Post 9/11 Government Surveillance

[baltoro]

The Los Angeles Times is publishing a series of articles: 9/11,Ten Years After. In today's edition, this disturbing article: A Legacy of Watchful Eyes: The Government Eavesdrops on U.S. Citizens as Never Before, describes the changes in Federal policy concerning investigations of United States citzens.
I think that, if you read the article, you will see the issues clearly portrayed. To me, it's basically a question of whether our Constitutional guarantees are intact.
And, the more serious question is obviously: How can we be reasonably certain that the Senate Intelligence Committee actually takes it's oversight responsibilities seriously ???

...Even my cat is getting weird and paranoid,... :eek

[dedndave]

bush used 9-11 as an excuse to crap all over the constitution
i sometimes wonder if he, cheney, and cheney's buddies didn't actually orchestrate it
they have made trillions on the whole thing
....and, they're still making money on it today

at any rate, our constitution is now nothing more than a nice exhibit at the national archives

[baltoro]

DAVE !!!
...So,...are NSA and FBI agents at your door right now ???
It must be very cool to have an 'LEVEL NINE' Security Clearance,...

[dedndave]

they don't care what i say
they won't have to answer for it because of me   :P

nah - only level 3 (i think that's right)
everything i worked on has long since been de-classified
except maybe some of the frequencies, which i have long since forgotten

[baltoro]

I wonder if I can tell them simply: "I'm not here. I've been dead for years."

Here's an interesting paper by Douglas Kellner, Professor, Philosophy of Education Chair, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, UCLA:
An Orwellian Nightmare: Critical Reflections on the Bush Administration

...After reading all this stuff,...I've come to the conclusion that we, at the MASM Forum should encrypt all our responses to controversial political topics:   

KVZIEBCEN CKYIECDVG DBCOOVK HN CKYCFEUFJ ECZHIKUCF MIBEVG FHOHFD NQXVWXIV NWQFWQG HG IHF FH EQF AB EWHB XI GAEEXD WJP JZPWC ABCADL WP TYA RIW 'DYPJ YPWBOYS' AXLB APYTIOWL ENTOJXGCM FVMMCD ND ENJBMD FGXMD VGXM OG BMDO RPI EKFSKRPJV QXUVAZPJ QXSHJXSAVP HJXHXVKE LXJ Z.Q. JPLXJSV

[vanjast]

I hope you didn't just make that up, if so, that will have them fooked for millenia  :bg  :U

[hutch--]

I think its the case that if they can, they will like most other things. Government types are basically "control freaks" and if they can find a way to force you to squeeze a toothpaste tube from the bottom instead of the top they will do it as it extends their level of control. All that needs to be added is the usual bullsh*t that pornographic child terrorists increasing the global carbon footprint by warming themselves in front of a heater whenever a toothpaste tube is squeezed the wrong way and they can justify having a firing squad waiting in the wings if some poor bastard does not squeeze their toothpaste tube with the appropriate and approved politically correct method.

The piddlingly trivial imaginary infraction mentality is alive and well in the control freak range of government as it gives them an ever increasing range of control. The solution is a TEA PARTY (not to confused with the tea baggers) and after they have cooled off a bit (Boston harbour in the winter[who gives a PHUK if the drownd]) then enlighten their position as public servants by getting them a job cleaning public toilets with a toothbrush to learn who they are serving.

[redskull]

...if they can find a way to force you to squeeze a toothpaste tube from the bottom instead of the top they will do it

I don't think i've heard politics ever summed up quite so succinctly  :clap:

[anunitu]

In a strange way Hutch, that actully makes sense when you think about the book "1984" "New Speak"..War is peace,death is life..poor is rich...etc.

[baltoro]

An excellent paper by IEEE Security and Privacy, January 2008: Risking Communications Security: Potential Hazards of the Protect America Act

...And,...for those of you who are psychic and have a sense of humor,...you will enjoy this blog entry from Matt Blaze: How I Discovered My Psychic Powers at the Library

[RDRush]

I wonder if I can tell them simply: "I'm not here. I've been dead for years."

Here's an interesting paper by Douglas Kellner, Professor, Philosophy of Education Chair, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, UCLA:
An Orwellian Nightmare: Critical Reflections on the Bush Administration

...After reading all this stuff,...I've come to the conclusion that we, at the MASM Forum should encrypt all our responses to controversial political topics:   

KVZIEBCEN CKYIECDVG DBCOOVK HN CKYCFEUFJ ECZHIKUCF MIBEVG FHOHFD NQXVWXIV NWQFWQG HG IHF FH EQF AB EWHB XI GAEEXD WJP JZPWC ABCADL WP TYA RIW 'DYPJ YPWBOYS' AXLB APYTIOWL ENTOJXGCM FVMMCD ND ENJBMD FGXMD VGXM OG BMDO RPI EKFSKRPJV QXUVAZPJ QXSHJXSAVP HJXHXVKE LXJ Z.Q. JPLXJSV

That is awesome, can I quote you on that. If I play that backwards i'm not going to hear Ozzy Osbourne singing demonic messages backwards or would that be forwards...

