They're keeping score for us.

We need an open government

In a true Democracy, even in a representative democracy such as we have here in the U.S., the people have a right to know what their government is doing, if not the details of their findings.

From Crooks and Liars

In a CNN interview Sunday (6/9/2013) night, Daniel Ellsberg -- possibly the most famous leaker in history -- said of Edward Snowden:

    "He's done an enormous service, incalculable service, that can't be overestimated to this Democracy. It gives us a chance from drawing back from the total surveillance.... I think if the public is given now authentic official documents congress can't plausibly deny...maybe we'll see hearings with genuine oversight that can reign in this severely abusive surveillance program."

On Monday, Ellsberg wrote an op-ed for the Guardian:

    "In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material - and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago."

So you trust the President? The Congress? Really?

From Crooks and Liars
(Click on the link for more)

Obama Says No One Is Listening To Your Phone Calls. 'Trust Me!'

The real problem continues to be that secret programs leave the American public out of the conversation, and many of us would gladly trade a little less security for a little less intrusion. But how would we know? In a speech today, Obama defended the latest surveillance news:

    SAN JOSE, Calif. - President Obama strongly defended the government's secret surveillance of people's phone records and Internet activities, saying there are "a whole bunch of safeguards involved" and that Congress has repeatedly authorized the programs.

    "You could complain about big brother and how this is a potential program run amok," Obama said, "but when you actually look at the details, I think we strike the right balance."

[He thinks we trust contribution-addicted members of Congress? Really?]

Just checking up on you.

The NSA is still spying on us.

Andy Borowitz is trying to help out.

From The New Yorker
Useful Phrases for the Surveillance State
Posted by Andy Borowitz

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—In the event that the U.S. government is monitoring your conversations, here are some useful phrases to insert into your phone calls, texts, or e-mails:

1. I think the N.S.A. is awesome.
2. I just reread “Nineteen Eighty-Four”—it actually has a lot of good ideas in it!
3. There’s no such thing as a “bad” drone.
4. Sure am glad that I never talk to any foreigners.
5. I wouldn’t know the first thing about making ricin.
6. The Fourth Amendment is overrated.
7. If you ask me, Guantánamo is full of nothing but complainers.
8. Just changed my Facebook status from “Single” to “In a Relationship with America.”
9. I’m pretty sure my neighbor is cheating on his taxes.

Just how bad is the loss of privacy?

You are carrying your own tracking device and the government thanks you for it.

From Daily Kos
(Click on the link to read more)

As Privacy SOS  noted, the controversial security expert who gave a talk entitled "Privacy is Dead" - advocating that we "get over it"-said:

    I can tell you that everybody that attended an Occupy Wall Street protest, and didn't turn their cell phone off, or put it - and sometimes even if they did - the identity of that cell phone has been logged, and everybody who was at that demonstration, whether they were arrested, not arrested, whether their photos were ID'd, whether an informant pointed them out, it's known they were there anyway. This is routine.

    I can tell you that if you go into any police station right now, the first thing they do is tell you, "Oh I'm sorry you're not allowed to bring a cell phone in there. We'll hold it for you." Not a joke. And by the way it's a legitimate investigatory technique. But cell phones are now the little snitch in your pocket. Cell phones tell me where you are, what you do, who you talk to, everbody you associate with. Cell phone tells me [sic] intimate details of your life and character, including: Were you at a demonstration? Did you attend a mosque? Did you demonstrate in front of an abortion clinic? Did you get an abortion?

When exactly was it that Uncle Sam began spying on us?

When is enough loss of our privacy enough?

I first spotted this on Boing Boing
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Government Out of Control

The Bush Administration is out of control - they think that they are more important than our freedoms and our rights and they are leading us down the path to totalitarianism. If our next President does not put things back into perspective, this nation is bound to become something we will never recognize. From Rocky Mountain News - click the link to read more...

The National Security Agency and other government agencies retaliated against Qwest because the Denver telco refused to go along with a phone spying program, documents released Wednesday suggest.

Did You Know - ACLU Still Pressing on Bush Spying.

We may not have many rights left under the Bush administration, but perhaps there are a few. It will be interesting to see if this turns into anything...

The government must answer a watchdog group's demands to release records about the nation's classified terrorist spying program, the chief judge of a secretive national security court has ruled.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which announced the order Friday, said it was the first time the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had responded to a request filed by the public.

In her 2-page order, dated Aug. 16, Presiding Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly called the ACLU's demand "an unprecedented request that warrants further briefing."

From MSNBC.

Political Cartoons

News - Bush Steals More Control

Watching CNN this morning, I couldn't get over the fact that their "headline" news story was about some guy getting rescued from his sailboat somewhere near Chile in South America. We've got a war going on - we've got a President out of control - we've got anew Congress with the first woman speaker in the nation's history - and CNN chooses to report on some guy - one out of about 6 billion people on this planet - who purposely put himself in harm's way by trying to sail around the world. Duh!

From The Center for American Progress - The Progress Report (1/4/2007) comes some news that could impact all of us...

"President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant," the New
York Daily News reports. "The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a 'signing statement' that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions."