Archive for Privacy
The Elephant’s Graveyard
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve gotten a lot of guff for my post last week handicapping the Republican congressional primary field here in the 11th…not for what I predicted so much as the fact that the prediction appeared here in this pinko e-rag and under my own shiny new byline. You see, for today’s Republicans, this is a betrayal of the first order: “Thou shalt not lie with liberals as with conservatives: it is an abomination!”
Of course, there are so many orders of betrayal among local Republicans these days it’s kind of hard to keep track anymore.
Having worked for Republican candidates all my life and professionally for the last three years here in Asheville — heck, above my screen hangs a picture of me and President Reagan at a White House Christmas Party and another of me and President George H.W. Bush at a private BBQ on the south lawn of the White House; I could go on, but you get the idea — I can honestly say that I can’t see this happening again anytime soon. The Republican Party I knew for so many years has gone off the rails — effectively destroyed here locally from within — by sanctimonious bigots, religious zealots, misanthropic doctrinaire Randians, and most importantly by piss-poor, unelectable candidates.
The Errington Thompson Show
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While you’re doing what you’re doing, click over to Where’s The Outrage? and listen to the podcast of the Errington Thompson Show. Errington’s always on Saturday mornings at 9am, and he’s been having some special editions as well. Stay tuned to his site for more. This show…
I chat with Glenn Greenwald about FISA and the Democrats inability to stand up and say no more. I then switch gears and talk with local author Cecil Bothwell who has been covering the Pak Square “illegal†sale of land and the indictment and conviction of Sheriff Bobby Medford.
Check it out!
Low level voyeurs or an orchestrated act of Republican operatives?
Posted by: | CommentsA presidential candidate’s passport privacy compromised . . . two months ago . . . two State Department bureaucrats have already been fired . . . the Obama campaign only received the basic details late this afternoon.
Misdemeanor to look at the files without cause; if they told anyone about what they found, felony.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Bush I did it to Bill Clinton.
And according to Secretary Rice (TODAY, FRIDAY, the 21st), THEY DID IT TO HILLARY TOO.
Shuler: Yes To Big Telecom, Maybe To HRC, No to Torture
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Our mixed bag Democrat has really been taking the schizoidal cake lately. Even his good votes have lately left me limp. Take the vote to override Bush’s veto on the the Intelligence Authorization Act, H.R. 2082 – Shuler said this in a press release:
I, like every other member of Congress, am committed to protecting our nation from terrorism. Our generals, including General Petraeus himself, however, have told us that torture is an ineffective tool in gaining useful and actionable information,†said Rep. Shuler
Shuler voted against torture, which, while hardly going out on a limb, is the right thing to do. However, Shuler leans on the St. Petraeus argument to make his case. Come on, Heath, you know torture is bad. Do you have to have General “I Heart Bush” Petraeus tell you that? If Petraeus said “Torture Rocks!”, would you support it?
Anyhoo. Shuler’s a superdelegate of course. He came out for John Edwards early and has been uncommitted since Edwards left the race. Hillary! had a dinner party and invited some of the Democratic Congressmen to come over and get shmoozed:
Trying to win over those who are undecided, Clinton wined and dined 17 superdelegates this week at her posh Washington home.
At the dinner was Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., who had once endorsed former Sen John Edwards’ presidential run, and represents a conservative district in western North Carolina.
He said he pointed out to Clinton that even with Edwards on the Democratic ticket in 2004, Bush-Cheney won his district with 60 percent of the vote.
How, Shuler asked Clinton, could she compete?
“I’ve been winning rural and swing districts all over the country,” Clinton told him, according to sources at the dinner. Shuler remains uncommitted.
Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., also attended the dinner at Clinton’s home, but he had a different question.
“If Sen. Obama finishes this process after all the states have participated and he’s still leading in the delegate count and he’s won more states and he has a higher popular vote, why would a superdelegate at that point choose to go the other way?” he asked Clinton.
Shuler’s going to keep on remaining undecided, leveraging his position for whatever he can get. I get it, but that hasn’t stopped me from wondering aloud to his staff whether it wouldn’t be a more principled position to simply agree to cast his “super” vote depending on how his constituents vote on May 6th.
