that would be a different type of case, probably a Bivens action alleging a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:16 pmEvery dictatorial regime has to spy on it’s citizens. Study history and you will find this is nothing new. People who are lied to, cheated, and oppressed begin to get angry. Eventually they begin to organize for change.
The fact is, Bush/Cheney HAVE to spy on “tens of millions” of us out of fear that they will be toppled.
http://www.impeachbush.org
May 11th, 2006 at 1:16 pmThanks spudge, for some reason I had it in my head it was predator.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:17 pmGreat! Now that the liberal media has compromised our national security once again – all of the terrorists are gonna sign up for phone service with Qwest… when will we just become scared enough to voluntarily give up all our freedoms and liberties… freedom demeans our troops… liberties are bad for America… USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
May 11th, 2006 at 1:18 pmDumya makes Nixon look like a novice at this spy stuff.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:19 pmWow. Its only 10millioin. I thought there were many more millions AlQaeda sympathizers. Anyone who does not watch FOX is AlQaeda by definition and therefore must be under heavy scrutiny.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:21 pmthis is great. Bush basically says, “Don’t worry. We’re not actually doing what the USAToday article described. And furthermore, it’s really bad that our enemies now know that we’re doing this.”
can anybody find the contradiction there?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:22 pmVERIZON PRIVACY POLICY
We enable you to control how and if we disclose your personally identifiable information to other persons or entities, except as required by law or to protect the safety of customers, employees or property or except when we share such information with agents, affiliates, suppliers, vendors, consultants and contractors who use it to provide or support our products and services
Can the government require information without getting a warrant or subpoena?
Can this be considered “protection” even without a legal opinion? (alberto’s doesn’t count)
If they are both answered “no”, I feel that Verizon has violated it’s contractual obligation to me, their customer.
P.S. Everyone should write their phone provider and ask for answers.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:23 pmBush said that “Americans rights are fiercely protected and it’s legal” I feel sooo much better about it.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:25 pmWTF man! If there are KNOWN Al-Quaeda operatives in our coutnry, and we KNOW their affiliates, WHY AREN”T THEY IN JAIL?!?!? This is simply an insult to anyone with an iota of common sense. This feeble minded simpleton can’t even lie with logic. He’s gotta go. When shall we storm the Bastille?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:25 pmI am DELIGHTED TP and it band of loyal progs want to make it easier for terrorists to enjoy the full fruits of liberty with the dignity of privacy. Since I don’t make phone calls to terrorists and terror sympathizers, progressive paranoia has not infected my brain or beliefs. The really good news for those who find the USAs’ defense against terrorism intolerable you can STILL get out while the getting is good. This option is still available – I know this is surprising given your perception of contemporary US policy!! Bon voyage!!
May 11th, 2006 at 1:27 pm#71, pass me the kool-aid, i have the vapors…. glug glug, I feel much better now too.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:27 pmI am outraged, this lying little cracka Bush has finally gone too far! He will be impeached and I will rejoice in my panties.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:29 pmOnce again a serious threat to the freedom of the United States. The police do not just go into the phone company to look up phone numbers. Some states require a warrant. At the very least there is a record of who requested the numbers and why.
Should we be worried? Yes. The government has never defined what an “affiliate” of AQ is. We have seen that vegans, Quakers and other such innocent groups can be suspect. What happens with this information? Obviously the government looks for a suspect number. They would next look at those who either called or were called by that number. The next step would be to then start checking out the next set of numbers. By the way, better start checking tax records and anything else that you can on those who contancted the number.
We will next learn that the government does actually start listening to the domestic calls of those identified through the data mining and trolling. Don’t buy Bush saying that it is not being mined. The data would be worthless unless so reviewed.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:30 pmOnce again a serious threat to the freedom of the United States. The police do not just go into the phone company to look up phone numbers. Some states require a warrant. At the very least there is a record of who requested the numbers and why.
Should we be worried? Yes. The government has never defined what an “affiliate” of AQ is. We have seen that vegans, Quakers and other such innocent groups can be suspect. What happens with this information? Obviously the government looks for a suspect number. They would next look at those who either called or were called by that number. The next step would be to then start checking out the next set of numbers. By the way, better start checking tax records and anything else that you can on those who contancted the number.
We will next learn that the government does actually start listening to the domestic calls of those identified through the data mining and trolling. Don’t buy Bush saying that it is not being mined. The data would be worthless unless so reviewed.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:30 pmAfrodykie, you can always go back to your roots too u know
May 11th, 2006 at 1:30 pmMy mom said to me that there are perverts connecting with children via the internet (yes, the war on the internet has MSM spouting the propaganda).
I told her it was just the Government trying to scare us into giving up more of our rights. She objected, saying that perverts are getting through.
So, I said “Mom, why aren’t these chidlren’s parents monitoring their behavior? Why should Ibe subjected to a violation of my Consitutional Rights just because a lazy group of aprents in this country don’t pay attention to what their children are doing.”
This amazes me coming from a woman who was an excellent parent because she gave up nice things to stay at home and pay attention to what her children were doing.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:32 pmI especially enjoyed the line about just monitoring calling patterns. Oh, yes! “Terraist†have different calling patterns than innocent Americans. I knew that, didn’t you? If they had a memo stating that the WTC was a target and couldn’t stop that, what in hell do you think they are going to do with calling patterns?
I really love the cover story: we won’t listen in on any conversations without a warrant….yep, right dearie. This is the same criminal that said that before he ignored getting warrants to spy earlier. Remember?
His sagging poll numbers and impending prison sentence lead me to believe that he is now adopting a scorched earth policy (I just got my unintended pun). There is NOTING he and his handlers are not above doing, including Nuking Iran to salvage the mid-terms.
HOW TRUE!
May 11th, 2006 at 1:33 pmIt’s alrealy been proven that they ‘didn’t have time’ to get thoes court orders while spying on us. Another bush LIE.
mighty stupid:…you said ‘your brain’….does it trust this WH?…if so…you have BRAIN DAMAGE.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:33 pmYou know, Bush is probably technically correct. I think there are tens of millions of Americans who want to destroy the constituion, take down our freedoms and generally trash out our contry to create their own Version of the American Taliban. Lets see, take 280,000,000 people times 30% and that comes out to 84 million people and if half of them are registered voters, that would be 42 million people who are in favor of detroying traditional America freedoms. Isn’t that what the president said Al Queda wants to do? So if he is monitoring that 30% as being anti-american and working towards a common goal with Al Queda,m then he is techinically correct. Bravo for him. Now I wonder how the republican party feels about their base being monitored illegally?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:33 pmPogo was right. We have seen the enemy and it is us.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:33 pmQWEST refused to comply because their lawyers think that this is illegal, oh yeah and so do most legal scholars. I wonder how long it will take Fox News to demand that the reporter from USA Today be brought up on sedition charges?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:34 pmSen. Leahy:
Yes, you should. And the American people should be livid that it’s own government won’t answer questions. We already know that data mining on international calls generates about a 1% return — creating leads already known through other channels — and sends invesitgators on wild goose chases. And, as many have noted, no respectable terrorist is going to use a personal phone to plot attacks. Nevertheless, Bushco has been hiding its activity.
What are you really doing with this information, Mr. President?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:36 pmYeah Right!
Do I believe Bush and his handlers are sinister – You Betcha!
May 11th, 2006 at 1:37 pmI am shocked – shocked that USA Today would print a piece of decent investigative reporting on the criminal hijinks of the Bush administration. Has the media grown a backbone recently? Maybe the editors and reporters are rebelling against corporate rule.. or maybe corporate rule is rebelling against the wacko policies of the Bush-Cheney junta. This administration generates enough muck for a whole army of muckrakers (and comedians) – are we really going to see more and more expose? Or am I just dreaming?
How can anyone think Bush isn’t using the NSA program to spy on his political opponents, reporters, anti-war groups, etc? What are the rules for accessing this database? Russ Tice, the NSA whistleblower, says he’s happy to testify before Congress. I get the feeling that even Michael Hayden is disgusted with the program, which had to be reauthorized regularly by Bush – was Hayden covering himself with this approach? That also created a record that tied the program to Bush. Byzantine as ever.
Personally, I’d like to know exactly what those slimeballs Donald Rumsfeld and Stephen Cambone have been up to with their military intelligence ’special access programs’ – is it true that they have undercover teams operating within the US as well as in foriegn countries?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:39 pmRemember back when calling someone a “communist” meant you were an enemy of America. The Bush administration is trying to make “terrorist” the same thing. We’ll be at a point soon where just labelling someone will make them an outcast of society. Do we want a repeat of Red Scare trials and witch hunts? Do the American people learn anything from history?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:41 pmPeople… I said it many times… starting in late 2001… right after the USA Patriot Act was drafted… and it is still true today:
Is this America in the early 2000’s or is this Nazi Germany circa 1936?
