Hepatitis disease - This is America

Author

This is America

Alan

2005-12-15, 10:59 am

http://www.rense.com/general69/priv.htm

Privatize Me, Corporatize Me, Blackwaterize Me...
By Jason Miller
12-15-5

Thomas Paine saw the United States as an "asylum for mankind." Sadly, under the
political and social dominance of the Social Darwinists, America has become more
of an "asylum for the insane". Torture, state-sponsored terrorism, illegal wars,
flagrant disregard for international law, tax decreases for the wealthy, funding
cuts for social safety net programs, government endorsed racism, and diasporas
in the aftermath of natural disasters are but a few examples of the handiwork of
the wealthy elite as they create a gross perversion of Paine's vision of the US.
Not to worry though. America's patrician class now has its own private armies to
protect its gold from the proletariat they so graciously tolerate.

Recently, a company called Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc.
("Blackwater") unleashed some attorneys on me for an editorial I published on
Thomas Paine's Corner (my blog). The article was by another writer and I had
published it under Fair Use since my blog generates no revenue. Blackwater's
legal representatives threatened me with a libel suit and demanded that I
depublish the article because it contained factual inaccuracies. After some
research I agreed with them and removed the article from Thomas Paine's Corner.
However, in the course of my research, I made some startling discoveries about
the corporate mercenaries of Blackwater and their disturbing relationship with
the US government, which clearly illustrates the threat America's parasitic
aristocracy poses to the poor, working and middle class of the world.

Martial law? Here?

As some have written and conjectured, the Posse Comitatus Act (passed by
Congress during Reconstruction to prevent the government from using the military
to enforce civilian law) is in serious jeopardy of going the way of the
dinosaurs. Signs of ill portent for the Act are its statutory rather than
Constitutional nature (leaving it much more vulnerable to legislative changes),
the federal government's use of the military to fight the "War on Drugs" along
America's borders, the precedent set by the deployment of Blackwater's military
proxies in New Orleans, and the Bush Regime's repeated statement of its
intention to rely heavily upon the military in times of domestic crisis (i.e.
during future hurricanes, a potential outbreak of Avian Flu). Unfortunately,
Posse Comitatus affords the American public about as much protection from
martial law (at the whim of our deranged president) as the levees provided New
Orleans from the ravages of Katrina.

Tell me sweet little lies

In a time that is roughly comparable to that of the Gilded Age, corporations and
the wealthy elite in the United States revel in their virtually unparalleled
power and wealth. Labor unions, whose membership peaked at 35% of the hourly
wage force in the 1950's, now comprise less than 10% of the US work force. The
wealth gap continues to widen to devastating proportions as the middle class
slowly disappears. Statistically, unemployment is relatively low, but many of
those who are working are under-employed or working multiple jobs just to make
ends meet. As the wealthy elite continue to tighten the screws by raising
regressive taxes and lowering progressive taxes, lowering wages and benefits for
the working class, off-shoring jobs, and cutting social programs, the threat of
riots and social unrest becomes real. Hence the Bush Regime's moves to lay the
foundation for declaring martial law and the rising fortunes of companies
providing private military forces, like Blackwater.

Blackwater provides an interesting solution to the Bush Regime's dilemma in
satiating its desire to employ martial law covertly. Despite their Social
Darwinism, America's leaders prefer to maintain the illusion of "democracy and
freedom" to keep the masses pacified. Just as they did in New Orleans, the
federal government can now utilize the paramilitary employees of a company such
as Blackwater to replace the overt presence of the US military. Rumsfeld,
Chertoff, and company demonstrated that they can deploy a domestic military
presence "under the radar", enabling them to side-step potential public backlash
and legal challenges.

Their reach is global and they are not your average "civilians"

Here is what Blackwater has to say about itself on its Website at
http://www.blackwaterusa.com/:

We have established a global presence and provide training and operational
solutions for the 21st century in support of security and peace, and freedom and
democracy everywhere.

