We Can Stop Their Spying Eyes

And the Electronic Frontier Foundation has just the form to counter BIG MONEY's* Lobbying efforts against such a Constitutional necessity.
Tell Congress to Investigate the NSA Spying Program

Over five years since it first began, the NSA's massive domestic spying program remains shrouded in secrecy. Recently, the Bush Administration announced that it has let the shadowy FISA court review the program, but that's not enough -- the President must abide by the law and answer to the traditional court system, Congress, and the American public. Use the form below and demand immediate Congressional investigations.

Three federal courts have already rejected the government's bogus arguments and allowed cases to go forward regarding the secret surveillance. With its back against the wall, the Administration has finally conceded that judicial review should be involved at some level.

That's welcome news, but the President is still trying to dodge meaningful oversight. While claiming that the secret FISA court orders legalize the program, the Administration has refused to let anyone else see the orders and confirm key details about what they permit. EFF is skeptical that they actually satisfy the strict requirements of current statutes or the Fourth Amendment, considering the broad program of dragnet surveillance alleged in our case against AT&T for its role in the program.

Congress must do its job and help uncover the truth about the program. Take action now to protect the checks and balances that define our democracy.



* I call out "BIG MONEY" here because the folks for whom Bu$hCo is working don't care about the details of how their bought-boy's (and girls, of course) go about their business. They just want their ability to run their business around the world and as they see fit. Screw any Liberties, Rights, Freedoms which don't curtail the consumers' ability to spend Spend SPEND to the end.

To be sure,
Under capitalism man exploits man. And under Communism it is just the reverse. That's what you get with any system which isn't regulated via Reason and constant Refinement as the system evolves.

namaste


Comments

  1. It seems like everything this administration does or does not do, revolves around the almighty dollar and how to screw people out of it. I wonder how things would turn out if our country went to the Barter system.

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  2. i love that galbraith quote :) one of the last sane men in economics.

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  3. It's true Mary. Money does make the world go 'round, but it doesn't have to be like this.

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  4. The Barter system? w00t! WooHoo! LOL! I'd love it!

    No, no. Seriously, barter works great on a small scale and in rare situations where two sides have exactly what the other wants. Some kind of monetary system really empirically is necessary for the evolution of societies to continue on an upward standards of living curve.

    You've nailed the Shrub's MO though, Mary. He and Bonzo's Uncle Ronnie are two peas in a pod when it comes to their capacity for understanding economics: as knowledgeable as your average vegetable, the both of 'em.

    Galbraith's kid is a pretty bright guy too, Aif. I've already sent you a link (or two) to another guy who is part of a group that has documented causation between economically "altruistic" societies and higher standards of Health, Safety and Happiness since the late 1950s.

    Can't recall his name off-hand but will add to this comment when I find it. I last read an essay/report of his in SciAm.

    No it doesn't, AG and right you are. The balance of both Power and Wealth has shifted out of control (again!) and we're all paying the price for lazy thinking by the American populace and the greedy leaders in whom they've chosen to believe.

    Sadness, though it's not necessarily hopeless, eh.

    We'll see.

    :-|

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  5. What must we do to build a system that is "regulated via Reason and constant Refinement?" Big Money, at least in the U.S., seems to have found the formula for keeping everyone's minds switched off: High-def TV, Lazy Boy recliners and gas prices that are (just barely) in reach. Most Americans think they're doing alright. Is it going to take an economic collapse, a climate catastrophe or an atomic bomb before Reason gets deployed?

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  6. Most Americans think they're doing alright.

    That's the thing, ain't it Larry. There's an old AA adage that Ya ain't gonna change yer drawers if yer comfortable sittin' in yer own shit.

    Well, too many folks don't have a clue just how much their own shit does indeed Stink. They'll gladly blame other folks in other lands for the problems they've precipitated themselves by the fact of their ignorance and the Fear of Change which isn't perceived as inevitable.

    I've been pushing $2 per gallon Federal Gas Tax since about '94, but no one then could imagine the even the base price per gal being that high. LOL! We're surviving it, right? There's no doubt consumers AND businesses could handle $4 per before we'd even see unusually destructive inflation related to it. But folks here don't care that folks There are dying for our "right" to the easiest living in the history of our species.

    Improving Education - teach HOW to Think instead of What to or just how to Pass a Test, that and a non-profit driven News Industry are the two fundamentally most needed changes in American Society.

    Here's hopin' we get at least a little of each before refugees start swarming in due to the now undeniably inevitable rising Oceans.

    Any more terrorism, especially in the form of an A-bomb, will only set that goal back further thanks to Reactionary human nature.

    Blech!

    Fun stuff, eh? {sigh}

    {-;

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  7. To some degree, I feel like dealing with this issues in any meaningful way requires me to put different fingers in different holes in the dyke, all while keeping my job and feeding my kids. And that's right where Shrub-a-Dub-Dub wants me. Thank Sheva I'm at least moderately resourceful and angry enough to keep at it. Most Americans think they're doing alright because they can't allow themselves the risk of recognizing how awful it really is.

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