Sadly, the answer to this question is now painfully obvious.
And to think… Rep. Reichert STILL doesn’t think Bush should be impeached!!!!
May 11th, 2006 at 1:42 pmFear is a good motivator to convince a society to stick together. The republicans have a history of using fear for political gain. The red scare, the cold war, the terrorists. I remember before the 04 election how many terror alerts we had, and how much time was spent discussing the terror levels etc. after the election you hardly heard anything about it.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:44 pmI just surfed about 5 of the conservative sites. Predictably, redstain, instapundit haven’t even mentioned this one. LGF, Michelle Malkin & Powerline are saying this is another “leak” of National Security intel and that the traitors should be jailed and charged with treason. The minions are singing in the chior and trying to up the ante.
So, beware folks. There are those that are trying to get others to start jailing and hurting their political opponents. God knows when it’s gonna stop…
Civil War deaux?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:45 pmMay 11th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
And the Right in their Naive ways, thought the Left was just being overly paranoid, and the good folks at the Bush admin. are only spying on suspected terrorists. What does the Right have to say now?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:49 pm#89
post #92 and this one are just for you…
May 11th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
#32 If you mean the SF Bay, I am with you! I go often, just not often enough. I love San Francisco. And, just to tickle your fancy, the W stickers here are disappearing from bumpers. My neighbor just took his off. He’s a real “git er dun” kind of guy so I didn’t want to say told you so. Although, I did offer a smile and he, in turn, a sneer. Oh well, at least he is waking up.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:51 pm[...] Now they are collecting our phone records, creating “the largest database ever assembled in the world,” a “database of every call ever made”. Bush claims that this program “Strictly targets Al Qaeda”, but I would submit to the court that my phone records have NOTHING TO DO WITH TERRORISM. [...]
May 11th, 2006 at 1:53 pmAnd this from the guy Karl Rove made. This from the guy that changes his story faster than a speeding bullet. This from the guy who is grabbing power, silencing debate, took us to war on lies. This from the guy who politicizes everything. The one thing we know for sure is, we can not trust Bush.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:53 pmI wonder if we took a poll tomorrow, what bush’s approval rating would be? I have a feeling from some of the regular wingnuts here, who are upset about this, that he just slipped a few more points.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:54 pmI saw a sticker recently that said Why? Even here in Red State HQ.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:54 pmHow does the Right feel about our government conducting illegal survaillence of American citizens (The Minutemen), and then giving the intelligence (location of Minutemen) to a foreign government (Mexico)? The really far right radicals are just as upset.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:54 pm#89
sorry, the bold sections didn’t show up…
the essential paragraph in the second post is bush’s, no, i mean goering’s comment below:
I said that they would have to be obedient and have confidence in the leadership, and leave what was to be done to the leadership — that that was proper, and a basic attitude — every SA man knew that from our speeches and from the Party program. Among all the people the wish was — of every decent German, I hope — to be rid of Versailles.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:54 pmI’ll take care of you mighty aphrodite. In the meantime, get back in yer box. Make me a sandwich while yer at it.
(Do you have a job, mighty?)
May 11th, 2006 at 1:54 pmBush does no t trust the American people. He is trolling for internal enemies, and as his poll numbers drop, there are more and more enemies all around. He is surrounded by enemies.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:55 pmIt’s vital to keep in mind who the enemy is if they’re to keep absolute control.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:55 pmYou guys are the biggest dumbasses ever. Again Judd is doing his usual dishonest crap again. As if the US governement has the resources to look at tens of millions of phone records. The government is searching databases with a criteria. That’s the “targeting” stupids. I’m glad they’re doing it. That would be an intelligent way for our government to identify potential threats. Listen to yourselves. Dishonest and stupid, what a combination.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:55 pmSo if I follow the logic…gee, we aren’t doing anything illegal even though we aren’t using the FISA system…and gee, we are talking to “some” members of congress…but they can’t tell you anything because the information is limited and totally classified….and gee, we are ok with some investigative oversight…but unfortunately we can’t grant security clearance to the investigators.
Gee…it looks to me like we have a dictator in charge. He breaks the rules, he rewrites the rules, he changes the rules, and he answers to no one.
I only hope we can soon finish the job of exporting our “democracy” to Iraq and the rest of the oppressed world so they can have the same rights that we do.
more observations here:
http://www.thoughttheater.com
May 11th, 2006 at 1:56 pmAnything endorsed by that intellectual powerhouse Jeff Sessions from Alabama simply cannot have your best interests at heart…
May 11th, 2006 at 1:57 pmprogressive and proud
In the town I live in, on a fairly well traveled street, one person has had an IMPEACH BUSH sign in his/her front yard for nearly as long as bush has been in office!
May 11th, 2006 at 1:58 pmWell Mr K, since the trolls here think that Joseph McCarthy did the right thing, you are coorect. We are just dealing with a different “ist” in this situation. Substitute communist with terrorist and you have the latest scare, only this time it will be the Blue Scare, because now the republicans are the reds.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:59 pmYou know, I really doubt that there is any terrorist who hasn’t heard about the phone taps by now. Does anybody believe terrorists have a phone tree?
May 11th, 2006 at 1:59 pmNo, this program of domestic spying isn’t really targeted at terrorists, unless they want to trap really STUPID terrorists. Big waste of money for that purpose.
But maybe it’s not the real purpose?
Ben,
May 11th, 2006 at 1:59 pmDon’t you have a teenage girl to tend to on Myspace?
How is he being dishonest Ben? J
udd reported, according to a US Today story, that has since been confirmed by the white house, that millions of phone records have been obtained by the NSA and placed into a database. This action without warrants or probable cause is illegal. Whether they can effectively search the database is of no consequence.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:00 pm#107 Daniel DiRito – Maybe after we export our “democracy†to Iraq we can all move there because ours will be gone by then.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:00 pmWasent it Hitler that was so paranoid also… Let’s see, set up internment camps, hold thousands of people all over the world with no contact or representation, dismantel the constitution, take from the poor and give to the rich, create wars to drain all money from the econemy, ignore disasters, appoint cronies to offices they are not qualified to do, ignore polls and the people. Ah yes, now I get it, the real deal, listen in on every one to be sure there is no revolt in the works, the moment it appears there is trouble, preemptive strike here at home. Hi Ho, Hi Ho it’s off to the camps we go…….We need to get this lieing scum bag out before any more die in Iraq ar any where else…..Blessings
May 11th, 2006 at 2:01 pmI like how this fool says “We still haven’t been attacked yet”., meaning this is the reason why and that he should get credit for it. The previous attack was planned for almost a decade, not as though it is supposed to happen every year…..though knowing Bush, he would love it for America to be attacked every year so his numbers would skyrocket again and he can chant “I’m the War Presnit, I’m the War Presnit!”.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:01 pmBon voyage!!
Comment by mighty aphrodite — May 11, 2006 @ 1:27 pm
Please tell us that it is YOU going somewhere…
May 11th, 2006 at 2:02 pmI’m sure most here are aware of these facts… but jsut in case…
1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. From the prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:04 pm2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite “spontaneous†acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and “terrorists.†Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism. Ruling elites always identified closely with the military and the industrial infrastructure that supported it. A disproportionate share of national resources was allocated to the military, even when domestic needs were acute. The military was seen as an expression of nationalism, and was used whenever possible to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the ruling elite.
5. Rampant sexism. Beyond the simple fact that the political elite and the national culture were male-dominated, these regimes inevitably viewed women as second-class citizens. They were adamantly anti-abortion and also homophobic. These attitudes were usually codified in Draconian laws that enjoyed strong support by the orthodox religion of the country, thus lending the regime cover for its abuses.
6. A controlled mass media. Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.
7. Obsession with national security. Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,†and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together. Unlike communist regimes, the fascist and protofascist regimes were never proclaimed as godless by their opponents. In fact, most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite’s behavior was incompatible with the precepts of the religion was generally swept under the rug. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the “godless.†A perception was manufactured that opposing the power elite was tantamount to an attack on religion.
9. Power of corporations protected. Although the personal life of ordinary citizens was under strict control, the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom was not compromised. The ruling elite saw the corporate structure as a way to not only ensure military production (in developed states), but also as an additional means of social control. Members of the economic elite were often pampered by the political elite to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of “have-not†citizens.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated. Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless. The poor formed an underclass, viewed with suspicion or outright contempt. Under some regimes, being poor was considered akin to a vice.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts. Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal. Universities were tightly controlled; politically unreliable faculty harassed or eliminated. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. To these regimes, art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment. Most of these regimes maintained Draconian systems of criminal justice with huge prison populations. The police were often glorified and had almost unchecked power, leading to rampant abuse. “Normal†and political crime were often merged into trumped-up criminal charges and sometimes used against political opponents of the regime. Fear, and hatred, of criminals or “traitors†was often promoted among the population as an excuse for more police power.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption. Those in business circles and close to the power elite often used their position to enrich themselves. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism. Members of the power elite were in a position to obtain vast wealth from other sources as well: for example, by stealing national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, this corruption was largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.