Blackwater's global presence includes Iraq, where the murder of four of their
employees triggered the US military's vengeful attack on Fallujah in which it
committed heinous war crimes and atrocities against hundreds of Iraqi civilians.
Why the four Blackwater contractors were near Fallujah the day of their deaths
remains unclear. The mainstream media, Blackwater and the US government claim
that they were on security detail protecting a food delivery. However, some
suggest that the claims of protecting a food caravan were a ruse to cover the
fact that Blackwater employees were completing a military operation. While the
facts remain unclear, it is certain that the mainstream media's portrayal of the
Blackwater victims as "civilian contractors" was significantly inaccurate.

According to the Revolutionary Worker (http://rwor.org/a/1236/blackwater.htm):

Soon after the four U.S. "civilian contractors" died in Fallujah, it became
obvious they weren't "civilians" at all. All four were trained commandos--at
least three had years of experience in elite U.S. military units. They were
working for the private mercenary army called "Blackwater USA." All were heavily
armed. One carried a Department of Defense ID card.

Revolutionary Worker also indicated:

Increasingly, however, the main work of Blackwater has been deploying its own
mercenary army-- recruited from elite U.S. military forces (especially from Navy
SEALS and Marine Recon), SWAT police forces, and international "soldiers of
fortune." In February it started training former Chilean commandos--some of whom
served under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet--for use in Iraq.

In August 2003, Blackwater was awarded a $21 million contract to supply security
guards and two helicopters for Paul Bremer III, head of the U.S. occupation in
Iraq. Other Blackwater operations in Iraq are merely described as full
protective teams "for any threat scenario."

In light of the International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing
and Training of Mercenaries of 1989, the US military and Blackwater are careful
to frame Blackwater's mission in Iraq as security-related, but many of their
employees are former military special ops, often heavily armed and working in
dangerous combat areas. One would be foolish to believe that they would not
become embroiled in combat, and once they do, the question becomes, "under the
Geneva Convention, are they considered to be civilians or soldiers?" One
particular danger to Iraqi civilians is that Blackwater "security" personnel are
not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so if they do commit a
crime, there is very little accountability. In the past, US mercenaries
committing serious crimes while on assignment in foreign nations simply lost
their jobs as punishment. US military and civilian courts lacked the
jurisdiction, will, or capacity to prosecute them. In 2000, the US Congress
passed the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act to provide a means for
punishing civilian (and perhaps mercenary) personnel assigned to the military
for committing crimes in foreign nations. Unfortunately, this law has yet to
make much impact.

Business as usual: rewards for the elites and risks for the rest of us

Blackwater offers several advantages to the Bush Regime in its imperialist
endeavors. The military can lower "body counts" by employing more private
contractors and fewer military personnel. Forces provided by Blackwater are less
subject to Congressional oversight and public scrutiny than the conventional
military. The availability of "guns for hire" negates the need for a highly
unpopular draft and helps fill in gaps left by military recruitment shortages.
As far back as May of 2004, the number of employees deployed to Iraq by private
security firms, including Blackwater, was 20,000.

20,000 is a very significant number. The US government is relying heavily on
private corporations like Blackwater, which demonstrates the Bush Regime's
fetish with privatization (to benefit the wealthy and corporations) even extends
to military operations. Unfortunately for the American people, as is true with
most privatization schemes, the cost is high to the poor and working class. A
typical Blackwater contract soldier reportedly makes six figures per year.
Risking their lives side by side with people making five times their salary is
tough on the morale of US troops. The lure of higher salaries naturally leads to
a drain of talent from the US military, particularly in special ops. While the
US needs to end its imperial conquest in Iraq and scale its military down
significantly, we still need a standing army (which is accountable to the
representatives of the people) of qualified, well-equipped individuals to
provide for the national defense. Bypassing oversight by Congress by employing
private warriors, the Bush Regime is increasing its opportunities to violate the
Geneva Conventions and the US Constitution it so loathes. At the same time, it
exposes the American people to the dangers of the fickle loyalties of avaricious
corporations and their employees.

