If I am sitting in my living room in Philly and I call Susan in Port Angeles, Washington, the NSA cannot listen in because my couch is located domestically. However, if I call Jerome in Paris, the NSA can wiretap me because my couch is located internationally. Got it?
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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And don’t use your Blackberry because that is routed through Canada. So communication with Susan is international even though you both are in the U.S.
I loved what Jack Cafferty said about the Blackberry situation … he said that NO WAY should the company keep Blackberries available to D.C. It should be the other way around … they already screw things up bad enough. (He was much funnier than my poor recollection of what he said .. it was perfect.)
Hey … and I’m hurt the NSA doesn’t want to listen to me. I’d give ’em an earful.
BTW — my condolences over the loss yesterday.
But remember, it’s better to have gone to the Superbowl and lost than never to have gone at all.
If you have a voicemail from Jerome that includes a message for Susan, it might put you into the Ok’d category for eligibility. Conference alls or 3-ways are a bad one, too.
There’s an exemption for barcaloungers in the eastern time zone. 😉
here’s something to ponder, as we watch the NSA black Monday hearings.
(via Steve Clemons, washingtonnote)
DUDE, WHERE”S MY PARTY?
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001225.php
wahaaaaaaah. Gimme a hand here. I’m outta kleenex.
Wow. Pretty much nails it, doesn’t it?
You bet.quite an uphill climb.
Gonzales’s smile would be a frightened and glazed stare if the Democrats actually controlled this committee.
Anything you type from that couch while online is subject to government surveillance because the servers and relays are a global network. Hence you are conducting an international communication available for warrantless wiretaps.
We no longer live under the laws of our land because, by this adminsitration’s definition, its legal reach stretches beyond our broders. The world belongs to us.
This is also where the VoIP phone service is monitored.
Teddy Kennedy is up.
The MAN. True Blue.
and the people on my conf. call finally finished babbling so I can turn it up again. I wish I could have heard Leahy.
Leahy rocked! The sarcasm was awesome.
I’ll have to try and catch it on the repeat. I missed Kennedy and the rest too because somebody needed something from me. Are they on a break now or are they finished for the day?
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, I had to leave my office.
Kennedy wasn’t that great today. He certainly didn’t have the fire that Leahy and Feingold had.
Greatest hits for repeats today would be Leahy, Feingold, Schumer and Durbin. Biden was better than he was during Alito confirmation hearing, but it wasn’t stellar, IMO.
Yeah, he’ll probably turn up on the no-fly list, too.
Probably by default, anyone with a (D) by their names are on the no-fly list.
Abu Gonzales can’t give a “no” answer to whether other surveillence programs were initiated under AUMF.
I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that if they do not plead the 5th amendment, and they evade, do not answer, or any of the other creative ways they LIE, then they are committing Felony, after Felony, after Felony.
Didn’t Fitzgerald say in his press conference way back last fall, that it is 5 years for each count??
Grandma M, I have no clue the penalties for lying to Congress. But Abu Gonzales evades answers so that he’s technically not lying – he’s just not answering the question posed to him.
Jeff Sessions — after making reference to the 911 pilot’s widow trotted out earlier — reminds us that ove 3000 people have no civil rights today. Ergo the current discussion isn’t strictly ‘academic’.
So he’s saying that because 3000 people are dead and therefore without civil liberties, we should all give up ours? WTF kind of logic is that?
I’ve said it before: the man’s a sick puppy.
Now it seems Abu thinks he needs a bathroom break?
Did Feingold make him pee his pants just a wee bit?
Yea. A tinkle or two.
Also love Sen Pat Leahy’s retort to an evasive dodge of his question.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Attorney General, I forgot you can’t answer any questions that might be relevant”
via NPR, All Things Considered link not yet available
That was great – but part of what made it great was his tone of voice and total distain for Gonzales. I think it should be the quote of the hearing.
I always make it a point during most phone conversations to say at least once
FUCK YOU BUSH!
Assert Authority?? I think we need to do surveilance on the Republican Politicians because I think they’re all on crack.
Booman,
You are a brave and courageous soul for watching the hearings in full. I just finished reading your post entitled “Today It All Came TO A HEAD”.
I lost it after the first 40 minutes. I started calling the Dems on the Judiciary Committee and got the same old “I’ll pass it on”, when I complained Gonzales LIED in his opening statement before he even answered a question. Due to the “Ho Hum” attitude I receiving from Senate Staffers, I decided to call the Justice Department.
Operator 33 answered and asked who I wanted to speak with. I said Alberto Gonzales office. Then she asked me WHO, I was. I responded a “concerned US Citizen”. Operator 33 then informed me that if I was “just a citizen”, without a title or connection, that I couldn’t speak to important people.
Barely keeping my teeth clenched, and voice civilly modulated, I informed her that the Constitution of MY COUNTRY, said we were equal. She seemed upset, and after about 1 minute of dead space, she transferred me to the “Comment Line”.
I let Gonzales KNOW that his NOT being under oath, did not exonerate him from a felony against Title 18, Part I, Chapter 47, Subsection 1001 which states it is a FELONY to lie to Federal Officials, and that he violated the law, and millions of us KNEW it.
Seems at the Justice Department, peasants like “just citizens” are not supposed to think, much less voice an opinion or fact.
If others are interested in upsetting the Justice Department and letting them know they work for “WE the People”, the telephone number is:
1-202-514-2000.
Go for it!!
OK for you, Grandma. Just see what happens next time to try to get on a plane.
I gave up riding planes in October 2003. Didn’t like the way this HUGE woman, TSA Employee at Newark Airport, kept feeling up my breasts and talking about the wonderful wire bra I must be wearing. I have NEVER worn a wire bra in my life, and it was creepy being “felt up” by this Bimbo.
Terrorists forget we’re watching them??
They’re giggling about how they could prosecute for leaking this super secret task.
omfg
NSA is data mining at communication nodes in the USA that connect internationally. If you believe they are throwing out all communications that originate and end within the USA, I’ve got a Bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you. First it is hard to separate what is domestic and what is international, and second with their “they know what is best attitude”; they don’t give a damn if it is domestic USA communications.
It’s also safe to assume that this operation, technology and our information/data/communications are all in the hands of private contractors for this surveillance who now own it. Odds are also very good that somewhere in this system is another private contractor, located seperately offsite for remote backup to guard against data loss. Every switch, router or server it passes through also has collection and storage potential as a private-govt partnership.
Thank you Biden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nobody in the White House knows shit!!!! You can call em and they’ll tell you the same fucking thing.
“We don’t know”
or
“We aren’t aware of that”
doesn’t matter if you’re calling about Alito
FEMA crap
The WAr
Body Armor
IMPEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Biden just nailed Gonzales good.
Asking for the criteria for renewing “the program” every 45 days, he gets AG to say that “the program” is renewed so long as Al Qaeda remains a threat to the U.S. “It isn’t whether or not “the program” is working,” says Biden back to AG, “it’s so long as Al Qaeda is a threat…is that what you’re saying?”
That was slick — slick enough to get Gonzales to ask for a recess.
Graham ‘stands by’ the Presiden’t ability to pursue ‘fifth column movements’ — Americans collaborating or sympathizing with the enemy — & he doesn’t think the President needs a warrant to do that.
hmm,…that means it’s time to give up politics and find a new hobby to pursue.
I’m guessing that’s the overall idea.
Graham’s only concern here is that these operations will be given proper cover by Congress.
Durbin is hammering on separation of powers along with checks & balances.
I’m listening on KPFA (pretty sure they have live feed on their site) who at least have sane commentators during breaks — incl. Elizabeth de la Vega.
Someone (I’m sorry, but forget who) proposed here on BT that people use the sig line below. I’ve had it on my email for a while now, & can attest, that it does get people’s attention. 🙂
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
Isn’t Khalid, that Brownback referenced, one of the two 9/11 hijackers that lived in San Diego in a house of an FBI informant?
That would have been wonderful had they brought that up!!!
I can’t understand how they get away with using a reference that should bring shame when it’s mentioned. I try not to mention some of my greatest failures, let alone use them to impress people.
😉
Specter just concluded the hearings by calling every piece of Abu’s testimony total bullshit.
Does he have to come back tomorrow or is he finished.
True, but in the end all he really did was ask him to do the right thing.
Sure Arlen
wink, wink
You betcha, he did…to bad the rest of the committee was not in chambers, but maybe they watched on cspan.
I sense a consensus of his opinion with the majority of the committee.
the McNeil-Lehrer report on PBS led with Specter’s closing statement.
For REAL?!
Very nicely done. Specter’s hammer finally seemed to make a dent. AG kept walking away from “constitutional issue”, and Specter smacked him with it. Implications not good for the admin in the next few weeks. They been called.
I think one of the ads succombed to the outrage caused by the Bushistas and asploded the margins on the front page.
whew!
For a minute there I thought the nsa remotely decompressed my hard drive.