Government spying on innocent Americans
October 10th, 2008 by Jason PyeA new report shows us something that most of us already knew to be true. Our government is spying on innocent Americans. As you can imagine, Bob has a few things to say about that:
Many of us warned about the potential for abuse, especially the threat to the privacy of all Americans posed by widespread and secret government surveillance. Neither the administration nor the Congress, including Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, listened. Now, however, a book about the National Security Agency by James Bamford — The Shadow Factory — reveals that the government has been routinely eavesdropping on innocent Americans.
The then-head of the NSA and now Director of the CIA, Gen. Michael Hayden, has denied to Congress that Americans’ private conversations were being tapped. But two former military intercept operators have now come forward independently to reveal that they in fact listened in on the personal phone calls of Americans.
For instance, Adrienne Kinne, a U.S. Army reservist, reports that, “[T]hese were just really everyday, average, ordinary Americans who happened to be in the Middle East, in our area of intercept and happened to be making these phone calls on satellite phones.” Many of them were serving in the military, or working for aid organizations or the press. They were not planning attacks on the U.S. Rather, explains Kinne, the subjects discussed were “personal, private things with Americans who are not in any way, shape or form associated with anything to do with terrorism.”
Navy linguist David Murfee Faulk says much the same of the results of his work between 2003 and 2007. He listened to Americans “calling home to the United States, talking to their spouses, sometimes their girlfriends, sometimes one phone call following another.” Moreover, Faulk admitted that he and the other operators would share especially interesting phone calls, like “some colonel making pillow talk.”
The point is not that no useful information was ever recovered. But when operators wasted their time eavesdropping on the conversations of innocent Americans — and invading their privacy — they were not monitoring genuine terrorist suspects. Adrienne Kinne admits: “It’s almost like they’re making the haystack bigger and it’s harder to find that piece of information that might actually be useful.” In short, violating our liberties makes us both less free and less safe.
[…]
For nearly eight years, the Bush administration has enshrined disrespect for the law as official government policy. The Congress, under both Republican and Democratic control, has failed to uphold either the law or the Constitution. Since both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain have endorsed expanded warrantless surveillance, neither one would restore our constitutional liberties as president.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:55 am
If this doesn’t make all Americans angry, then there’s no hope for this country.
I just emailed this to my whole family and asked, “Are you going to keep voting for the same two parties that made this possible?”
The closer it gets to the election, the less I worry about irritating people by sending them political emails and telling them about the Libertarian Party.
October 10th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Everyone, AOL started a new straw poll today! McCain won the last one contrary to many polls that show Obama pulling ahead. But the most disappointing part of the poll was that Bob Barr only received less then 2000 votes!!! Where is all the Barr supporters??? This is such an easy way to gain free publicity for Barr and everyone is in hiding! I know we have more then 2000 supporters that will vote for Barr on November 4th! Please everyone, go to the link below and cast a vote for Barr. If you don’t have an AOL account, it is free to sign up for one!!!
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/10/10/aol-straw-poll-oct-10-17/
October 10th, 2008 at 10:45 am
I don’t even know what to say these days with all this information spilling out all over the place.
You are right though about getting to everyone we know to vote for bob.
It is easier everyday for me to campaign for him and people are more and more receptive to him as the best choice.
Look at all the new donors pouring in! And how busy these blogs have been!
Let’s keep doing what we’ve been doing! It’s obviously taking hold!
October 10th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I think the government has been spying on its people for a long time. As Henry Kissinger said, “The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” By the time we hear about it, they’ve already done it.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:00 am
The “needle in a haystack” issue that is created by casting too wide a net is undoubtedly hampering us in many ways, but then everyone has been using that common-sense argument against broad spying “strategies” for a long, long, long time now.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:26 am
A new Poll from AOL shows 81% of Americans want a change in the Commission on Presidential Debates. Everyone go there and cast your opinion. Let’s get it up to 90%!
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/10/09/hot-seat-debate-rules/
—————————————————————————————-
Sign the Petition to Open the Debates to Third Party Candidates:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/presidential_debates/
Download one of my Bob Barr Flyers and hang them everywhere you can!
BobBarrFlyer.pdf
NotAboveTheLaw.pdf
SpendingAnalyses.pdf
Contact the CPD at (202) 872-1020, ask them to include Bob Barr in the debates.
Visit http://www.lpgeorgia.com/opendebates.php to automatically send an email to over 90 people involved in the debates and ask for Bob Barr to be included.
Go to Zogby Interactive and register for their online polls, when you get polled tell them you will vote for Bob Barr.
Come Join MyLibertySpace: The Social Network For Libertarians.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Ive actually been known to greet the listeners in past conversations with friends. Of course they didn’t say anything, but I would say hi to my friend, then something like… ‘Hello to whoever is recording this call.’
October 10th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Randy:
Went to AOL poll and said we need to change the CPD rules. As a curiosity, I checked the state results for New Mexico (where I used to live). At the time, the results were 96% in favor of change, 4% undecided, 0% to leave things alone.
Regarding the article, I don’t mean to sound paranoid, but I expected something like this to surface since the day the Patriot Act was signed. The more power a government is granted, the more it tries to increase its power (”Power corrupts, absolute power …”). That’s why the founding fathers created a document designed to LIMIT government excesses. If only the Congress and President actually took the time to learn about it, and not just pay lip service.
Do I need to explain any further why I’ve been a libertarian since about 1993?
October 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
“If this doesn’t make all Americans angry, then there’s no hope for this country”
The Republicans and Democrats could have both nominated a candidate who wants to raise the top tax rate to 94% like it was in 1944…and I’m sure that millions of voters would be considering who is the lesser evil instead of considering 3rd party candidates.
This abuse of power is still not enough to wake up the sheeple.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Sheesh! I swear. It’s just like that bit that Penn & Teller did on their show about the USAPATRIOT act. They set up a surveillance van to watch a house they had rented, supposedly where a suspected terrorist was staying. Then they hired ordinary Americans as targets, to watch and videotape the house and the car parked in its driveway, looking for the supposed terrorist to leave. Then they had an actress walk by in a **** outfit to visit her supposed boyfriend, who lived next door with his wife. While the target was enjoying the peep show, they disappeared the supposed terrorist’s car. Hee hee.
Except it was just supposed to be a joke. It was just supposed to be fun.
-TimK