Since it began its involvement in the Bush Regime's "War on Terror", Blackwater
has been the defendant in at least two lawsuits. Family members of the four
Blackwater employees killed in Fallujah are pursuing legal action against
Blackwater for failure to properly equip its employees. Blackwater and its
aviation subsidiary also face litigation stemming from the deaths of three US
soldiers killed in a plane crash in Afghanistan.

Read the following written by Kristin Collins at
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12400 and draw your own conclusions
about our "friends" at Blackwater:

According to the suit, the plane lacked even the most basic safety equipment. It
had no global positioning system or radar. Its crew did not wear oxygen masks.
And its two pilots, who had been in Afghanistan only two weeks and had never
flown the route before, failed to take the basic step of filing a flight plan,
leading to a delay in finding the wreckage.

That delay could have been fatal for Miller, who apparently survived the crash.
When his body was found, it was clear he had gotten out of the wreckage, smoked
a cigarette, pulled out a sleeping bag and tried to find shelter, said Robert
Spohrer, a Florida lawyer who is representing the families.

"These contractors are certainly in a position to make a lot of money from the
government," said Jeanette McMahon, whose husband, Michael, died in the crash.
"But they have to take their jobs as seriously as the military."

Blackwater officials said Monday they had nothing to do with the doomed flight.

The company's lawyer, Jonathan Stern of Washington, said in a statement that the
government contracted with Presidential Airways of Florida, not Blackwater, to
transport troops and cargo in and around Afghanistan.

But the company's Web site says Presidential Airways is part of Blackwater's
aviation services.

As you contemplate Blackwater and its relationship with the US government,
consider the inherent danger and ethical conflicts involved in using public
funds to engage a private corporation (which exists to generate profit) to
supplement (or perhaps to supplant) the military in its role to "provide for the
common defence". Alarming issues leap to mind like a panther springing upon its
prey.

More frightening still, the Social Darwinists sitting atop the food chain in the
wealthiest, most powerful nation in humanity's history now have access to their
own paramilitary force. They can unleash their private army on the "unfittest"
when the need arises, whether it be within America's borders or otherwise. New
Orleans is a prime example. 150 highly trained Blackwater quasi-military
professionals openly armed with assault weapons descended on a tragedy-stricken
city. As hurricane victims taking necessities were called "looters" and shoot to
kill orders were in effect, those who value property over people saw to it that
their interests were well-protected. Thankfully, Blackwater was there to protect
the patrician class from the "savages" from the Lower Ninth Ward who had the
audacity to attempt survival.

Blackwater is one of many symptoms of a very sick America. Thomas Paine would
feel deeply ashamed of what has become of the nation he helped forge with his
powerful writing.

Jason Miller is a 38 year old activist writer with a degree in liberal arts. He
works as a loan counselor in the transportation industry, and is a husband with
three sons. His affiliations include Amnesty International and the ACLU. He
welcomes responses at willpowerful@hotmail.com or comments on his blog, Thomas
Paine's Corner, at http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/.

http://www.rense.com/general69/priv.htm

Hey *Monkey* *Boy* *Lawyer* who so proudly screamed "This is America" at me down
the phone, *suck* it down you clueless wanker. Quite frankly, America is the
last place on earth that I would want to be bringing up my children. I do hope
you enjoy reading my posts when you wake up and don't forget to print them out.

*snigger*

Alan

http://unitedeuropeanworkersunion.blogspot.com/

http://theoriginalfirebird.blogspot.com/

http://lordcerneabbastoo.blogspot.com/

http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/

http://veloceraptor.blogspot.com/

http://www.planetarybillofrights.org/

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

Alan

2005-12-16, 12:53 pm

In article <memo.20051215114830.1044Y@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk>,
alan@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk (Alan) wrote:

> http://www.rense.com/general69/priv.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4534488.stm

Bush 'backed spying on Americans'

President Bush allowed security agents to eavesdrop on people inside the US
without court approval after 9/11, the New York Times has reported.

Under a 2002 presidential order, the National Security Agency has been
monitoring international communications of hundreds in the US, the paper says.

Before, the NSA had typically limited US surveillance to foreign embassies.

Questioned about the report, Condoleezza Rice said Mr Bush had never ordered
anyone to do anything illegal.