14. Fraudulent elections. Elections in the form of plebiscites or public opinion polls were usually bogus. When actual elections with candidates were held, they would usually be perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.
Does any of this ring alarm bells? Of course not. After all, this is America, officially a democracy with the rule of law, a constitution, a free press, honest elections, and a well-informed public constantly being put on guard against evils. Historical comparisons like these are just exercises in verbal gymnastics. Maybe, maybe not.
Peace is War, War is Peace Big Brother is really Watching. 20 years from now people who question or oppose the state and a willing coalition of business interests will lose their jobs and the effective
May 11th, 2006 at 2:04 pmability to publically dissent. This is the possible future we face. slowly the safeguards of free speech are being restructed by Ideology Ridicule and Disinformation. Ray Mcgovern dared to stand up and speak the truth. He was jeered and booed in front of millions of people. The weekly standard cherry picked his background to discredit the messenger. They did not critique the message. I sent them an Email and a challenge to address the message. Of course they did not respond. This is a very clear paradigm of disinformation and the slow march to a police state. It is my belief that the president has violated our trust and cannot be trusted when he says that there is no trolling or fishing in the compilation of the database. This precise action occured in the selective use and misuse of intelligence regarding WMD. It is said that a house built on lies cannot stand. For any of you who might question my patriotism my brother served in the navy for many years as did my father. I broke with family tradition and served in the army national guard =)
Ben – forgot to take his meds again…
he seems to suffer from severe mental disorders…as in
alexia Loss of a previously intact ability to grasp the meaning of written or printed words and sentences.
alogia An impoverishment in thinking that is inferred from observing speech and language behavior. There may be brief and concrete replies to questions and restriction in the amount of spontaneous speech (poverty of speech). Sometimes the speech is adequate in amount but conveys little information because it is overconcrete, overabstract, repetitive, or stereotyped (poverty of content).
amentia Subnormal development of the mind, with particular reference to intellectual capacities; a type of severe mental retardation.
anosognosia The apparent unawareness of or failure to recognize one’s own functional defect
apathy Lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:05 pmBen – How about lazy, uninformed, and just plain dumb as dirt? You: As if the US governement has the resources to look at tens of millions of phone records”
People like Ben are the reason our Democracy is in serious trouble. They would rather trust than think……they are lazy, full of themselves ( God knows why) and easily manipulated. Once they hook their star to their “team” it’s their team right or wrong. It’s never about facts or the truth,…..it’s about the “fun” of raw bullying and strutting around …….. but most of all it’s about really really really DUMB.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:05 pmBen – How about lazy, uninformed, and just plain dumb as dirt? You: As if the US governement has the resources to look at tens of millions of phone records”
People like Ben are the reason our Democracy is in serious trouble. They would rather trust than think……they are lazy, full of themselves ( God knows why) and easily manipulated. Once they hook their star to their “team” it’s their team right or wrong. It’s never about facts or the truth,…..it’s about the “fun” of raw bullying and strutting around …….. but most of all it’s about really really really DUMB.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:05 pmBon voyage!!
Comment by mighty aphrodite — May 11, 2006 @ 1:27 pm
I hear Iraq is a flower in the middle east. Full of democracy, and safety. Perhaps you and your family could go over for a few weeks mighty, then you can come back and tell all of us “progs” of the wonderful paradise of Bahgdad.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:05 pmThe company I work for makes a 6 Terabyte iSCSI SAN device that can hold a huge quantity of information. Our iSCSI SAN device is NOT on the high end of storage capacity. WHo’s the biggest dumbass now?
May 11th, 2006 at 2:06 pm#95 Yes The SF Bay Area.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:07 pm#108 madashell, that’s cool. I’m in a redstate and no one here and folks are pretty upset about the spying. Here in TN, we like our privacy. That is one reason many move here from large cities – privacy. Then they hear some of us talk and look perplexed. See, we have utterly stupid trailer park trash and we have ORNL, so we also have extremely intelligent scientists. It is a very odd mix, but always a hoot to secretly make fun of the reblitards (that was for you IRI, I know you love funny names) while ordering fries from them. They can’t even tell.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:08 pmfollow-up question:
May 11th, 2006 at 2:08 pm“and mr 31%, has this tactic worked? does mining data work? do you have new intel on al qaida?”
“uh, no.”
You know, people… I really didn’t think it possible that Bush and Republicans’ poll numbers could go any lower. Bush proved me wrong.
I am happy. Before this, I was seriously questioning whether the Democrats can take over Congress… after all, “Turdblossom” (Bush’s words, not mine) has been given the task of preventing the Dems from taking over… and the architect of the vote flipping in 2000, 2002 and 2004 (and quite possibly the 9/11 terrorist attacks) can do miracles.
But you know what? I think this just might push the task at hand out of even Turdblossom’s reach… especially if this explodes all over the country (and so far it has), eventually causing Bush to reach 15% approval rating.
We’ll see over the next couple of weeks and months. So far, Bush is being 100% counterproductive by attempting to “defend the indefensible.”
May 11th, 2006 at 2:09 pmYou don’t “think” the USATodays’ article on NSA wiretapping had ANYTHING to do with Michael Haydens’ upcoming confirmation hearings, do you???
#60 – “It is important to remember that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda no longer use cell phones to communicate. They are doing it the old fashion way.” – SpongeMAN
***** And you know this….how…..
#78 – “Afrodykie, you can always go back to your roots too u know” – Cyniclone
******Excellent point – but I’m not the one whining about the NSA program, am I? Your misspelling of my name is incorrect – I am neither black or a lesbian – sorry to diappoint….
#102 – Dear Guido – Unlike Dems and progs, I don’t need you to take care of me.
’til later….
May 11th, 2006 at 2:10 pm6 Terabyte iSCSI SAN device
dude I want one. I have no practical use for the device but still…
May 11th, 2006 at 2:10 pm#95 Funny you should mention. The W stickers are gone from the cars here in NC too. I haven’t seen one in months! The Kerry stickers are still on. But here we have a so-called Red State turning purple, if you gather my meaning. I suspect that is true in many erstwhile Red States, and I was disappointed indeed to find that the Dems have written off this state, allowing the Republicans to run unopposed at a national level in so many districts! They could have carried NC! Now, when the NC voter looks around for some way to express his disappointment with the GOP, there is nobody to vote for! I know what they will do, they already did it in the primary… they’re going to stay home. But the GOP will still get the seats! IT’s a shame.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:11 pmDid you know that there are only 3 or 4 states left that has bush at slightly over 50%.
I read that about a month ago….
May 11th, 2006 at 2:13 pmI am neither black or a lesbian – sorry to diappoint….
Comment by mighty aphrodite — May 11, 2006 @ 2:10 pm
This is true. You’re a white man. Something you never deny.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:13 pmThe Problem is: They can now create a linkage for who calls who.
A -> B -> C -> etc.
It would take very little programing to create a listing of ALL your Contacts based on Your Call linkage. Think of it like “Friendster” Social Network on Steroids.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:13 pmI have a sticker on the back of my Durango… “F” and directly underneath, The President. Have had it on for almost 2 years. It’s been spit on a few times, but not in a while…
May 11th, 2006 at 2:14 pm“You guys are the biggest dumbasses ever.
As if the US governement has the resources to look at tens of millions of phone records.”
What do you think is happening when you search the internet? It’s interesting how easy it is to drill down to a few interesting sites, depending on what you search for, isn’t it? Perhaps they search for “terrorists” or “bombs”, but they could as easily search for your nickname in combination with “dumbass” and drill right in on you!
May 11th, 2006 at 2:15 pmIs Time Warner involved in this?
May 11th, 2006 at 2:15 pmHey don’t worry, this program is only going to continue while there is a terrorist threat to America…..oh wait…..THAT MEANS FOREVER.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:15 pmOh mighty,
May 11th, 2006 at 2:16 pmYou’d run into the comforting arms of Uncle Shrub pantin’ and a cryin’ like the cheap, kept whore you are…
Naturally, the common people don’t want war, but they can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. Tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and endangering the country. It works the same in every country.
… Herman Goering
May 11th, 2006 at 2:17 pmHitler’s Reichsmarschall
Quoted during Nuremberg trials
United States — Population: 295,734,134
hmmm so 10 million of America is talking to AL-Qaeda?
I know alot of People, does anyone here ever talk to al qaeda?
Hell Whats their Phone number george?
