Verizon scandal: Barack Obama's national security state is now beyond democratic control

The London Telegraph ^ | June 6, 2013 | Dr. Tim Stanley

[2ndDivisionVet]

Those crazy American conspiracy theorists who live up trees with guns and drink their own pee don’t seem quite so crazy anymore. It turns out that a “secret court order” has empowered the US government to collect the phone records of millions of users of Verizon, one of the most popular telephone providers – a massive domestic surveillance programme and a shocking intrusion into the lives of others. For the first time in history, being an AT&T customer doesn’t seem such a bad thing after all.

Of course, it isn't the first time that a US administration has spied on its own people. The origins of this particular order lie first in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and then in Section 215 of the Patriot Act, backed by George W Bush and passed by Congress after 9/11. Normally, domestic surveillance only targets suspicious individuals, not the entire population, but in 2006 it was discovered that a similarly wide database of cellular records was being collected from customers of Verizon, AT&T and BellSouth. There was plenty of outrage and plenty of lawsuits, but the National Security Agency never confirmed that the programme had been shut down. It would appear that it’s still in rude health: the latest court order for collecting data runs from April 25 to July 19.

A few observations. First, America is so conscious and proud of its history as a beacon of liberty that it often overlooks the tyranny that occurs on its own shores in the name of safeguarding democracy. The national security state has expanded to the point whereby it now functions outside of democratic control and with clear disregard for the Constitution.....

[Biggirl]

Revolt is coming.

[Timber Rattler]

Heck, the comments at the bottom of the piece are better than anything we can write here...gotta love the Brits, at least the Conservative ones.

[SE Mom]

Yes. .I remember that. Yousef is a terrorist I have NO problem with that or possibly some Americans after showing cause. I do NOT remember a discussion about millions of Americans phone records being taken as a matter of national security.

[mrsmel]

Sadly but well said.

[qaz123]

Great article. As has been asked numerous times, why does a British paper always have the good stories? We all know.

But at the end, when the author listed the scandals, he forgot one: Fast & Furious. Has that been relegated to the trash heap of history?

[TBP]

We need to minimize DOJ funding, NSA funding, and IRS funding, down to the bare bones. We need to have many, many officials of these agencies referred for prosecution, including Holder and Holder’s boss.

[Old Yeller]

How much longer?

[lentulusgracchus]

Where is a leader who will consolidate us like minded folks. Does one exist?

Yep. But Karl Rove hates her guts. So we can't do that, we have to wait on Big Karl, and Big Karl says 'no'.

I'm going to laugh my ass off when Rove has to catch a garbage scow to the Cayman Islands one step ahead of the scrubbed, reformed IRS.

[zeugma]

Now the IRS is able to indentify and intimidate every American who may have contacted any of the various Tea Party groups. Or any other political group who might resist a totalitarian government.

Exactly.

"So Mr. Frog, our records indicate you made two calls to a local "tea party" group last month. Before we start going over your allowable deductions, would you mind explaining to us exactly what it was you were talking about?"

 

[Shery]

His comments that we conservatives applauded Bush’s totalitarianism is just out and out wrong. We were complaining to high heaven about it, but our representatives were doing nothing about it. Not all republicans are conservative...need we discuss that on this site? NO! There are fewer and fewer of them all the time until recently, as Sarah Palin has been helping to find some great people to run for office. Otherwise, it was a good article. Honestly, the “people” (sheeple) are doing exactly what the democrats have been leading them to do. Entertain themselves to death and send their kids off to the public school for totalitarian indoctrination. It’s working! Now we get American Idol for the presidency instead of a vetted, true-blooded American. Yes, it is our fault. We love our way of life so much that we sit back and enjoy all our forms of entertainment and let someone else fight for our country. Not working out so well, is it? Still praying that America wakes up, but even with all the crap going down, how many will truly (if they are able) do anything, participate in rallies, write letters demanding change, etc.? I’m afraid it is too few, to be honest. Obama laughs this off. He knows he is going to finish his term.

[frog in a pot]

The possibilities are frightening, but well documented in history. Frightening because clearly there are politicians who believe it is not a big deal.

This was a massive, wholesale invasion of personal rights not provided for by law; indeed prohibited by law.

Meaningful action is warranted vs the WH operatives that applied to the court, and the issuing judge ought to be sacked at a minimum. IMO, if no action is taken it will go down as a turning point in our history.