But some NSA officials familiar with the operation have questioned whether the
surveillance of calls and e-mails has crossed constitutional limits on legal
searches, according to the Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/p...134795600&en=c7
596fe0d4798785&ei=5094&partner=homepage

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005...tml?CMP=OTC-RSS
Feed&source=RSS&attr=Politics_1131942

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/...5484192,00.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1413121

Alan

"Can't you see we're still here,
Can't you see we're still here,
Singing loud; Singing clear,
We shall not go under,
We're still here."

Nemesis Peace Centre

http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.../protector.html

Abuse of Women and Children

http://theoriginalfirebird.blogspot.com/

Nemesis News

http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/

Absolute Anarchy

http://lordcerneabbastoo.blogspot.com/

http://www.john-lennon.com/

Alan

2005-12-16, 5:59 pm

In article <memo.20051216175125.1024A@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk>,
alan@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk (Alan) wrote:

> In article <memo.20051215114830.1044Y@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk>,
> alan@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk (Alan) wrote:
>
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4534488.stm
>
> Bush 'backed spying on Americans'
>
> President Bush allowed security agents to eavesdrop on people inside the US
> without court approval after 9/11, the New York Times has reported.
>
> Under a 2002 presidential order, the National Security Agency has been
> monitoring international communications of hundreds in the US, the paper says.
>
> Before, the NSA had typically limited US surveillance to foreign embassies.
>
> Questioned about the report, Condoleezza Rice said Mr Bush had never ordered
> anyone to do anything illegal.
>
> But some NSA officials familiar with the operation have questioned whether
> the surveillance of calls and e-mails has crossed constitutional limits on
> legal searches, according to the Times.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/p...=1134795600&en=
> c7
> 596fe0d4798785&ei=5094&partner=homepage
>
> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005...shtml?CMP=OTC-R
> SS
> Feed&source=RSS&attr=Politics_1131942
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/...5484192,00.html
>
> http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1413121

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...R2005121600021.
html

Bush Authorized Domestic Spying
Post-9/11 Order Bypassed Special Court

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005; Page A01

President Bush signed a secret order in 2002 authorizing the National Security
Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in the United States,
despite previous legal prohibitions against such domestic spying, sources with
knowledge of the program said last night.

The super-secretive NSA, which has generally been barred from domestic spying
except in narrow circumstances involving foreign nationals, has monitored the
e-mail, telephone calls and other communications of hundreds, and perhaps
thousands, of people under the program, the New York Times disclosed last night.

The aim of the program was to rapidly monitor the phone calls and other
communications of people in the United States believed to have contact with
suspected associates of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups overseas, according
to two former senior administration officials. Authorities, including a former
NSA director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, were worried that vital information could
be lost in the time it took to secure a warrant from a special surveillance
court, sources said.

But the program's ramifications also prompted concerns from some quarters,
including Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), the ranking Democrat on the
intelligence committee, and the presiding judge of the surveillance court, which
oversees lawful domestic spying, according to the Times.

The Times said it held off on publishing its story about the NSA program for a
year after administration officials said its disclosure would harm national
security.

The White House made no comment last night. A senior official reached by
telephone said the issue was too sensitive to talk about. None of several press
officers responded to telephone or e-mail messages.

Congressional sources familiar with limited aspects of the program would not
discuss any classified details but made it clear there were serious questions
about the legality of the NSA actions. The sources, who demanded anonymity, said
there were conditions under which it would be possible to gather and retain
information on Americans if the surveillance were part of an investigation into
foreign intelligence.

But those cases are supposed to be minimized. The sources said the actual work
of the NSA is so closely held that it is difficult to determine whether it is
acting within the law.

The revelations come amid a fierce congressional debate over reauthorization of
the USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks. The Patriot Act granted the FBI new powers to conduct secret searches
and surveillance in the United States.

Most of the powers covered under that law are overseen by a secret court that
meets at Justice Department headquarters and must approve applications for
wiretaps, searches and other operations. The NSA's operation is outside that
court's purview, and according to the Times report, the Justice Department may
have sought to limit how much that court was made aware of NSA activities.

