(Untitled)

Dec 19, 2005 13:09

I don't have time for the post I'd like to make, but I do have the time to ask, high crimes and misdemeanors, was it?

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ethicalgop December 20 2005, 21:34:00 UTC
Opposing viewpoints

http://www.nationalreview.com/robbins/robbins200512190859.asp
http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200512191334.asp

My question to the NYT, if it was such a breach of our civil liberties, why did they sit on the story for a year so they could break the story to coincide with a book release?

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I respectfully dissent. edrik December 21 2005, 13:24:17 UTC
The first one's logic is flawed. His very quote that "the acquisition of the contents of communications transmitted by means of communications used exclusively between or among foreign powers," he applies to mean "communication transmitted exclusively between or among foreign powers," which is not the case. The quote refers to the means of communication, such as an exclusive radio signal, not the communication itself. Even given his definition this would be fine if those so spied upon were definitively members of a foreign power, but their allegience to this power must first be proven in order for the wiretap to be legal, which it is not clear was always done. Also, the reporting requirements were clearly not met, as "The attorney general must report to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence 30 days prior to the surveillance, except in cases of emergency, when he must report immediately." This was likewise not done. Only select senators at the heads of key comittees ( ... )

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Re: I respectfully dissent. ethicalgop December 22 2005, 04:12:28 UTC
I want to hear your arguments with the journalistic press some time. If graduate school has taught me one thing, journalism has already gone to hell in a handbag and we are idiots for thinking otherwise. Public relations look out.

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This is going to sound really bad. halloco December 21 2005, 17:01:38 UTC
I don't care.

No, honest. I really couldn't give a damn. Some CIA, FBI, NSA total stranger wants to tap my phone line? Then they have the privilege to know which video games I play, what I ate last night, how much I love my girlfriend, and that I think Edrik smells like cheese. Wow. Big secrets, eh? I mean, no one has a right to know about my Big Irish Burger 1lb. Burger at Bennigans!

No... wait... I don't care.

Ergo, I don't care about the wire taps, and that's going to sound really bad to a lot of paranoid people who go to bed with tin foil hats, but you know what? I don't care about that either. If a line is tapped and nothing is learned, I'm sure the agents who did the tapping aren't going to talk about what you said on their LJ's. They're not going to offer it up to Bit Torrent, or sell it on Ebay. It's just going to be thrown out... unless, of course, you're doing something illegal.

Well? Are you?No, I didn't think so ( ... )

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Re: This is going to sound really bad. shadowzbecoming December 21 2005, 19:03:41 UTC
Heh... they probably are watching you... because you know me, and well.. I'll leave it at that.

Sorry for bringing Big Brother in through your front door.

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Re: This is going to sound really bad. edrik December 21 2005, 19:48:14 UTC
And at that point, what then? That will not occur suddenly one day with no surrounding legislation creping in making it easy for them to know when you've said something they don't like and harder to do anything about it? Do I think that is the point of this legislation? No, I'm not quite that paranoid, but it's not hard see it ( ... )

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Re: This is going to sound really bad. halloco December 22 2005, 18:57:43 UTC
Everything you just said is all fine and well, but you're missing one glaring point:

It's just a phone tap. Just words being discussed from one person to another.

A house isn't being built. No one is taking naked pictures of you in the shower. We will not have chips implanted into our bodies bringing us one step closer to being assimilated. Camera's are not watching my every move inside the confines of my own home.

It's just a phone conversation. Nothing more, nothing less. All that is in a phone conversation, are words. They can listen to all the words they like, so long as they don't tell me which ones I can or cannot use. And though you seem to feel that they could, in fact, post those words in their LJ's, or sell them on Ebay... in the same respect, you could take a bite out of a nice juicy steak... but let's both be realistic here.

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Re: I respectfully dissent. ethicalgop December 21 2005, 18:35:02 UTC
I'm too lazy to debate any farther... I just like getting your goat so to speak. But if you're ready to impeach Bush on it, you're going to have to get impeachment going for Carter and Clinton, who used the same powers.

Did you get your paper finished? I'm wasted, I think I'm going to go sleep for the next 3 weeks.

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Re: I respectfully dissent. edrik December 21 2005, 19:50:17 UTC
I was not aware that either of them did the same, but if they were guilty of an impeachable offense, then they were guilty of an impeachable offense.

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