Bush did it! Bush did it! Bush did it!
Posted on 06/08/2013 3:06:34 PM PDT by neverdem
Today's stunning report that the National Security Agency is collecting the phone records of millions of U.S. Verizon customers is beginning to spark a backlash against the Obama administration from the left.
The Guardian reported that the NSA issued an order that allows it to collect phone records from Verizon customers "indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing." Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.) confirmed that the order, which was issued in April, was a three-month renewal of an ongoing practice. The Washington Post reported that practice dates back to 2006...
--snip--
"This type of secret bulk data collection is an outrageous breach of Americans' privacy," Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) said in a statement.
"In digital era, privacy must be a priority," tweeted former vice president Al Gore. "Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?"
--snip--
The key distinction between Obama and Bush here is that the Obama administration appears to have used legal means to carry out domestic surveillance. In this instance, the administration sought approval for the phone records order through the FISA court. But civil libertarians on the left say that the FISA court process is broken. Its orders are classified and the Verizon phone records collection casts an extremely wide net.
"This bulk data collection is being done under interpretations of the law that have been kept secret from the public," Sen. Merkley said. "Significant FISA court opinions that determine the scope of our laws should be declassified. Can the FBI or the NSA really claim that they need data scooped up on tens of millions of Americans?"
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) have also pressured the administration for years to be more transparent about their domestic surveillance programs. Expect...
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
The left is revolting.
When the IRS came for the tea party, they said nothing because they weren’t tea partiers....
Hardly matters since "wrongdoing" in the mind of the zero admin likely means criticizing emperor Obamba in any way shape or form.
Of course they are. It’s all those organic tofu shakes they eat. Isn’t Al Gore hot on the trail of Man-Bear-Pig? Why can’t he just shut up and continue hunting that monster? I hate having him agree with me.
The gummint din't want to know about drug deals and initiations and flash mobs and ...
???
Ya got that right—they are revolting—LOL!
The left is revolting. Yes, yes they are!
LOL! Good point. It looks like we might finally be getting somewhere.
MY OBAMA PHONE IS NOT BUGGED.
Now we know why they were after the guns. With all of this going on I wonder if gun control will ever gain ground again.
The key distinction between Obama and Bush here is that the Obama administration appears to have used legal means to carry out domestic surveillance. In this instance, the administration sought approval for the phone records order through the FISA court.
"Legal means" of "domestic surveillance" via the FOREIGN Intelligence Surveillance Act?
Really?
Algore’s just upset be didn’t think of it first.
MY OBAMA PHONE IS NOT BUGGED.
speaking of which. my sister has been on disability for “depression” for 15 years, shes now 55.
she gets a check every month, subsidized housing, medicare AND Medicaid, food stamps, the Obama phone, food pantry in the housing project.
she could care less about all this, and, who do you think shes going to vote for? the take responsibility republicans, or the get everything free democrats?
“They stink on ice!”
(Mel Brooks, “History of the World, Part I”)
Bush did it! Bush did it! Bush did it!
Right. Monitoring calls that go out of the country to known terrorists is illegal, while monitoring Americans' daily activities is OK.
“The Guardian reported that the NSA issued an order that allows it to collect phone records from Verizon customers...”
This is wrong. Look at the leaked FISA warrant, the claimant was not the NSA, it was the DOJ, via the FBI.
Many of the reports are getting this wrong - this is Eric Holder at work again. NSA was the agency tasked with the collection - it wasn’t the agency requesting the warrant.
And yet, with all their state-of-the-art surveillance, those pesky Tsarnayev brothers still manged to slip through.
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