Public disclosure of the NSA program also comes at a time of mounting concerns
about civil liberties over the domestic intelligence operations of the U.S.
military, which have also expanded dramatically after the Sept. 11 attacks.

For more than four years, the NSA tasked other military intelligence agencies to
assist its broad-based surveillance effort directed at people inside the country
suspected of having terrorist connections, even before Bush signed the 2002
order that authorized the NSA program, according to an informed U.S. official.

The effort, which began within days after the attacks, has consisted partly of
monitoring domestic telephone conversations, e-mail and even fax communications
of individuals identified by the NSA as having some connection to al Qaeda
events or figures, or to potential terrorism-related activities in the United
States, the official said.

It has also involved teams of Defense Intelligence Agency personnel stationed in
major U.S. cities conducting the type of surveillance typically performed by the
FBI: monitoring the movements and activities -- through high-tech equipment --
of individuals and vehicles, the official said.

The involvement of military personnel in such tasks was provoked by grave
anxiety among senior intelligence officials after the 2001 suicide attacks that
additional terrorist cells were present within U.S. borders and could only be
discovered with the military's help, said the official, who had direct knowledge
of the events.

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the
secret order may amount to the president authorizing criminal activity.

The law governing clandestine surveillance in the United States, the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act, prohibits conducting electronic surveillance not
authorized by statute. A government agent can try to avoid prosecution if he can
show he was "engaged in the course of his official duties and the electronic
surveillance was authorized by and conducted pursuant to a search warrant or
court order of a court of competent jurisdiction," according to the law.

"This is as shocking a revelation as we have ever seen from the Bush
administration," said Martin, who has been sharply critical of the
administration's surveillance and detention policies. "It is, I believe, the
first time a president has authorized government agencies to violate a specific
criminal prohibition and eavesdrop on Americans."

Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington legislative office of the
American Civil Liberties Union, said she is "dismayed" by the report.

"It's clear that the administration has been very willing to sacrifice civil
liberties in its effort to exercise its authority on terrorism, to the extent
that it authorizes criminal activity," Fredrickson said.

The NSA activities were justified by a classified Justice Department legal
opinion authored by John C. Yoo, a former deputy in the Office of Legal Counsel
who argued that congressional approval of the war on al Qaeda gave broad
authority to the president, according to the Times.

That legal argument was similar to another 2002 memo authored primarily by Yoo,
which outlined an extremely narrow definition of torture. That opinion, which
was signed by another Justice official, was formally disavowed after it was
disclosed by the Washington Post.

Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos would not comment on the report
last night.

Staff writers Dafna Linzer and Peter Baker contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...R2005121600021.
html

Alan

"Can't you see we're still here,
Can't you see we're still here,
Singing loud; Singing clear,
We shall not go under,
We're still here."

Nemesis Peace Centre

http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.../protector.html

Abuse of Women and Children

http://theoriginalfirebird.blogspot.com/

Nemesis News

http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/...an-freedom.html

Absolute Anarchy

http://lordcerneabbastoo.blogspot.com/

http://www.john-lennon.com/

Alan

2005-12-16, 5:59 pm

In article <memo.20051216191325.788A@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk>,
alan@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk (Alan) wrote:

> In article <memo.20051216175125.1024A@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk>,
> alan@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk (Alan) wrote:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/p...=1134795600&en=
> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005...shtml?CMP=OTC-R
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.../AR200512160002
> 1.
> html
>
> Bush Authorized Domestic Spying
> Post-9/11 Order Bypassed Special Court

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c...MNGDHG920M1.DTL

U.S. citizens among targets of secret spying
Bush approved eavesdropping without usual court warrants

Washington -- Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly
authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others
inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without
the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according
to government officials.

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored
the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the
past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to al
Qaeda, the officials said.

The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic
communications.

The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside the
country without court approval represents a major shift in U.S.
intelligence-gathering practices, particularly for the National Security Agency,
whose mission is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some officials
familiar with the continuing operation have questioned whether the surveillance
has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal searches.