I’d like to call and cuss then out, if thats OKAY with the King.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:17 pmAnd given todays modern technology, why DON’T you just Block Calls to AL QAEDA?
China does it.
#122 – “Perhaps you and your family could go over for a few weeks mighty, then you can come back and tell all of us “progs†of the wonderful paradise of Bahgdad.”
Kranky Krazzzy
******Kranky – As usual, you forget that I AM NOT THE one fearful of my phone call patterns being tracked – AND I love it here! I wanted to reassure paranoid progs they were free to go….who knew????
must run…
May 11th, 2006 at 2:18 pm#91 – I’ll send you some Brillo pads for your eyes, kindness. ;)
May 11th, 2006 at 2:18 pmGuess what George, the people are wisw to your bullshit, you will not pull a ‘Hitler’ again.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:19 pmNumbers and calling patterns don’t mean dick if you don’t know who is making the call. You have to listen to know if it’s a terrorist. It’s not like they use the same number all the time! They are LISTENING to our calls. everything he has said about this program, including this, has been a lie:
1. “when your talking about a wiretap your talking about a court order” LIE
2. “We are only listening to international calls with known Al Queida” LIE
3. “We are just looking at call patterns and numbers of al Quieda” LIE
We need to march on the Capital to protest the usless and complicit congress NOW!
May 11th, 2006 at 2:20 pmmust run…
Comment by mighty aphrodite — May 11, 2006 @ 2:18 pm
If only that were true. To not have to read the incoherant rants of a sexually confused troll.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:20 pmmust run…
Comment by mighty aphrodite — May 11, 2006 @ 2:18 pm
Still waiting for you to tell me how inspiration sources are relevant to the correlation between too many law enforcment agencies and too many people in prison.
Unlike you, I have a great memory.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:22 pmThe government is searching databases with a criteria.
The current “government” is far too incompetent to search databases and derive any meaningful information.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:22 pmMy favorite car sticker had a bush/cheney logo with Homer Simpson pissing on it….
May 11th, 2006 at 2:22 pmHey MIGHTY ASSODYTE
You one of them dick blood drinkers?
You know Purim, the blood of a circumcised christian?
Say I bet you look good MA with them shamanist shirly curls on your little SCULL Cap.
MA make me a Talisman!! Do some magic words!
May 11th, 2006 at 2:23 pmLOL
Hey MA did you know that they found OSIRIS penis?
Yupp been there the whole Time, so much for Skull and Bones and the MYTH eh?
Still want some of my christian dick blood?
From the CNN article on this:
So its not just phone calls, but also emails, where you go on the web, your online chats, everything, without a warrant. Just plain disgusting.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:23 pmhmmm, no one answered my question from earlier today:
does al qaeda offer dental?
May 11th, 2006 at 2:24 pmWayne,
as spudge and I were discussing, nothing you do on the web is private.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:25 pmYOU BETTER RUN Might Asshodyte
Cause WE are upon you soul-less sociopaths, animal killers, nature killers.
Run cause it’s MUCH too late to JOG.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:25 pmIt is widely known. If you are too stupid to figure it out for youself and get informed, that is your problem not mine.
You repubulicans have a huge problem with underestimating your enemy. The leaders of al Qaeda are doctors, engineers, architects, etc. They are not dumb people and the United States will never get ahead in the war on terrorism until you retards figure that out.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:25 pmKrazny, me to, only can I get one with batteries. You know (they) will likely cut our power and then what to do. What is it again.? LOL…..Blessings
May 11th, 2006 at 2:25 pm129 – you could attatch it to your TIVO and record months of every single channel. Now, none or ‘em are worthy, beyond the handfull we laugh about…but you could….
May 11th, 2006 at 2:26 pm#151 – does al qaeda offer dental?
Comment by james risser
Not sure, but I heard their retirement plan sucks.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:27 pmNot quite. By linking cellphone numbers together, there is a pretty good idea of who makes calls…
May 11th, 2006 at 2:27 pmGood point I could get every single episode of the daily show, the colbert report, and the new Battlestar galactica, and still have lots of space.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:28 pmPractical application for home use:
Download all of the porn on the web.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:29 pm#
#151 – does al qaeda offer dental?
Comment by james risser
Not sure, but I heard their retirement plan sucks.
Comment by Zookeeper — May 11, 2006 @ 2:27 pm
That 72 virgins thing seems to work for a lot of people though. I wonder what they tell the women?
May 11th, 2006 at 2:29 pm#152 – as spudge and I were discussing, nothing you do on the web is private.
Comment by Krazny
It’s funny how some people think it is private. I know people who refer to their websites as “personal.” Of course, they are idiots…
May 11th, 2006 at 2:30 pmLinda, I am so ready to go back. I had a great job at a huge and progressive law firm (MoFo) but chose to come back to TN from NYC to take care of my mom and get a job in criminal defense doing pro bono stuff for the poor. I am also a special court advocate for children appointed by a judge/referee.
I love TN but it is hard watching these people vote against children and against themselves. There is a lot of ignorance down south, but a lot of great groups. RET – Rationalists of East Tennessee is a fun bunch of nuts.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:31 pmIt be fairly easy with this database to set parameters of selective information gathering on institutions and people, and use this information in subtle ways to affect policy, perceptions and polictical power. This could be managed at a micro and macro level throughout our society. Our trusted goverment though nothing of outing valerie plame for short term political gain. There is a clear pattern of behavior and recidivism here. Hmm….
May 11th, 2006 at 2:31 pmSorry all, me bad. A scanner? no I don’t need one of those, got all I need with a good Leapold scope and the other cross hairs… Blessings
May 11th, 2006 at 2:32 pmAphro, do you have NO common sense whatsoever? No, really…
May 11th, 2006 at 2:33 pmMillions of Americans ‘affiliated with terrorists’ and Administration (a few people ) is keeping tab on them. Bleh, Can’t be true.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:33 pmOK then maybe Administration ‘affiliated with terrorists’ and Millions of Americans just peace loving people. Yeaaaas!!
knowing that time is limited and anyone wanting to be aware of the several dozen scandals coming out of berlin, i mean the whitehouse, can barely keep up. but, if people are interested in the us today piece, they might be interested in digging through another related issue. i don’t know whether anyone who might be interested are aware of the eef suit.
this is one of the documents written by the black-shirts attempting to intervene to quash the case…needless to say, it is further proof of the nazi’s evil desire to intervene to quell any dissent and strip citizens of their right to a fair trial
May 11th, 2006 at 2:33 pm[...] Democratic Representative Maurice Hinchey, in the above linked CNN article said: "This administration thinks they can just violate any law they want, and they've created a culture of fear to try to get away with that. It's up to us to stand up to them," Hinchey said. Ladies & Gentleman, sharpen your pitchforks. July Fourth, Two-Thousand and Six may end up being a call to action, to save this country and the constitution, again, from those who wish to destroy her. Update: Bush has appeared on TV and said the following, via ThinkProgress: First, our intelligence activities strictly target Al Qaeda and their known affiliates. Al Qaeda is our enemy, and we want to know their plans. Keep in mind, "tens of millions" of US citizens have been affected. [...]
May 11th, 2006 at 2:35 pm#144
Agreed. Why does the government need the list of records for tens of millions of Americans? If the intelligence activities strictly targets Al Qaeda and their affiliates, the government must have a list of “suspected” terrorists. Thus, if they need to see their phone records, get a FISA warrant and go to the phone companies and get the info for the list of suspects you have.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:37 pmThat 72 virgins thing seems to work for a lot of people though. I wonder what they tell the women?
Comment by Krazny
They offer a man with a 72 ft. tongue.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:37 pmThink the NSA is interested in all of us? Or just what companies to short-sell next time.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:39 pmWayne,
as spudge and I were discussing, nothing you do on the web is private.
Comment by Krazny
Try running a sniffer on someone’s network, then try telling the judge that “but nothing is private on the internet” See how that flies.
I am not a lawyer, I am a unix system administrator and an internet security specialist. What they are doing is illegal without a court order. Period.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:40 pmPerhaps MA and the other trolls who support this action should familiarize themselves with the 4th amendment. I know it is sooooo pre 9/11 but……
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:40 pmWayne, I agree – illegal if warrantless.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:42 pmWayne, I agree with you, that the excuse would not hold up in court. I was not trying to argue that the action was legal or illegal. However most companies run network monitors, and there are rumours and hints of the above mentioned carnivor. As a precaution, I don’t put anything out on the net I want to keep private.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:43 pmWayne,
As a UNIX Admin, I am sure you are aware that a network “attaches to” the Internet, it is not “on” the Internet.
