Senate oversight

They are keeping you safe and watching out for your privacy and Constitutional rights.

Yep, sure they are.

We can trust 'em.

Just ask them.

Insider information

There are those who say that Edward Snowden is a traitor.

Perhaps he is.

I think he is not. You may disagree with me. I think he did what he could to right a wrong by "blowing the whistle".

There are those who say he should have taken a different path to try and stop these practices.

Perhaps he should have. But what path:

Others who tried to inform and stop these practices have been hounded and charged with espionage. Even when going to the Inspector General or the Justice departement, they were ignored. And in at least one instance, the informant wad prosecuted.

For once, the Fourth Estate did it's job. Sadly, it was not a news organization in the US that did it...that outed this program. That protected the citizens of the US by informing them of what was already suspected by many of us.

These men are Snowden's peers. And I will take their judgement of him over that of a bureaucrat any day.

Y'know,

Ya gotta ask yerself:

If there was nothing wrong (or, as the NSA states, illegal) about the fact that the NSA was collecting metadata on all of our calls (or, as some folks claim, actually monitoring some of us), then what is the big deal about the fact that the program has been exposed?

I mean, really, what's he big deal? Why be upset that the program was leaked? They weren't do anything wrong....right?

Or is the Government angry because their actions are deemed ....wrong, by both the media and the populace once it came to light. One would wonder if they too felt that it was wrong (or would be judged as such) by everyone.

Yes, I know that their special kangaroo court has determined that the data collection and/or monitoring was legal, constitutional, and correct, but obviously SOMEONE decided that it wasn't right, and decided to keep it secret, lest they anger the sheep populace.

Legacy

of failed policies.

Detroit defaults.

In 1930, it was the fastest growing city in the country.

In 1950 it was in the top 10 fastest growing cities in the country.

in 2012, it had over 100,000 abandoned homes.

Today, it has defaulted on almost 18 Billion dollars of debt.

one can point to many sources of the city's failure, but nearly all of them are liberal policies or liberal supported causes like unions and affirmative action.

Didja ever notice

That there is a stairway to heaven..



But a highway to hell?


Must be more traffic going down.

I find it telling

That Obama and family (and entourage) can find the money (that is your and my money.....or really China's money that we will somehow have to repay someday) to fly to Africa on what is, essentially, a sightseeing trip. Something on the order of $100 million....yes, you read that right One Hundred Million dollars.    $100,000,000.

Yet there isn't any way for us to pay for our military, requiring cuts to the Navy's readiness, to the Army's and Marine's ability to react and to have available forces, and for the Air Force to cut many programs.

We don't have the money to pay for the Blue Angels to fly over Baseball games or auto races, we have to cancel airshows and most military exhibits....

Our deployed troops don't always get 3 hot meals a day.

We had to scramble to find some way to pay for our Air Traffic controllers and other essential services like USDA inspectors and FAA inspectors.

We can't find enough money to repair or maintain our bridges.

We had to cut services at National Parks.

But the HNIC somehow can find enough of our money to pay for his African Safari vacation.

It's what you'd expect from the president of....say, Zimbabwe.What you would expect from a ruler rather than a president.

But the real question is why Congress and the Representatives allow him to waste OUR money this way.

WHY?

Today is

Flag Day here in the US


Celebrate it as you feel appropriate.

I'd post more, but I'm busy cleaning up the mess Mother Nature left behind the other day.

Due to Technical difficulties beyond my control

I was unable to participate:





I really wanted to participate.

I did send several highly suspicious texts, but that was after the storm had vented it's fury upon my property. Maybe I'll have internet tonite

Whargh

Up most of the night dealing with the aftermath of the storm.

about a 6 out of 10, but bad enough.

Rained so hard, I got lost on roads I drive every day. Had to stop

Dime sized hail.

Winds exceeding 70 MPH.

It appears that the new roof handled the wind better this time though. No apparent damage at first glance.

Generators make a big difference when the lights go out.

(good thing I exercise them every 90 days.)


No Free Ice Cream today though. Too Busy.
Check back later

You'll need a double layer of tinfoil for your hat

But then again, it is not outside of the realm of possibility.

Especially now that we KNOW that emails, phones and cell phones are vulnerable.

Did NSA and DOJ tap Robert's phone to get information they could use against him?

Maybe. Who knows?

But his change of heart regarding Obamacare was.....shocking and quick.

Many of us speculated what the government (and the Obama Administration and the DNC) had on him to make him change his mind so rapidly and completely.

Likely, we will never know.

But here is and interesting article regarding the methods that may have been used to gather information.

Points to remember:

NEVER, ever put anything incriminating in an email, or use email to send information you want to keep secret. Always assume that emails will be read. Treat them as if they were as private as a postcard.

NEVER, ever, say anything on a cell phone that you don't want overheard.

NEVER, ever call or email someone you don't want anyone else to know you have contacted.

Remember: Big Brother IS watching you.

3 people CAN keep a secret....if two of them are dead.

Yet, strangely, they are all retiring

And somewhat early too.

All the folks at the IRS who were at the top of the management chain that somehow let all those Rouge Agents" at the IRS do all of that profiling of conservative groups filing for 501-(X) nonprofit status are, strangely, resigned, retired or scheduled to retire soon, or are on administrative leave..... 

Interesting, innit?

Seems to me that their retirement pensions should be forfeit. Breaking the p[ublic trust (if not laws) should take care of that.

Really, if we want this to never happen again, then people need to be kicked out of government service, have their pensions stripped if recently retired (or if at any time they were a part of this debacle) and/or (I especially like AND) serve jail time.

If the current civil service laws don't allow for this sort of punishment, then they should, after careful deliberation, be re-written so as to allow it NEXT time there is a revelation of this magnitude....Especially with Obamacare just around the corner.