"This is really a sea change," said a former senior official who specializes in
national security law. "It's almost a mainstay of this country that the NSA only
does foreign searches."

Nearly a dozen current and former officials, who were granted anonymity because
of the classified nature of the program, discussed it with the New York Times
because of their concerns about the operation's legality and oversight.

According to those officials and others, reservations about aspects of the
program have also been expressed by Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who is the
vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a judge presiding over a
secret court that oversees intelligence matters. Some of the questions about the
agency's new powers led the administration to temporarily suspend the operation
last year and impose more restrictions, the officials said.

The Bush administration views the operation as necessary so the agency can move
quickly to monitor communications that may disclose threats to this country, the
officials said. Defenders of the program say it has been a critical tool in
helping disrupt terrorist plots and prevent attacks inside the United States.

Administration officials are confident that existing safeguards are sufficient
to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, the officials say. In
some cases, they said, the Justice Department eventually seeks warrants if it
wants to expand the eavesdropping to include communications confined within the
United States.

The officials said the administration had briefed congressional leaders about
the program and notified the judge in charge of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court, the secret Washington court that deals with national
security issues.

What the agency calls a "special collection program" began soon after the Sept.
11 attacks, as it looked for new tools to attack terrorism. The program
accelerated in early 2002 after the CIA started capturing top al Qaeda
operatives overseas, including Abu Zubaydah, who was arrested in Pakistan in
March 2002. The CIA seized the terrorists' computers, cell phones and personal
phone directories, said the officials familiar with the program. The NSA
surveillance was intended to exploit those numbers and addresses as quickly as
possible, the officials said.

In addition to eavesdropping on those numbers and reading e-mail messages to and
from the al Qaeda figures, the NSA began monitoring others linked to them,
creating an expanding chain. While most of the numbers and addresses were
overseas, hundreds were in the United States, the officials said.

Under the agency's long-standing rules, the NSA can target for interception
phone calls or e-mail messages on foreign soil, even if the recipients of those
communications are in the United States. Usually, though, the government can
only target phones and e-mail messages in this country by first obtaining a
court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which holds its
closed sessions at the Justice Department.

Since 2002, the agency has been conducting some warrantless eavesdropping on
people in the United States who are linked, even if indirectly, to suspected
terrorists through the chain of phone numbers and e-mail addresses, according to
several officials who know of the operation. Under the special program, the
agency monitors their international communications, the officials said. The
agency, for example, can single out phone calls from someone in New York to
someone in Afghanistan.

Warrants are still required for eavesdropping on entirely domestic-to-domestic
communications, those officials say, meaning that calls from that New Yorker to
someone in California could not be monitored without first going to the Federal
Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Several national security officials say the powers granted the NSA by Bush go
far beyond the expanded counterterrorism powers granted by Congress under the
Patriot Act, which is up for renewal. The House gave approval Wednesday to a
plan to reauthorize crucial parts of the law. But final passage has been delayed
under the threat of a Senate filibuster because of concerns from both parties
over possible intrusions on Americans' civil liberties and privacy.

Looks like the whole country has the story now *Monkee* *Boy* *Lurker*

I'll throw in this one as well.

http://sfgate.com/columnists/morford/

Fun Bits About American Torture
In many ways, the U.S. is now just as inhumane and brutal as any Third World
regime. Oh well?

Would you care to phone me up again and tell me that I know nothing about
America, you pontificating little arsehole?

http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/...an-freedom.html

Enjoy it *Monkee* *Boy*

I am!

Alan

"Can't you see we're still here,
Can't you see we're still here,
Singing loud; Singing clear,
We shall not go under,
We're still here."