Besides, Kranzy and I believe what they are doing is illegal too. We are just a little more reality based than our local trolls. We realize the government is doing this, has been for some time and will continue to until ma and pa kettle realize that their Well Fargo Bank transactions are not quite as secure as they think they are.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:47 pmand, if anyone is interested, today’s nyt has a story of note:
get this, the justice department can’t get security clearance to investigate the nsa program… do you think that a post-2006 democratic congress will be able to investigate the same issue???? i fear the answer is a big NO…
May 11th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
P&P. Sounds like you are doing great work there. Here: Gas is $3.35, housing is way overpriced and the weather will be nice until about October-boring.
May 11th, 2006 at 2:53 pmThe Bush Regime is snooping on phone records to find out everyone who is calling or faxing members of Congress to do things to stop the corruption of Bush and Cheney! The lists of numbers tell them who is an activist or not! If you just call your friend Marge down the street and other regular dumb calls, then the Bush spies throw your records into the schredder!
May 11th, 2006 at 3:01 pmBut..but..but Bush and the NSA only gets the phone numbers, no other information is given out.
This is an argument I have seen on several websites. These people must be stupid. How hard would it be for them to get all of your information from the tele-com company, if they already do not have it. Or, they could just cross reference everything with the Federal Do Not call List. They may not be lsitening, but they are violating the fourth ammendment.
When I think of the idiots who support this administration, this quote comes to mind:
May 11th, 2006 at 3:05 pm“Everything has its limit – Iron ore cannot be educated to gold” – Twain
If, as Bush has stated, they weren’t listening to the calls, then how do they know if you are talking about giving your mistress’ bush the bomb or giving Bush the mystery bomb?
May 11th, 2006 at 3:05 pmQwest refused to participate. At least there are some corporations with ethics, left.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:08 pmQwest refused to participate. At least there are some corporations with ethics, left. One unidentified person said that this is the biggest database ever assembled…in the world…ever.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:09 pmIm no Republican BUT how do you think they make up phone Bills ??? Itemised billing tracks all your calls anyway
Now
Ive said this before but if you say bomb on the phone voice recognising automattically records your calls anyway
Now
Most Terrorists will speak about fishing not a bomb
Now
May 11th, 2006 at 3:14 pmJust change your bloody foreign policy and there will be no need of all this parania and fear mongering, and stop vetoing all good ideas at the UN, you wankers
We gotta fight freedom here so we can have it over there, because they are jealous of our freedoms, that we no longer have, and eventually they will no longer BE jealous and will have their own freedom and we will be jealouse of them and….
May 11th, 2006 at 3:14 pmBen,
If you and Mighty Halfwit-ity have such a hard-on for living under a dictatorship, why don’t you go somewhere else and find one and stop trying turn the U.S. into one. Obviously, Americans have far too much freedom for your liking.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:15 pmMy phone calls and faxes are wiretapped, because I fax members of the Congress all the time > Democrat members of Congress! America has been taken over by a corrupt authoritarian regime that fears its own citizens! Bush believes you are either for him (meaning stupid) or against him (meaning a terrorist)! So according to Dubya 69% of the population are helping terrorists or are terrorists, if you are an activist like Cindy Sheehan or even me!
May 11th, 2006 at 3:16 pm#188
do you ever get responses to your faxes? just curious. i spent the month of march faxing to senators, and no one even sent a postcard back…
thanks.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:25 pmI get e-mails back from Feinstein and Boxer, takes a while but they do reply.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:32 pmMaybe dumbass jimb would like to explain how this has effected his life. You know something I do not live in fear that the US government will take my phone records or emails and turn them into something they are not. You liberals keep screaming about “fear” yet you guys are the ones behaving with all the paranoia.
Jay Ryou are the posterboy for paranoia.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:35 pmWhen I lived in Washington I used to get stuff back from jay inslee all the time. he was very good about responding.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:35 pmThe isp I used to work for had the FBI come and ask us to give them the records for a customer they suspected of child porn.
We made them go get a warrant,
once we were shown the warrant, we gave them the records we had, of that one account, not every customer. We also did not let the agent touch the servers and do their own search. We complied with what was specified inthe warrant, signed by a judge.
Unless they have a warrant for every person they are gathering info on, its illegal. it violates the 4th amendmant.
Yeah, potentually everything you do on the internet can be traced and tracked, but in reality, most isps donot have the resources to track someone, unless that person is hacking or doing some other illegal activity.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:37 pmWe had up to 2 hack attemts a day, sometimes, no one ever got in, and most were caught and arrested. Stupid script kiddies. hehe
BushCo knows they are in Big trouble this time. note the speed with which GWB was plopped down in front of the cameras, no ’substitutes’ or ’stand-ins’ THIS time!! And the earnest expression on his silly gob, as he pleads with his eyes, as he lies and lies, Believe Me!! Sorry, bud, I’ve grown beyond used to your crappola. Is it hot in there, or is it just you? snicker, snort, peal of laughter. Squirm, worm.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:37 pmHere is why Bush must get impeached; charged and thrown in jail: He’ll simply igore anything less. He has been given a free reign to break the law in whatever way suits him for so long that it will take some fairly extreme measures to stop him now.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:39 pmBesides it is not that a human is listening it is the fact that given the PHONE #’s are being collected…and Bush and company know who’s ph# they want watched they can track the communication patterns of those they deem necessary, and just get warrents for those they feel a danger from…but not just terrorists…but political enemies…and whistle blowers…and anti bush outsiders they identify through the photos taken at protests….cointern all over again..this time with a overall scheme ala the phone records tracked by computer….
May 11th, 2006 at 3:40 pmPost 191 Ben > you are too stupid for the government to care about who you call, and besides you are a Bush lover too > lol.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:41 pm“Check with Cingular. I just hope they are not part of this too.”
Cingular is owned by SBC who bought AT&T and is now AT&T so I’m guessing that if you have Cingular, like me, you’re phone records have been shared with the government. This is just like the government tapping into all of AT&T’s broadband customers to mine their data.
This just makes me sick. I hope the impeach him. Whom I call is my own business and the government has no right to know – if they need to know you get a FISA warrent so there is oversight. Period.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:42 pmPost 189 james > Members of Congress are very paranoid about responding back to faxes! They do have to aknowledge receiving them, since posted on their phone records, so they stamp received and date on every fax and put it into a file under your name!
May 11th, 2006 at 3:45 pm#189 I have gotten responses from Durbin and Obama. Frist did not respond, but I got signed up for his mailing list soemhow. Tim Johnson, my representative and a nice guy one on one, never responded to me. Of course An organization (related to homeland security search and rescue) I work with lost a grant we had applied for through Johnson’s office shortly after I asked him to propose an invetigation into the whole NSA deal late last year. Dennis Hastert is one who has also not responded, but why would he, he’s too busy ralping America to be bothered with emails.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:46 pmYou liberals keep screaming about “fear†yet you guys are the ones behaving with all the paranoia.
Jay Ryou are the posterboy for paranoia.
Comment by Ben — May 11, 2006 @ 3:35 pm
So why aren’t you in Iraq right now, “taking the fight to them”, fearless Ben? If you can find Osama, you can ask him if the program was cost-effective or not.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:51 pmI can’t wait to see the bounce in the polls Baby Bush gets after this story sinks in the feeble minds of his base. If not for his base, our Baby preznit would have an approval rating in the teens to match his emotional maturity and his IQ. There is a sizable chunk of Repubs who will see this total abuse of the Constitution as the last straw, and finally conclude this guy is not a Republican, not a Christian, not a conservative, etc. He’s just a spoiled rich kid who wants his way and can give a shit about anyone else. I think this easily pushes the boy blunder into the 20’s for the foreseeable future.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:54 pmSix months ago I graphed Bush and Nixon’s approval and disapproval ratings against each other. Then I did it again last week. I wasn’t planning to update it for a while—but the newest Gallup poll shows Bush’s approval rating dropping from 34 to 31%, and his disapproval rating rising from 63 to 65%.
CHECK THIS GRAPH BUSH IN BIG TROUBLE SOON
May 11th, 2006 at 4:03 pm#191
The point is, idiot, to go read post #24 and then come back and tell me why the government feels that it needs AT&T to turn over MY phone records. My PERSONAL phone records. Get it?
May 11th, 2006 at 4:23 pmMr. Bush is a true disciple of the Reich’s Ministry of Propaganda dictum of telling Big Lies often enough until people believe it to be the truth.
May 11th, 2006 at 4:24 pmGeorge Bush is right. And he did the right thing.
May 11th, 2006 at 4:29 pmWhen Bush says “Terrorists” I can’t help but hear the word “Boogeyman”!
May 11th, 2006 at 4:35 pm[...] Bush has defended the NSA’s breathtaking civil liberty abuses by claiming it “strictly targets Al Qaeda and theri affiliates”. Yet today, it was revealed that the NSA has compiled the phone records of tens of millions of Americans. So either you personally are an Al Qaeda associate, or Bush is a liar. [...]
