Posted on 01/24/2003 4:19:48 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
The United States Senate, in a rare show of courage in these “if it´s anti-terrorist it must be all right” times, cut off funding Thursday for the Pentagon´s super snoop computer project.
By a voice vote, they blocked funding for the Total Information Awareness Project, a giant information gathering system that would have allowed Uncle Sam to track your financial transactions on a daily basis.
"This makes it clear that Congress wants to make sure there is no snooping on law-abiding Americans," said Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who sponsored the measure. “This was, without a doubt, the most far-reaching government surveillance program in history.”
The Senate action does not shut down the computer system. The Pentagon must come back before Congress, fully explain what the system can and cannot do, assess the impact on civil liberties and get permission before deploying it.
And the Senate action is not yet law. It still must make it through a House of Representatives that seems more intent on rubber-stamping anything in the name of national security and also faces the usual House-Senate conference negotiations.
And there is no guarantee that President George W. Bush, who obviously endorses the liberty-threatening actions of the Pentagon and his anti-civil liberties attorney general John Ashcroft, would sign such a bill if it reached his desk.
But the vote shows there are at least a few people left in government who question the headlong rush to trample the Constitution and ignore the rights of Americans as long as it is part of the out-of-control “war on terrorism.”
Bush seems content to let Ashcroft run amuck at the Department of Justice and his new Homeland Security Department has enough power to become the new American Gestapo if both Ashcroft and Tom Ridge choose to employ the increased surveillance powers, relaxed restrictions on wiretaps and other personal invasion tactics allowed under the USA Patriot Act.
The Total Information Awareness Project is the brainchild of former national security advisor John Poindexter, a retired Navy admiral convicted of lying to Congress during the Iran-Contra Scandal. His conviction was later overturned because he had negotiated an immunity plea with some idiot prosecutors who allowed him to admit to just about anything without fear of prosecution.
If Ashcroft, Ridge and Poindexter have their way, no American will be safe from government surveillance. The Pentagon computer is designed to tie directly into the financial databases of banks, credit card companies, airlines, travel agencies and other companies that track spending and travel of Americans. The computer looks for patterns that someone decides indicates “suspicious” activity that might suggest terrorism and then that American is placed under increased surveillance, including wiretaps and shadowing by FBI agents.
Last week, The Defense Department's inspector general, Joseph Schmitz, told Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in a letter that the FBI was working on a memorandum of understanding with the Pentagon ``for possible experimentation'' with the data-mining project.
This pissed Grassley off. He said the action “only heightens my concern about the blurring of lines between domestic law enforcement and military security efforts.”
Which, rightfully, worries some people.
“At a time when Americans are calling for more privacy of personal information, this program would provide a backdoor to databases of private information,” said the American Civil Liberties Union, the conservative Eagle Forum and seven other watchdog groups last week in a letter to Congress.
Mark this date down. It may be the first and last time you see Phyllis Schlafly´s Eagle Forum and the American Civil Liberties Union in bed together.
They should be worried. A legal screw up is the only thing that kept Poindexter from being a convicted felon. Ashcroft has a long and tawdry history of ignoring civil rights and Ridge has shown himself to be willing to do whatever the boys at 1600 Pennsylvania tell him to.
If this trio gets their way, Americans may have to learn to goosestep before the next 4th of July parade.
You know, as I started to read this, there was a certain... odor... in the air.... As I read further and further...? That smell became progressively worse.
I get to the sentence above...
And had to laugh. The author is obviously a dimocRAT shill...
Stand in line now citizens, don't push. Daddy government knows what's best for you
I'm just wondering how changing a name or two makes any difference. Either way, it's wrong, unconstitutional, and far too much power to be in the hands of the federal national government
I gotta agree with you on that.
Once upon a time, I wouldn't even bother posting one of Doug Thompson's articles
simply because I knew it was highly probable that somebody already beat me to it (at least once if not 2 or 3 duplicates.)
Now I'm starting to discover that Capitol Hill Blue has become an almost untapped resource.