So there’s your kinda-sorta good, your waffly-wavery maybe, and here’s your nakedly awful: Shuler was one of only five Democrats to support George W. Bush and his Republicans in protecting Big Telecom companies from obeying the law. I don’t know what kind of reach-around Shuler’s getting to ask his constituents to accept this blatant contempt for civil liberties, but I sure hope the ecstasy is worth the agony. Donna Edwards is a progressive Congresswoman and someone who recognizes that Democratic Party folks don’t like it when their representatives stupidly support President 20%. She says this about the Democratic victory in Bush and Shuler’s attempt to excuse Big Telecom from the law:
Heath Shuler To Protect George W. Bush Instead Of Fourth Amendment Rights?
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Heath Shuler has taken the very strange and inexplicable position of protecting Big Telecom companies from investigation. Protecting them protects George W. Bush, as evidenced by the Supreme Court being unwilling to hear a case about Bush’s domestic spying program because the plaintiff could produce no details of the program. There are no details because (1) Bush administration refuses to tell anyone what they’re doing; (2) The U.S. Justice Department is unwilling to investigate crimes by it’s boss; (3) Telecom companies are holding their cards close to their chest for fear of the Bushes.
“In his radio address today, President George W. Bush again called for retroactive legal immunity from class action lawsuits initiated against telecommunication companies that participated in the government’s wiretapping program without court-ordered warrants.
It follows many other recent statements by the Bush Administration and its supporters in Congress who are trying to push through a legislative measure that removes a citizen’s right to sue, as part of the law overseeing the government’s surveillance of citizens and foreigners.”
Giving Big Telecom companies immunity from investigation is ensuring that Bush’s program never receives any public scrutiny. If there was nothing illegal there, the Bush, the Telcoms, and Heath Shuler have nothing to worry about.
The Democratic Leadership is beginning to waffle on this as well, playing into those Republicans and Heath Shuler who would seek to rip the nascent spine out of the Democratic Party. But only recently, Heath’s mentor Steny Hoyer (D-MD) had this to say,
“We also swear an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, and to honor the values and principles that are contained therein for example, the Fourth Amendment right that Americans be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the Fifth Amendment right to due process of law.
Honoring the system of checks and balances carefully established by the Framers of our Constitution will make us more, not less, safe. This was the conclusion of those men in 1789 who had just fought a war, and who faced a very uncertain and dangerous future.”
Which gets me to thinking about the oath that Rep. Shuler took last year:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.
Drop Heath an email today to tell him you’d like your Congressman to defend the Constitution instead of defending Bush’s spying. Or call this number: (828) 252-1651 to remind him that people will be very unhappy if he votes to protect George W. Bush instead of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
BLF pwns AT&T
Posted by: | CommentsSan Francisco’s Billboard Liberation Front strikes again:
For more examples of the BLF’s work, check out Craig Baldwin’s excellent 1995 documentary Sonic Outlaws.
NC Senate Race: Kay Hagan Throws In With Bush
Posted by: | CommentsKay Hagan and Jim Neal are fighting for the Democratic nomination to run against Senator Elizabeth Dole. I don’t know a lot about Kay Hagan, but I know where she stands on legal immunity for Big Telecom companies that helped George W. Bush break the law:
BlueNC: “She was asked if she would have voted for, or against, the FISA bill this week which would have granted retroactive immunity to Telcos for felony violations of the current FISA law.
Ms. Hagan explained that she was against Telcos spying on Americans, but that she would have voted FOR the bill, and granted them immunity, but that future law breaking would not be tolerated.”
Bush is trying to cover his tracks by keeping investigations of his spying program out of the telecoms. His Republicans are trying to help him. Heath Shuler is also trying to help him. Kay Hagan evidently wants to help as well.
Jim Neal “was completely opposed to immunity and would have voted NO on the bill.”
UPDATE: Jim Neal posted at Daily Kos:
“As a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Elizabeth Dole, the people of North Carolina and our nation deserve to know my values and where I stand on the FISA bill before Congress.
As a kid growing up in Greensboro, I was taught to believe in equality and fair play.
That’s why I unequivocally oppose giving telephone companies amnesty for felony violations of the current FISA law.
Heath Shuler Channeling Bush’s Disinformation – Help Him Stop.
