“The government’s warrantless domestic spying faced its first courtroom test Monday, with the Bush administration arguing that the program is well within the president’s authority but that proving it would require revealing state secrets. The government’s warrantless domestic spying faced its first courtroom test Monday, with the Bush administration arguing that the program is well within the president’s authority but that proving it would require revealing state secrets.”
So you have to reveal state “secrets” to show that you have legal authority to do what are openly acknowledged as illegal activities?
How transparent can you be about an alternate set of rules that override the Constitution that the rest of us don’t know about?
It almost makes you want to re-evaluate what all those conpiracy theorists (most of which are borderline schizophrenic, mind you) have been saying for years.
I’ve heard about the story in general (ACLU vs. US), if that’s what you mean…
… I just never noticed that there was apparently a “secret government” admitted to that grants more authority to the president than the Consitution does. Did that break in April?
That’s the freaky part to me – how they admitted that there’s secret laws they can’t reveal. That’s some conspiracy koo koo stuff come true.
If that broke in April, well, oops… you should’ve told me.
Seriously, I can only reconcile that with the fact that I’m a workaholic, and am pretty detached from the news.
I know of few people w/high output that really pay much attention news, unless it’s financial news. General news is mostly fear based, and creates a very “chilling effect” on creative output if you really pay attention to it.
This story, in particular, definitely has the ability to knock a good half hour from my day, every day, in worry alone. It’s very troublesome. Makes me wonder if we’re headed in the direction of Nazi Germany (or worse, considering our size and capabilities)
Wow, I can’t believe they’re admitting this kind of stuff in public now… (and nobody seems to care, and/or understand what is meant by authority being granted to the president by state secret)
Would you care to expand a little on this, btw? I really don’t have the time I should to investigate.
Then there is the business about the “war powers act” and all that that was supposedly instituted back I think like WWII that has been “in force” ever since… or something like that. I’ve heard enough info from enough sources that have enough credibility that I have no suprise that things are going on that most people aren’t aware of “behind out backs.” Permits “domestic spying” in the name of security and all that. Gosh, what a suprise that King George is taking advantage of it (no doubt other Presidents did too, but we never heard about it)…
If laws are allowed to be secret, especially laws which effectively override the authority of the Constitution, then there’s far more to worry about than privacy.
This stuff has been going on for a long time… I’ve been able to trace it back to the Kennedy years with credible sources (which I haven’t got access to anymore), but I have been aware that we (the US) is heading for a situation that will make Nazi Germany look tame for a long time now.
The US government has the technology to do whatever they like, and has had that for a while. It’s going to be so convenient to pretend they’re using it to keep the border secure, too.
Step 1: Introduce the technology.
Step 2: Let people get used to it over time, so each step seems normal, sane, reasonable.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit!
I wouldn’t be surprised by this. All you can really do is roll with the times and watch and go about your life. If you are some sort of conspiracy theorist or rebel and you do something drastic, then you are dealt with. The way the world works.