May 11th, 2006 at 4:42 pm[...] Bush has defended the NSA’s breathtaking civil liberty abuses by claiming it “strictly targets Al Qaeda and theri affiliates”. Yet today, it was revealed that the NSA has compiled the phone records of tens of millions of Americans. So either you personally are an Al Qaeda associate, or Bush is a liar. [...]
May 11th, 2006 at 4:43 pm#4 – The payment for the wiretaps just might be:
The Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006.
Think about this one. Laws, both domestic and international, along with trade agreements mean little or nothing to your adminstration.
Why are you so suprised?
May 11th, 2006 at 4:58 pmthanks everyone for the information about the faxes…
if they keep folders, then, i suppose the nsa is reading this as i type.
HI NSA!!!! HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY! LOVE AND KISSES,
FCUK BUSH
May 11th, 2006 at 5:00 pmBIG BROTHER IS WATCHING!! WE ARE LOOKING FOR TERRORIST AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE SUSPECTED OF SUPPORTING TERRORIST. THAT WHY WE ARE MONITORING THEIR PHONE CALLS. TRUST US, WOULD WE SPY OF PEOPLE FOR NO REASON. I QUESS TENS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICAN HAVE A CONNECTION OF TERRORIST. THAT’S WHY WE NEED THIS INFORMATION
May 11th, 2006 at 5:06 pmThe terrorists wave won.
They can’t win again in 2008 though, so you’ll have to vote for someone else.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:15 pmThat does it!
I’m certain now…
…Bushiva is listening in on Fitzgerald…
…and opponents…
This quid pro quo…
…the criminal Bushite junta will give the telecoms the green light to institute internet access for the wealthy…
…in exchange for data-mining services…
…Bushites are TRAITORS!!!!
May 11th, 2006 at 5:15 pm#191 it does nto have to affect my life directly for it to be wrong. I know republicans think that way…waht’s in it for me, or what about me or how does this affect me? But that is not what this is about. Just because I have nothing to hide does nto mean I want anyone snoopign around. If that were the case and I had nothing to hide, then the local peeping Tom (or peeping George as the case may be) would be legal to do what he wants.
Anyhow this does affect me knwoing that constitutional freedoms are being eroded bya guy who said he has to protect us from people who hate our freedoms. I guess those people must feel emboldend and extremely happy each time they see that their strategy to destroy our freedoms (the presidents thoughts not mine) seem to be working. It must wamr their pblack little hearts to see it happening from within and not because of their actions. The president is doing Al Queda’s job for them. Interesting how that works out that he can witha straight face tlak about the terrorists hating our freedoms as he restricts and removes them.
Remember this, the president continaully talks about how his job is to protect the American people. I think he needs to revist this thing called the constitution and also re-read his oath of office. The presidents oath say’s that his main job is to protect the constitution. His job is to protect the idea that is America. If people die and America still lives then he has done his job. If every one in the country lives but America becomes a totalitarian police state, then he has failed at his job. Guess which one we are moving towards? ALso the more freedoms this administration infringes upon the more they shit on the memory and service of every person who has ever worked to safegu8ard those freedoms int he past. They might as well go to the gaves of Jefferson, Madison, hamilton, Washington, Frankiln, Jay etc… and take a great big dump, because that is what they are in effect doing. That is how this affects me.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:16 pmWhat happend to the Republicans? They would never have stood for this before but now because of the President’s fear-mongering rhetoric they’ve all turned into a bunch of principleless pussies.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:17 pmCan we please impeach him now? PLLLLLLLEEEEEEASE?
May 11th, 2006 at 5:28 pmConflating “intelligence activities” with simple the NSA program: priceless.
Not realizing that in any operation there will be “collateral damage”: priceless.
Not telling your dupes that only the phone numbers were recorded, not names, not addresses, nothing else: priceless.
The Less You KnowÂâ„¢
May 11th, 2006 at 5:33 pmNot mentioning the phone companies tell there customers they won’t give out private information:scummy
Not mentioning that it is phone records of who you called not just the phone numbers:partisan
Laughing at another of Seixon useless posts:priceless
May 11th, 2006 at 5:36 pmnot unlike ’39s germany…
May 11th, 2006 at 5:38 pmhard to believe america could get so low…
history does repeat itself…
one of my favorite features in my local phone book is a section that lists the numbers, in order, with the name following…helps when you get a hang-up and *69 to get the number…
May 11th, 2006 at 5:41 pmhmmm – i wonder if NSA has such capabilities? …
I forgot Item #3
ignoring the pesky 4th admendment of the US constitution: treasonus
May 11th, 2006 at 5:42 pmonly knowing how to use straw-man arguments: showing his ignorance
condoning statutory violations and constitutional violation: just plain stupid
not know what he is talking about regarding the types of data tracked: the norm
hey! this is fun! your turn krazny
finally, a good use for his comments…making visa ads… bravo krazny! you have made my day….
May 11th, 2006 at 5:46 pmuh – obviously that’s supposed to be ‘30s germany
May 11th, 2006 at 5:47 pmThey can take our lives but never our freedom!
May 11th, 2006 at 5:49 pm#222
you might find the links in #168 intersting reading…
(my visa ad doesn’t roll of the tongue…i have to try again. the thing is, what can possibly be ‘priceless’ about anything he says?)
May 11th, 2006 at 5:50 pmLOL it may not roll off the tongue james but #223 was funny.
A well done to you sir
May 11th, 2006 at 5:56 pmWould love to see who Gannon has been speaking to at the Whore House.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:00 pmMy money is on Rove PBR, he is a total leather daddy. I mean just look at the dude.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:15 pmHey, has anyone found out if Cingular was or wasn’t involved in the spying. If not, Cingular might get themselves a new customer.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:18 pmI think qwest was the only one who held out. I am not sure about cingular, who owns them or who do they own. Didn’t they and AT&T recently merge?
May 11th, 2006 at 6:20 pmPosting right wing spin on a left wing site: pointless
Spouting off drivel that makes no sense: idiotic
Licking the boots of your NeoCon masters in hopes that they will bring you into the cabal: completely useless.
That is fun!
Ironic (or is that moronic) that this comes from Seixon.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:20 pmOur government in engaged in an illegal domestic spying program so vast and invasive that Heinrich Himmler could only dream about. THE ONLY WAY TO END THIS FASCIST CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE IS TO BECOME A REVOLUTIONARY AND OVERTHROW THESE NEO-NAZI BASTARDS.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:41 pmI think we should all take a deep breath and think about it before you get swallowed up in the paranoia.
I don’t make phone calls to terrorists so why should I care if Bush wants to see who I call?
I don’t write emails to terrorists so why should I care of the government reads my emails? I have nothing to hide.
I don’t write letters to terrorists so if the U.S. Postal office wants to steam my letters open and correct my piss poor grammar, I have no problem.
I don’t carry terrorists in my car, so if the government wants to have me stop at checkpoints and search my car and body, I have nothing to hide, go ahead. Just please point that uzzi to the ground when you do.
I know that there are not any terrorists in my house so if the jackboots want to come in, any time of the day or night, why should I care? I have nothing to hide.
And I am sure my daughters don’t have any contraband hidden, so if the jackboots want to perform a full body and cavity search, why should I care?
I just want to be safe. If we can save the life of just one American, why should we care about a few “civil liberties”.
Did I get it right Mighty Sleazy? You losers are frigging pathetic. If you aren’t absolutely pissed about this administration, you don’t have the balls to be called an American and you can move the f*** out of my country.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:45 pmnanlichi
May 11th, 2006 at 7:05 pmyou had me fooled there for a minute.
I agree – those who don’t believe in America and its values and fundamental freedom should just get the hell out.
Remember, the NSA is a Pentagon agency. It is the military spying on us. Try this simple substitution on:
May 11th, 2006 at 7:09 pm“The US Army has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans.”
Now let me get this straight….Bush said that spying is only for Al Qaida terrorist? Right…this man has LIED SO MUCH, it makes a five-year old look like an amateur when he is caught playing with himself…WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE? ME OR YOUR LYING EYES?
May 11th, 2006 at 7:23 pmITMFA
May 11th, 2006 at 10:15 pmHey: I just sent the following email to SBC (my local phone company, now ATT): Less than 5 minutes later I recieved the attached response. I am sure I am being monitored…we make overseas calls…we travel…we protest… Hey G.W.! MONITOR THIS!
Email Tracking Number: 5207784
>
>Question/Comment:
>Just found out you are providing phone logs & numbers to Bush.
>
>Additional Information:
>FYI: I despise those clowns in the white house. Often make snotty and
>profane remarks ON THE PHONE regarding my feelings for the Bush
>regime. Hope this email assists you in properly routing my phone
>number and calls…I rather enjoy thinking my clever, ranting remarks
>might show up on some Secret Agent Man’s desk. No one else seems to be
>listening.