Nemesis Peace Centre

http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.../protector.html

Abuse of Women and Children

http://theoriginalfirebird.blogspot.com/

Nemesis News

http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/

Absolute Anarchy

http://lordcerneabbastoo.blogspot.com/

http://www.john-lennon.com/

Alan

2005-12-16, 5:59 pm

In article <memo.20051216192910.684A@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk>,
alan@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk (Alan) wrote:

> In article <memo.20051216191325.788A@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk>,
> alan@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk (Alan) wrote:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/p...=1134795600&en=
> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005...shtml?CMP=OTC-R
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.../AR200512160002
>
> http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c...MNGDHG920M1.DTL
>
> U.S. citizens among targets of secret spying
> Bush approved eavesdropping without usual court warrants
>
> Washington -- Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly
> authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others
> inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without
> the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying,
> according to government officials.
>
> Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has
> monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages
> of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without
> warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty
> numbers" linked to al Qaeda, the officials said.
>
> The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic
> communications.
>
> The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside the
> country without court approval represents a major shift in U.S.
> intelligence-gathering practices, particularly for the National Security
> Agency, whose mission is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some
> officials familiar with the continuing operation have questioned whether the
> surveillance has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal
> searches.
>
> "This is really a sea change," said a former senior official who specializes
> in national security law. "It's almost a mainstay of this country that the
> NSA only does foreign searches."
>
> Nearly a dozen current and former officials, who were granted anonymity
> because of the classified nature of the program, discussed it with the New
> York Times because of their concerns about the operation's legality and
> oversight.
>
> According to those officials and others, reservations about aspects of the
> program have also been expressed by Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who is
> the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a judge presiding
> over a secret court that oversees intelligence matters. Some of the questions
> about the agency's new powers led the administration to temporarily suspend
> the operation last year and impose more restrictions, the officials said.
>
> The Bush administration views the operation as necessary so the agency can
> move quickly to monitor communications that may disclose threats to this
> country, the officials said. Defenders of the program say it has been a
> critical tool in helping disrupt terrorist plots and prevent attacks inside
> the United States.
>
> Administration officials are confident that existing safeguards are
> sufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, the
> officials say. In some cases, they said, the Justice Department eventually
> seeks warrants if it wants to expand the eavesdropping to include
> communications confined within the United States.
>
> The officials said the administration had briefed congressional leaders about
> the program and notified the judge in charge of the Foreign Intelligence
> Surveillance Court, the secret Washington court that deals with national
> security issues.
>
> What the agency calls a "special collection program" began soon after the
> Sept. 11 attacks, as it looked for new tools to attack terrorism. The program
> accelerated in early 2002 after the CIA started capturing top al Qaeda
> operatives overseas, including Abu Zubaydah, who was arrested in Pakistan in
> March 2002. The CIA seized the terrorists' computers, cell phones and
> personal phone directories, said the officials familiar with the program. The
> NSA surveillance was intended to exploit those numbers and addresses as
> quickly as possible, the officials said.
>
> In addition to eavesdropping on those numbers and reading e-mail messages to
> and from the al Qaeda figures, the NSA began monitoring others linked to
> them, creating an expanding chain. While most of the numbers and addresses
> were overseas, hundreds were in the United States, the officials said.
>
> Under the agency's long-standing rules, the NSA can target for interception
> phone calls or e-mail messages on foreign soil, even if the recipients of
> those communications are in the United States. Usually, though, the
> government can only target phones and e-mail messages in this country by
> first obtaining a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
> Court, which holds its closed sessions at the Justice Department.
>
> Since 2002, the agency has been conducting some warrantless eavesdropping on
> people in the United States who are linked, even if indirectly, to suspected
> terrorists through the chain of phone numbers and e-mail addresses, according
> to several officials who know of the operation. Under the special program,
> the agency monitors their international communications, the officials said.
> The agency, for example, can single out phone calls from someone in New York
> to someone in Afghanistan.
>
> Warrants are still required for eavesdropping on entirely
> domestic-to-domestic communications, those officials say, meaning that calls
> from that New Yorker to someone in California could not be monitored without
> first going to the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court.
>
> Several national security officials say the powers granted the NSA by Bush go
> far beyond the expanded counterterrorism powers granted by Congress under the
> Patriot Act, which is up for renewal. The House gave approval Wednesday to a
> plan to reauthorize crucial parts of the law. But final passage has been
> delayed under the threat of a Senate filibuster because of concerns from both
> parties over possible intrusions on Americans' civil liberties and privacy.
>
> Looks like the whole country has the story now *Monkee* *Boy* *Lurker*
>
> I'll throw in this one as well.
>
> http://sfgate.com/columnists/morford/
>
> Fun Bits About American Torture
> In many ways, the U.S. is now just as inhumane and brutal as any Third World
> regime. Oh well?
>
> Would you care to phone me up again and tell me that I know nothing about
> America, you pontificating little arsehole?
>
> http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/...an-freedom.html

Hey ACLU are on the ball:

http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles/

Is the FBI Spying on You?