It also has me beginning to wonder what Mary Mostert has been publishing lately...
I don't believe I've seen much of her commentary posted lately either.
Cool. Maybe now we can reopen the practice of profiling and propose just to keep tabs on just those groups with a higher incidence of terrorist leanings (like, say, Muslim men from Arab nations, between the ages of 17 and 45).
After all, it was that kowtowing to special interest groups and political correctness that necessitated the proposition of keeping tabs on EVERYONE.
But nooooooooooooo...the ACLU would be all over that like a cheap suit.
Side note: isn't it funny how the ACLU refuses to champion our Second Amendment rights, but will go out of their way to make sure that U.S. citizens are left vulnerable to terrorist attack? Sure betrays their motivations if you ask me...
-Jay
Curiously, I have yet to see Ashcroft orchestrate anything even remotely similar to the abuses committed under Reno. Hell, where's Ashcroft's Waco? Where's Ashcroft's Ruby Ridge? Where's the storming of an unarmed family's home to snatch a little boy and return him to the nation of a dictator? Those little gems were courtesy of Reno.
To this day, all of the claims of abuse by Ashcroft have been nothing but hype and conjecture. Nothing more.
Me, I wonder where the hell all those people who bitch about our Constitutional Rights being violated were hiding when the Left began its assault on the Constitution 40 years ago by seeking to outlaw the Second Amendment.
-Jay
I get to the sentence above...
And had to laugh. The author is obviously a dimocRAT shill...
3 posted on 01/24/2003 4:24 PM PST by Capitalist Eric
Capitol Hill Blue publisher seriously ill
"I received an email this morning from a friend of mine who works in House Speaker Denny Hastert's office. He reports that that the word on the Hill is that Capitol Hill Blue publisher Doug Thompson is seriously ill with a brain tumor and has been undergoing chemotherapy for the past three weeks.
I sent an email to Jack Sharp, the editor of Capitol Hill Blue this morning to try and get more information, but I thought fellow freepers might want to know. Doug and his web site have been strong supporters of Free Republic and I felt others would want to join my family in our prayers for Doug for a swift and complete recovery."
"God Bless you Doug, you are in our prayers.
18 Posted on 08/11/1999 14:07:14 PDT by Jim Robinson"
"Email received from Doug:
Jim:
Many thanks for the kind thoughts. I wasn't aware the word was out until a freeper sent me a copy of the post.
It's not as bad as it sounds. The tumor is benign, but they are zapping it with chemo as an alternative to surgery. Hopefully, I'll be back on my feet by September.
I appreciate the concern and please pass my thanks on to all.
Doug
Hang in there, Doug. We'll keep the prayers going.
24 Posted on 08/11/1999 16:09:38 PDT by Jim Robinson"
I just received this email from Jack Sharp, Capitol Hill Blue's editor:
Our email box has been overflowing today with expressions of sympathy for Doug's recovery. He's trying to answer personally each of the messages, but tires easily (a side effect of the chemo), so please understand if he takes a few days to get all the messages answered.
Please pass this on: While any brain tumor is serious, Doug's tumor is not, repeat not, malignant. They are giving him chemo to try and avoid surgery and the doctors are extremely confident that he will make a full and complete recovery without having to go under the knife.
Our thanks for the many expressions of concern and prayers. They are very much appreciated. We're always been proud that Capitol Hill Blue is considered part of the Free Republic family.
Jack Sharp and the staff of Capitol Hill Blue
35 Posted on 08/11/1999 17:30:52 PDT by arj
What might be even scarier is that so many folks don't even care about this.
As they say when looking at the stock market, "past performance does not gaurantee future performance."
You want to talk facts, fine.
You want to cast aspersions on my motives, then we'll have words.
Thank you. If Clinton had proposed a quarter of what Bush has actually gotten passed into law, you'd see calls on every conservative board, radio show, and paper to protest in the streets. As it is, it's President Bush and he's just 'protecting' us. Unfortunately that protection will rear up in a few years to put a whole lot of normal citizens of the respective states in the hot seat. By then however, it will be too late.
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