Greetings XXXXXX,
Thank you for your recent email.
Rest assured, we take customer privacy very seriously. Furthermore,
AT&T follows all laws with respect to assistance provided to government
agencies. However, we’re not in a position to comment on matters of
national security.
Thank you for choosing the new AT&T – the culmination of AT&T’s passion
to invent and SBC’s drive to deliver. We appreciate your business and
continued loyalty.
Check out the new AT&T at http://www.att.com / http://www.thenewatt.com.
You may receive a survey asking if you are very satisfied with the
service I provided to you today. If you are not, please contact me so I can
ensure you are very satisfied with the service I have provided.
For additional information, click on the links below, or cut and paste
the links into your browser (see safety note below):
Regards,
Your AT&T Customer Service Representative
May 11th, 2006 at 10:15 pmI keep seeing the Bush Criminals being compared to Nazis, but I think this is more like Soviet Russia and the KGB. I’m waiting for the future where we all have to pay bribes to get out of trumped up minor charges and can never escape the prisons.
May 11th, 2006 at 11:29 pmWould you buy a used car from this man?â€
Comment by big papa
Big Papa,
May 11th, 2006 at 11:30 pmI wouldn’t even buy a new car from him. Either it would be a lemon or else wired with various spyware.
Now we have many of the pieces of the puzzle:
Concentration camps for those imprisoned within our country, the authorized and endorsed use of torture and human rights violation. The total abandonment of the Constitution, Bill of rights and all civil rights. Illegal war, spying on U.S. citizens without warrants, ignoring of the laws and statutes that get in the way of the REICH-wing agenda.
Changing the laws so that those in “custody†can be made to work for their captors.
Which makes no sense at all, as this so called administration chooses to cherry pick the laws they want to follow and pisses on the rest of them. Do as I say, not as I do..Because I’m the decider, I decide what is best. (oh pleeeeez)
At least Hitler was legally elected.
Controlling the media. Issue propaganda and make it run so as to look like news. Control the message, even on airplanes….recruit the youth.
Let’s mark our calendars, next is the extermination of those the so called administration deem to be less of citizens than the patriots of the Fatherland.
Latinos, the new Jew.
I saw something on the “news†about the immigrants and it rang a bell of some of the Nazis that would measure people’s heads, noses and features to determine if they were pure enough to be Arian. It made my skin crawl.
The religious wing-nut zealots are trying to call all the shots. I always thought that the people in Germany must have had their heads up their butts not to know that a madman and his minions were taking over their country……
Now I know how it happened, funny I always thought I would learn from books, not THE ACTUAL EVENTS.
Anyone have any solutions? If we pick a free country to go to, these clowns will just invade it and spread their so called democracy.
May 11th, 2006 at 11:50 pmI say we take our country back to the Real America we all know and love, the one with freedom, laws, checks and balances that our forefathers thought and planned for so well. What great insight to see how corrupt people need to be held accountable over 200 years ago.
They must have seen dumbya and the circus coming to power.
May 11th, 2006 at 11:53 pmyour misspelling of my name is incorrect -
Comment by Mighty Hypocrite
This reminds me of some famous Bushisms like “imports come from other countries.”
May 12th, 2006 at 12:41 am“We have meet the enemy and iy is us.” Pogo.
May 12th, 2006 at 12:52 am“We have meet the enemy and it is us.” Pogo.
May 12th, 2006 at 12:52 am#16 to sparafucilli: Here is some food for thoughts…
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, al-Qaeda means “[Arabic al-q’ida, the base : al-, the + q’ida, foundation, base, feminine participle of qa’ada, to sit.]â€. But Robin Cook, a deceased British MP, wrote that “Al-Qaida, literally “the databaseâ€, was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians.â€
How many times did we hear Bush refer to his “Baseâ€? His Arabic is better than his English. I don’t think he was talking about the so-called “Christian Baseâ€. I’d say he was talking about his Homeboy Osama Bin Laden and his Peeps in Afghanistan. They are hand-in-hand. 9/11 was a joint effort. The truth is out there… something has got to give… Justice will prevail.
Impale Bush!
May 12th, 2006 at 1:11 amAh… but would he put his hand on the Bible, and swear that it is only suspected terrorists that are being “targeted”? And do it live, on prime time network TV? What do you say to that, GWB? Are you ‘game’?
May 12th, 2006 at 2:28 amDemocracy is dead in America. “We only target Al Qaeda” – another drop in the sea of Bush lies.
May 12th, 2006 at 3:05 amGee, I wonder if bush’s or cheney’s phone calls are in the data base? :)
May 12th, 2006 at 8:30 amI think we should all take a deep breath and think about it before you get swallowed up in the paranoia.
I don’t make phone calls to terrorists so why should I care if Bush wants to see who I call?
SIGNED
-Inbred Bushite TRAITORS-
What happens when the definition of WHO is or isn’t a terrorist …
…identifies YOU as such?
…To date, no one has come up with any clearly defined parameters as to just who is or is not a terrorist…
…internationally, simply killing Americans isn’t a universally accepted definition of a terrorist…
…not even domestically…
…so puny hermaphrodite and ALL of you other unAmerican TRAITORS…
…think about how acceptable this policy will be when the Patriot Act is turned against YOU…
May 12th, 2006 at 12:47 pm#149 – Hamster Brain posts his disgusting drivel “You one of them dick blood drinkers? You know Purim, the blood of a circumcised christian?
Say I bet you look good MA with them shamanist shirly curls on your little SCULL Cap.”
***Too disgusting for words!! That’s probably why none of the “loving” progs here repudiated such garbage…
While progs are busy crowing about the Prsidents dismal poll numbers, I haven’t heard mention here about the 60%+ of Americans who think tracking call patterns is in Americas security interest….who knew???
May 12th, 2006 at 1:20 pmA bright, shining pathology perfect for IMPEACHMENT, NOW!
May 12th, 2006 at 1:42 pmDubya actually is Alfred E. Newman, but from the DARK SIDE. He also is a pathological liar who has surrounded himself with the likes of himself. So where is Joe-sixpack in all of this? Well obviously he’s out buying that sixpack.
May 12th, 2006 at 3:49 pm#215 – ” …it does nto have to affect my life directly for it to be wrong. I know republicans think that way…waht’s in it for me, or what about me or how does this affect me?”
*****Hmmm…I guess when the unions and poverty pimps are busy telling their members and constituents about all the welfare net they want more deeply entrenched in American life, those folks aren’t thinking what’s in it for me. Thank you for clarifying the “altruism” of the Left….
May 12th, 2006 at 4:10 pmMighty Aphrodite! Why do you name yourself after the goddess of beauty, fertility, and sexual love? There’s nothing beautiful about you. You are so not attractive in your thinking. Huge turn off. You give this woman a bad name. If I were you, I’d consider changing my name to Mighty Assrodent!
May 12th, 2006 at 5:05 pmIt’s called defending the constitution—-mighty head-in-the-sand aphrodite. I believe The Constitution started out with “We, the people . .” not “Them, the Republicans (or Democrats) in Power”. This is a nation built on the will of America’s people–that used to be the reason we had elections. Now the voting machines get rigged to flip the results, or the Supreme Court chooses based on who appointed them—that’s not My America. And if I remember it correctly, our country was built on the premise that all men are created equal–not just rich men, or white men, or Republican men. ALL men. We should ALL have the right to decent healthcare, a good job, and privacy in our own papers and homes. Right now, we’re not getting that. And it doesn’t look promising as long as these mooks are in power. We need a change–BIG TIME!
May 12th, 2006 at 5:07 pmBig Papa,
Please go back and read my whole post. We are saying the same thing, but I was trying to let the idiots draw their own conclusion. It’s a slippery slope when you start shredding civil rights. Let the bastards build a dtabase because it doesn’t harm you and the next thing is traffic stops, strip searches and home invasion. All in the name of “protecting us”.
Put a frog in hot water and he will jump out, put him in cold water and gradually heat it and you van boil him to death incrementally.
The trolls seem to be ok with the concept that government is good, and are a trusting lot. GeorgeBush is a good man, just ask him.
George needs a rusty broadhead through the lower GI tract.
May 12th, 2006 at 5:31 pm#73 I would tell you to kiss my ass if your head wasn’t up Bush’s. This was my country before these criminals infiltrated it and it will be my country long after these bastards are taken from power. As for you, I would apperciate if traitors like you would leave.
May 13th, 2006 at 8:43 amAre we to believe that there are tens of MILLIONS of suspected terrorists in the US? What does this say about the administrations “war on terror”? Maybe we shouldn’t be “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here”. If Bush is telling the truth and doesn’t he always, there are more terrorist here than there are anywhere else in the world.