Well, am I?

Reasonably, this all makes no sense and is hog wash. The feds are on to the terrorist element and the common dude/chick yelping about government or how Cheney sucks isn't going to incite them anymore than it has in the past. This is more a disposition to calm the general public in keeping peaceful discourse so we don't burn the country down and them with it if they're caught sleeping on the job again.

If they wanted to storm your residence in the past before the new amendments there wasn't schit you or any one of us would have done to stop it. They're engaging damage control because they know from history that a mass as large as our public will become unstoppable if safety becomes an overwhelming issue where even the tiniest girl will kick some serious azz. Little Penny will drop a punk with a head shot and not lose a wink of sleep. They know better than to fsck with us cause we have numerical superiority and they're reliant upon us for existence, status and all of those ego manifests like the need to communicate and propagate.

Tis the baser always wins my good man. they need us and they want us to need them so lets put them to work on some bad-nicks for glory and attaboyz. and when applicable we'll throw them a sture treat to sweeten the pot and help them over to the dark side or at least keep them on our side WHERE THEY NEED TO BE. Zen and the Art of Persuasion, anyone familiar?

Golden rule is that the golden rule was written by idiots. My new and improved platinum rule stipulates that you'll attract more flies with dog doo than honey and anyone feeling adverse I'll match you two to one and your wise man too. You want new bees and workers three you get the golden honey and make them sing for thee. All B.S. set aside the paranoia is knee jerk reaction to nothing more than politically correct status quo and you all thought we were done with the sixties - they haven't left the building yet and they keep going, and going, and going...

I was a wise man in a past life -- or maybe that was wise ass -- damn fine print, where the hell are my reading glasses.

Linux: FSCK, it really sux tux.

[RDRush]

I think its the case that if they can, they will like most other things. Government types are basically "control freaks" and if they can find a way to force you to squeeze a toothpaste tube from the bottom instead of the top they will do it as it extends their level of control. All that needs to be added is the usual bullsh*t that pornographic child terrorists increasing the global carbon footprint by warming themselves in front of a heater whenever a toothpaste tube is squeezed the wrong way and they can justify having a firing squad waiting in the wings if some poor bastard does not squeeze their toothpaste tube with the appropriate and approved politically correct method.

The piddlingly trivial imaginary infraction mentality is alive and well in the control freak range of government as it gives them an ever increasing range of control. The solution is a TEA PARTY (not to confused with the tea baggers) and after they have cooled off a bit (Boston harbour in the winter[who gives a PHUK if the drownd]) then enlighten their position as public servants by getting them a job cleaning public toilets with a toothbrush to learn who they are serving.

Sick, ignorant, unjustified and emotionally inept -- I'm really starting to consider the fact that you me be the physical manifestation of God -- awesome stuff. Albeit, I will not and/or cannot justify trashing a system that theoretically and conceptually justifies itself I can say that the popularity factor in anything will bring out the worst in society. Garbage will always try to make its opinion heard and will do its best to convince its victims that they are the ones that are wrong. There's nothing new there and I have even been brought down in my ignorance to this facet of glorious life a couple of times until I awoke in my late twenties to scores of stretch marks around my anus and no porn style bank account to show for it. Rude awakenings are that for a reason and it is right about that time we become a tiny bit resentful and anyone who says cheer up, or tries a Dr. Phil on you makes you automatically think whose kids did you molest.

The alquiffa was a bunch of kiddie porn garbage teary eyed about all of the money US citizens had especially those (insert racial, sexual oriented and gender biased slurs here) -- they couldn't even open they're bigot deviant mouths without giving the game away. They used every slur in the book to describe America and that justifies their presence? Now, the real problem is America and other's having a fixation on the issue without moderation where we could easily overlook or be deceived by our enemies in-house. This is where elements that have no business managing authority sneak in under the radar and an issue that demands we place our trust in our cognisance at all times and be able to roll with change as well as allow ourselves to develop through all of this bull shotski. we aren't out of the woods with this crap -- we've yet to finish the first pass through to the center -- and the oldest trick in the book is to let your adversary calm down and relax then you pounce. Stay sharp -- stay alert stay alive is the motto in the U.S. Army and now here ya go.

I used to say that everyone was a soldier to a degree one way or another getting all kinds of stupid looks and responses -- I bet that isn't the case anymore -- people will eventually wake up to reason if it's the alarm clock or fire alarm. Unfortunately, most wait until it is too late. I would become to anti-government to the point where it would hinder you from becoming a politician, but rather use it to keep your mind focused on the fact that change must occur as it stands.