The ACLU has launched a nationwide effort to expose and prevent FBI spying on
people and groups simply for speaking out or practicing their faith. As a first
step, the ACLU and its affiliates have filed Freedom of Information Act requests
in more than a dozen states. Although the FBI has refused to turn over most of
the files, we have obtained evidence (pdf) that confirms the FBI and local
police, working through Joint Terrorism Task Forces, are spying on political,
environmental, anti-war and faith-based groups. We think the public deserves to
know who is being investigated and why. We have sued (pdf) the FBI and the
Department of Justice to get those answers.

Our clients comprise advocates for causes including the environment, animal
rights, labor, religion, Native American rights, fair trade, grassroots
politics, peace, social justice, nuclear disarmament, human rights and civil
liberties. When the FBI invades the privacy of political and religious groups in
the name of fighting terrorism, it abuses our trust and freedom.

http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles/

Shit, I reckon maybe you shouldn't go phoning me *Monkee* *Boy*

I've been supporting all those groups. Good job you got paranoid, jealous and
suspicous and stopped your Missus phoning me, eh?

But then ain't the President just like *you* ?????

*snigger*

Lord Cerne Abbas

Humpty Dumpty Bush fell off the Iraq wall.
Humpty Dumpty Bush had a big fall.
All his spin doctors and all the President's men
couldn't put Humpty Dumpty Bush together again.

http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk/identity.html

http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk/mylinks.html

http://www.john-lennon.com/

Alan

2005-12-16, 5:59 pm

In article <memo.20051216205010.364B@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk>,
alan@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk (Alan) wrote:

> In article <memo.20051216192910.684A@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk>,
> alan@veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk (Alan) wrote:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/p...=1134795600&en=
> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005...shtml?CMP=OTC-R
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.../AR200512160002
>
> Hey ACLU are on the ball:
>
> http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles/
>
> Is the FBI Spying on You?
>
> The ACLU has launched a nationwide effort to expose and prevent FBI spying on
> people and groups simply for speaking out or practicing their faith. As a
> first step, the ACLU and its affiliates have filed Freedom of Information Act
> requests in more than a dozen states. Although the FBI has refused to turn
> over most of the files, we have obtained evidence (pdf) that confirms the FBI
> and local police, working through Joint Terrorism Task Forces, are spying on
> political, environmental, anti-war and faith-based groups. We think the
> public deserves to know who is being investigated and why. We have sued (pdf)
> the FBI and the Department of Justice to get those answers.
>
> Our clients comprise advocates for causes including the environment, animal
> rights, labor, religion, Native American rights, fair trade, grassroots
> politics, peace, social justice, nuclear disarmament, human rights and civil
> liberties. When the FBI invades the privacy of political and religious groups
> in the name of fighting terrorism, it abuses our trust and freedom.
>
> http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles/
>
> Shit, I reckon maybe you shouldn't go phoning me *Monkee* *Boy*
>
> I've been supporting all those groups. Good job you got paranoid, jealous and
> suspicous and stopped your Missus phoning me, eh?
>
> But then ain't the President just like *you* ?????

http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles/georgia_foia.pdf

Looks like my friends at S.O.A.W. are on the list.

Looks like I hadn't better book any American holidays until Bush is gone, eh
*Monkee* *boy* but you should be OK, eh?

*snigger*

Lord Cerne Abbas

Humpty Dumpty Bush fell off the Iraq wall.
Humpty Dumpty Bush had a big fall.
All his spin doctors and all the President's men
couldn't put Humpty Dumpty Bush together again.

http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk/identity.html

http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk/mylinks.html

http://www.john-lennon.com/