May 13th, 2006 at 9:59 amReply to comment number 9 by Susan O.,
The better solution would be to dump them & then tell them why from the telephone of your new provider. Check to see if you have other local providers. In my case there were several options which even allowed me to keep my existing phone number. Got a better deal with more features to boot.
I asked the alternative provider directly if they participated in the NSA eavesdropping program & they gave me a quick response from their legal department saying basically that they wouldn’t do that without some sort of legal process like a subpoena.
Anyway I got a better deal with more features & 30 minutes of long distance included per month with 3.9 cents per minute thereafter.
Some companies offer the traditional land line local service & other possibilities include digital telephone through your cable provider.
So once my switch is completed I will call Verizon & tell them exactly why I dropped them & that they will never get my business again until they repent & modify their behavior even if that were to mean doing without a phone. I will tell them congratulations for driving away a customer that has been with them for 26 years. Then I will explain to them how such data mining is both wrong & harmful. For example, the conversation does not have to be listened in on to be a violation of privacy. For example, is it any of their business that I called a doctor or a divorce attorney, etc.? What bunch of bad actors will have access to this information? And what happens if al Qaeda just decides to start dialing numbers at random? Half the country would be locked up in Bush’s detention centers without cause. What happens if al Qaeda dials the wrong number by accident? Good luck getting off the terrorist list. That NSA program is absolutely worthless for catching terrorist. It’s about time that someone told Bush that the American people aren’t the enemy. Perhaps Bush would be well advised to use the NSA’s resources to listen in on his buddy in Pakistan that harbors Osama Bin Laden.
You can also go wireless.
So I strongly support dumping the fascist pigs at Verizon & I wish every sucess to the law suit that was filed against them.
May 13th, 2006 at 10:30 am#256 – Dear Marley – You sound as though you have a chip on your shoulder the size of a cinder block. I’m sorry. Perhaps this explains your defensive attitude and juvenile name-calling.
“We should ALL have the right to decent healthcare, a good job, …” – glogrrril
#257 – Dear glo – I’m glad you included the word “should” as I didn’t find”decent healthcare and a good job” in my copy of the Constitution.
P.S. Your talking points are well rehearsed but lacking in facts. “Roaring” Al Gore did not want a re-count of the Florida ballots – he wanted select “pro-Dem” counties cherry-picked. EVERY re-count by EVERY newspaper verified Bushs’ VICTORY. Your “whine” is turning to vinegar.
#259 – Dear Ass I See It – If I disliked my country and the condition of my country as much as the radical-left wing extremists, I would leave. But as I am one of the majority who appreciate the fact we HAVE NOT been attacked on our soil since 9/11, I think I’ll stay. Thank you for your suggestion….
May 13th, 2006 at 1:57 pm#262: EVERY re-count by EVERY newspaper verified Bushs’(SIC) VICTORY.
comment by Mighty Hypocrite
EVERY newspaper, eh? This is what I got by googling the Bush-Gore recount:
Full Review Favors Gore,? the Washington Post said in a box on page 10, showing that under all standards applied to the ballots, Gore came out on top. The New York Times’ graphic revealed the same outcome.
Earlier, less comprehensive ballot studies by the Miami Herald and USA Today had found that Bush and Gore split the four categories of disputed ballots depending on what standard was applied to assessing the ballots ? punched-through chads, hanging chads, etc. Bush won under two standards and Gore under two standards.
And how about the 50,000 or so Florida voters purged from the voter registration lists by Katherine Harris and Choicepoint for the crime of “voting while Black?”
May 13th, 2006 at 6:13 pmSo are you going to tell us your source for EVERY newspaper verifying Bush’s victory, or keep silent about it the way you have about your “authoritative” source of Mary Jo Kopechne’s supposed autopsy?
[...] George Bush has acknowledged the existence of the NSA’s data mining program, and assures you, promises you, that it strictly targets al-Qaeda. Tens of millions of al-Qaeda, all in this country. If he’s genuine — which he certainly is not, but for the sake of argument we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he doesn’t really deserve — this is a sign of obscene paranoia. Perhaps the White House is living with a new motto (the new one would, of course, replace the old of “Don’t Be Daddy, or Clinton!”), and it is: [...]
May 14th, 2006 at 12:11 pmMighty AssRODENT commented: Dear Marley – You sound as though you have a chip on your shoulder the size of a cinder block. I’m sorry. Perhaps this explains your defensive attitude and juvenile name-calling.
Mighty HALF-ASS-FREUDIAN would be more appropriate now. You’re absolutely right!
I have a chip on my shoulder the size of a cinder block! Actually, no, it is more like the size of the twin towers. Let me indulge you… since you seem so involved in our own liberal causes and the people who believe in them. Want to know what it’s from?
From hearing and seeing “live” the first plane hit the first tower roaring right above my head on 9/11. From holding my traumatized 11 year old daughter in my arms after we both saw the towers fall with the 3,000 people inside and around them. From having to go to therapy for more than 4 years to help ease the panic attacks every time I heard a plane flying too low or too near. From knowing deep in my gut that 9/11 was an inside job. Did you know Marvin Bush, GWB younger brother, was head of security at the World Trade Center? A proven fact. How did he get the job? Not proven. Did you know that the weekend before the dreadful day, Marvin had a complete shut down of the security system for a so-called “inspection”. From looking for the truth, finding the truth and realize the media and most of the people in America can’t handle the truth. They can only handle a wad of cash to suppress it. From discovering that our enemy is not Iraq and the people of Iraq. Our enemy is our own President. From being misled into a horrible war. From being lied to over and over again. From discovering that we lost 2 elections at the sticky-fingered-hands of an evil fascist that calls himself the “decider”. From losing sleep over the future of our children and this country once known as FREE.
Don’t give me this… “I’m sorry” Mighty- Stupid.
May 15th, 2006 at 12:04 pmYou are a HUGE part of the problem for supporting such behavior.
Mighty-Fooled-Once said: If I disliked my country and the condition of my country as much as the radical-left wing extremists, I would leave. But as I am one of the majority who appreciate the fact we HAVE NOT been attacked on our soil since 9/11, I think I’ll stay.
_________________________________________________________________________
We have not been attacked since 9/11 because 9/11 was an inside job. No one in Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan could have ever choreographed such a perfect crime without the help of their fellow Americans in power. I drive across the Brooklyn Bridge every day and pass the same one officer in his patrol car, acting like he is protecting our country. I feel so much safer seeing this one officer… Ever wonder why we don’t have a bunch of suicide bombers all over crowded streets and subways of NYC? Because there was never such a plan of attack from our so-called enemies. Bushco created this environment of fear to justifying HIS war on Iraq. The Mighty Evil Power of Fascists like Bush-Cheney-Rove Rumsfeld, the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, Other Acronyms and a few highly paid air traffic controllers will soon be investigated, trialed and punish for their crimes and treason. I believe Karl Rove is the begining of the end of this administration with his indictment over the weekend. Just stay… wait and see…
You can’t handle the truth Mighty Clueless!!!
May 15th, 2006 at 1:21 pm#262-Mighty Idiotic: Sorry–no talking points, no whine, just common sense and information from having paid attention in Civics Class–which we no longer have in schools–so it’s no wonder you are so poorly informed. And your talking points are right out of Karl Rove’s Machiavellian playbook. Keep watching while the Repuglican party continues to steal votes, flip machines, and felonize the right to vote for minorities–we’re getting closer to finding out what really happened–and when the checks and balances return to our government after November (barring the October surprise of bombing Iran), we may find out the truthiness. The Crooks and Liars and Thieves’ reign is coming to an end–everything is beginning to unravel. It happened in Germany during WWII and it’s happening again. And it sounds to me as if you have an inferiority complex the size of a Mack truck–since you are so quick to hurl invectives and accusations of inadequacy at everyone who disagrees with you (I believe it’s called transferral). Face it–this country is headed in the wrong direction—HUGE gap between the rich and the poor, disappearing middle class, stagnent wages (10 years since the minimum wage was raised–yet the Republican-controlled Congress has raised its salary EVERY YEAR during that time and instituted massive tax cuts for people who make more than $100,000 per year), more school dropouts, teen pregnancies inching up, 10 TRILLION dollars in debt in just the last 5 years (funny, just how long King George has been in office), and a huge bill our grandchildren will have to pay for this criminal war. Thousands of our children killed and maimed, not to mention the poor unsuspecting Iraqis)–and for what? Not for freedom in Iraq–just so Darth Cheney and his buddies can enrich themselves and wield power over the whole world. Sorry–no whine, just the stark, obvious facts. glogrrl
May 16th, 2006 at 1:15 pmGood Dan Rather did’t get ahold of ths story he would of ripped someone a new as#$&*. . .oh wait I guess he his already gone.
May 24th, 2006 at 9:47 pm