Patriot, or traitor?

Depends on your point of view:

Our founding fathers, had things gone the other way, would have been tried and convicted as traitors, and we'd never have heard of them...they'd be, at best, a footnote in history.

So it is with Edward Snowden.
" For him, it is a matter of principle. "The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to."

He outed a great conspiracy by the government against the citizens. Sadly, it wasn't outed by our domestic news media, but rather by the Guardian, a UK based newspaper.

But either way, it took a LOT of guts to do what he did. He violated a whole slew of secrecy orders, revealing information that was dubbed "secret" or better. At the least, he could be charged under the "espionage act", even though he has not given military secrets to an enemy....or has he, by giving it to the citizens?

Now the existence of these programs wasn't really a secret to anyone who was paying attention over the past 10 or 15 years. Most of us in the conservative half of the population had heard at least some details about Carnivore and Echelon and other programs you never heard about (but existed in some form) designed to spy on the citizens of the United States, and we all had, if we were paying attention at all, heard about the great many abuses of the "Patriot Act" by government officials using it as an excuse for investigations into many citizens lives, used WAAAAY outside the scope of intent. Prizm? No real surprises, were there?

But really, Snowden didn't do more than confirm what many of us already knew.

I have said for years that you should put nothing on the internet, in an email or say anything on ANY phone that you didn't want overheard. Never take your cell phone anywhere you don't want to be tracked. (if you do, then TAKE THE BATTERIES OUT OF THE DEVICE!).

Now we know that all of us who were looked at askance, were, at least in some form, correct.

The government IS watching. They don't trust you, and they see everyone, every citizen, as a traitor and a suspect.Guilty until proven innocent. They take your data and wait to use it against you.

and, if you piss them of enough, they will.

But again, I ask you:
Traitor or Patriot?

Did Mr Snowden betray his government (and therefore, the Citizens of the US?) or did he out a surveillance program which is, if not unconstitutional and illegal, at least plain wrong and immoral?

Yes, he broke the law. But in doing a wrong, did he do a right? Other than getting the federal government to give his life a thorough examination and possibly face jail time, did his wistleblowing accomplish anything? Did he make you and I safer, or did he harm the security of the government's ability to track and find and stop potential terrorists?

I say, It matters little if he DID harm the investigators ability to work in the shadows. If we can't win by playing within the rules established by the Constitution, then we deserve to lose.

I don't know Mr. Edward Snowden. And while many in this country may think he has done wrong, I think that he did right by outing these programs.

I'd like to buy him a drink, and shake his hand.

He's facing a LOT of shit and it is going to land on him HARD. But what he did took guts and honor.

I wonder how long until we find out something nasty about him....his history of drinking to excess....or the fact that he is a wanted child molester, or he sevretly has a gay lifestyle or something equally shaming.....Those government folks can be vindictive, you know. 

I only hope his actions were not in vain, and that this reverses the mindset of our government and that this sort of thing stops. I fear, however, that it won't.

So y'all thought I was crazy

(Or at least some of you did)....Because of this post

But I wasn't.

They are watching you....one way or another.

You can hope, like me, that you are unimportant enough for them to pay much attention to, but the fact is that the DHS/DOJ/FBI IS watching you. Tracking your calls and your movements  They are, if not watching you, at least collecting the data so when the choose to pay attention to you, they have history on you..

Now, likely, you are like me. You are in (mostly) the same places at the (mostly) same times...You call (mostly) the same people...

(Mostly) the same people call you.

Same with your texts.

Likely same with your emails.

And you aren't really doing anything that terribly exciting or interesting to the feds.

So you really don't care. If you are like me, the fact that some faceless bureaucrat can track your movements and calls and emails (H/T Borepatch) doesn't really bother you because you are not doing anything illegal.

But really, folks, how long until the fact that you are reading this blog makes you illegal? How long until voting against the party currently in power becomes illegal.

How long until some faceless bureaucrat running the local Obamacare office checks up on you to see who you associate with, who you call, or who you email and text with......Then decides you don't need that antibiotic, or that test or x-ray or MRI...or that appointment with the foot specialist (in 6 months) because he/she disapproves of your circle of friends and acquaintances.

How long until some faceless bureaucrat decides you are illegal simply because your opinion differs from that of your current ruler leader.


What happens then? What happens if they decide you are and enemy of the state?
Your phone makes you trackable and the calls you make will help make their case at the prosecution.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a secondary method of communication that while trackable, isn't tied to you? At least have that option?  You should also have at least one or two free, anonymous emails that you have set up, not from your home but rather from a free public internet site (Starbucks/McDonald's etc) not too close to your home (in fact, as far away as possible) so you can, for a time, communicate without the .Gov being able to find it.

But then again, maybe those folks who said I am paranoid are right.
No need for any of this, we should trust in our government and its minions.
Such things could never happen here...

SO we know that the DHS is watchin

all of our cell phones...

Looking at who called who, from where (cell tower data) and for how long.

Everyone

They claim that they need this data as a part of the "War on Terror" (even though, according to Obama, that war is OVER)...

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, despite having warning from the Brits, the Russians, and apparently any agency which ever heard of them, they DHS, even with all that cell phone metadata, was unable to connect the dots....THat these people were not only likely terrorists, but that they had been calling other known terrorists in their homeland.

But they need all that cell phone data....Apparently to spend more time looking at possible domestic terrorists....homegrown ones. You know, those gun and bible clingin' Tea Party types.

The ones they originally blamed the Boston Bombings on.

If it werent's so sad and disgusting, it'd be funny.

They get to spend our money to spy on us to keep us safe.

(in an unconstitutional manner, IMO)

But they are looking in the wrong direction.

Sickening.