Posted by: | CommentsNPR: Mr. McConnell, the Bush administration says that if the Protect America Act isn’t made permanent, it will tie your hands, intelligence hands, especially when it comes to new threats. But isn’t it true that any surveillance underway does not expire, even if this law isn’t renewed by tomorrow?
MCCONNELL: Well, Renee it’s a very complex issue. It’s true that some of the authorities would carry over to the period they were established for one year. That would put us into the August, September time-frame. However, that’s not the real issue. The issue is liability protection for the private sector.
Here’s what George W. Bush said:
“…the United States is in “more danger of attack†because Congress failed to extend legislation on domestic wiretapping laws allowing the government without a warrant to listen in on phone calls and intercept e-mails by foreign terrorist suspects that are transmitted through this country”
Heath Shuler is either intentionally perpetrating the lies of the Bush administration or gullibly buying them:
HT-N: “Our nation’s safety is too important to use for partisan gain,†Shuler said in the letter. “We must work together to ensure that our nation’s intelligence agencies are able to fulfill their missions, while also ensuring the protection of the civil liberties on which our nation was founded.â€
One of the bespined Democrats who didn’t buckle to Bush said this about the type of rhetoric on display above:
“Several Democrats said yesterday that many in their party wish to take a more measured approach to terrorism issues, and they refused to be stampeded by Bush. “We have seen what happens when the president uses fearmongering to stampede Congress into making bad decisions,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “That’s why we went to war in Iraq.”
Here’s hoping Representative Shuler finds a way to the other side of this political chasm. He’s currently allied with Bush, his Republicans, and those who would spread lies about our nation’s safety in order to ramrod legal protection for Big Telecom companies down the throats of Americans.
More info on Telecom immunity, Shuler, and Bush here, here, and here.
Ashcroft’s Comedy Classics
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Perhaps the funniest thing you’ll read all morning, from the St. Louis Post Dispatch (h/t to Think Progress):
“The president of the United States has been among the most respectful of all leaders ever engaged in the responsibility of fighting for freedom,” Ashcroft said, and has been “most respectful in terms of respecting the civil liberties and rights of individuals while engaged in the important task of fighting for freedom.”
“It is stunning to me that when the president of the United States, George W. Bush, simply says that we need to be able to monitor calls being made to terrorist territories, known geographies that are the source of terrorist activities, or known terrorists who are making calls into the United States … that some people see it as an infringement somehow.”
Bush “respects liberty so profoundly that he has protected it and has safeguarded civil liberties more than any other president in wartime that I know of,” Ashcroft said.
Wakka wakka wakka! Of course, the real punchline here is the fact that President Bush, who respects our civil liberties so much it makes me a little tingly, didn’t bother to nominate any new members to the Privacy and Civil Liberty Oversight Board after the previous members’ terms expired on January 30th, effectively making the board completely vacant. Wackity-Smackity-Doo!
Tené Myrick is My Hero
Posted by: | CommentsTené Myrick is an employee of Sonopress, a CD/DVD replication plant located in Weaverville, and she is one of my new favorite people in the world.
Like many in the area, she read an article in last week’s Mountain Xpress detailing Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower’s McCarthy-esque crusade against Sonopress, who are one of the area’s largest employers. Tené, a registered Republican, went to Mumpower’s website and sent him this message:
As a temporary employee at Sonopress, employed through Employment Staffing, I have to argue that your statement about Hispanic employees hindering local citizens from obtaining employment is far from accurate. I was born here in Asheville and lived here all my life and encountered no discrimination at all when seeking empoyment with Sonopress. Jobs at Sonopress go to those who are capable and qualified and to infer that they employ the use of preferential treatment to Hispanic members of OUR COMMUNITY is ridiculous. There are many Hispanic employees at Sonopress and to infer that simply because some of them are “non-English speaking” they are illegal is outrageous. Furthermore, to prepare a list of employees who you assume may be illegal based upon their ethnicity is unbelievably ignorant, and, in my humble opinion, a decidedly bad move in your race to represent the people of this area on a national level.
The exchange that follows is an exchange so surreal, so unexpected and, quite frankly, so completely assholish on the part of Mumpower that it defies description with conventional language. Yes, we have to make words up to talk about this. Flibbidy, hurrwnnng huralph blooboobaaawrch below the fold…
