Via Big Orange, the video of the hearings on Bush's plan to use satellites for domestic surveillance. It's two hours long, and very soon I'll have gone and gotten QuickTime Pro, so I can excerpt some clips. This is huge and it won't go away.
Choice Harmon quote:
"[HARMON] It may morph into things that will really terrify you if you understand...."
And Harmon does understand, because, as she points out, she represents "Satellite Central": The satellites are developed and manufactured in her district.
Unbelievably, or not, there's nothing about this hearing in the trad press.
But the Congressmen are really sticking it to the DHS guys, who seem to think that "oversight" is something that the executive branch does, as opposed to something that the other two co-equal branches of government do (as established by the various Enabling Acts that set up the National Security State).
I have the feeling that this is a bigger issue in the Beltway than out (although it should be a huge issue outside the Beltway), because for years satellites, as our "national means of technical verification" in the Cold War, has been a closely held secret both on the executive branch, and on Capitol Hill. If Jane Harmon is terrified by this program, we should all be terrified. I got the feeling, FWIW, that this was not kabuki. We'll see.
NOTE The Orwellian language is wonderful. "The National Applications Office..." "We have an operating concept..." "We don't call them 'spy satellites,' we call them 'remote sensing devices.'" The Bush administration really needs its Victor Klemperer.
UPDATE The DHS bureaucrats keep pointing to Katrina as an example of how helpful satellite surveillance can be to the various "customers." But (a) the only thing Bush accomplished in Katrina was destroying a city, so from any reasonable public policy perspective, (b) the satellites didn't do shit, so (c) what the Fuck
were they really doing with the satellites? Making sure the niggers didn't make it out of the Superdome?
UPDATE Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX 18) reminds us of how DeLay abused DHS to track Democratic legislators when he gerrymandered Texas. So the question if not the abstract potential of abuse, but the realities of lawless Republican rule.
UPDATE Many of the members have concerns that the program violates posse comitatus. None of the DHS guys have an answer to this, which is interesting since they are attempting to convey the deep concerns they have for the Constitution and our rights. One of the DHS guys, Sutherland, actually mispronounces it, suggesting that although he's read about it, he's never actually discussed it with anyone.
UPDATE I have to give the Democratic leadership props for the strong Black representation on the Committee. They aren't taking any shit from these guys, and have the example of Hoover's illegal vendetta against King to throw in the administration's face whenever they say "Trust us," which is all they are essentially saying.
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I watched some of the hearing
Check out C-Span, they may repeat it on one of their three channels today.
Also, look for Nir Rosen from a 2006 panel on Iraq; C-Span is showing it several times today into this evening...his position was and his that there is no more Iraq, there are a series of city-states...he also predicted two years ago that the Sunni insurgents, especially those in tribal areas, would turn on AQ eventually, because or AQ's brutality and its fundamentalism, and that the last thing Iraqi Sheiks are interested in is becoming suicide bombers.
Back to Harmon; she also said that she didn't intend to get "rolled" again by the Bush administration...
If you’ve got nothing to
If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear.
Just don't do anything suspicious, we're watching you!
Can You See My Finger?
It's way up high 4u. m^m
Jane Harman sees the light
Jane Harman sees the light - and it’s an oncoming train wearing pearls.
Don’t even begin to think she’s undergone some sort of progressive ethical conversion. What you’re hearing is just her adjusting to the reality that she’s expendable by taking a jump to the left. After getting slapped around (endorsement from the State Democratic Committee withheld in the primary against Marcy Winograd, a true progressive, followed by being stripped of her Intelligence Committee chair) Harman was told she had to get in line with Pelosi’s wishes or the Speaker would support another serious progressive run at her.
Harmon’s district is solid Democrat (Gore 56%, Bush 38% and Kerry 59%, Bush 40%) with an increasingly liberal bent that leaves her very vulnerable to a challenge from the left if she doesn’t behave.
Credit goes to Pelosi for the conversion; Harmon was a Bush Dog but she’s a Nancy BitchTM now.
Uh huh
The true America as it should be dies, "sheeple" do nothing of course. Thomas Jefferson knew it would happen before our republic was even formed.
It wouldn't be so bad if everything the government did with the data would be completely transparent, but fat chance. Also yeah, I'm a Republican.
Mr. Uh uh, Republican
We don't look with favor on the word "sheeple" around here. Xan and CD explain why better than I can.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Nancy Bitch, I love it!
We just need more of them.
Ah, the magic of primary challenges!
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Interesting… A blog
Interesting...
A blog article about spy satellites that may breach privacy, and yet calls me an "anonymous coward" by default in the name field.
Strange double standard: Not wanting to be watched by cameras in space - ok. Not wanting to use my name when saying I don't want to be watched by cameras in space - I'm a coward.
Like I said, weird.
Violating my own strictest rule, I respond
to a troll.
Mr. "Yeah I'm a Republican," I am prepared to believe your claim since you are evidently an idiot.
"Anonymous Coward" is indeed the default handle. This was chosen with what we thought was a fairly clear, gentle and indeed somewhat humorous intent: to encourage those who post here to pick a fucking name under which to do so.
Looking at the righthand column under "Online Users" at this present moment I see the names "xan", "bringiton," "vastleft", "lambert," "monkeyfister", and the delightful designation of "dopeypanda". Are you seriously wanting us to believe that you think any of these names represent what is written on the writers' birth certificates?
Okay, "monkeyfister", maybe. But the others? Feh. Most improbable.
So kindly do not pretend that we are demanding to See Your Papers in order to allow you to post here under a more honorable title than "Anonymouse Coward". You can MAKE SOMETHING UP to call yourself. It DOES NOT HAVE TO BE YOUR REAL NAME. Is this sufficiently clear for you to understand?
Sheeesh. Now I remember why I have this rule against responding to trolls. It feels like every brain cell used to produce this post has gone off and committed seppuku in hopes of restoring their honor in the afterlife. And it ain't like I got that many of the little suckers to spare. :)
So, Mr. "Interesting"... New in town?
1. You are familiar with SlashDot's default name for the not-yet-logged in user?
2. You are familiar with--and I know this is French--the idea of a nom de plume or possibly a nom de guerre?
But thanks for sharing!
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Nom de guerre ... heh heh heh
Does that make Corrente the "foreign legion"?
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Mindless Bickering
Your lives are that of pathetic pinheads
snipping and tit for tating
While your Nation DIES!
Shut the fuck up and DO SOMETHING!
Or you deserve what you get....HELL ON EARTH.
If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear.
If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear.
wake up and smell the coffee. you have to naive to the extreme and presume an infalliable justice system to hold this kind of attitude. innocent people get railroaded all the time on the flimsiest or even invented evidence. you'll change your tune if hillary gets a hold of this much power. how trusting will you be that she wont abuse it?
Sounds kind of Zen...
"Mindless bickering..."
Go away, trollish agent provacateur....
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
i deem this post important and a winning topic
for future writing. you must be on to something, lb, to get all these ag.prov. trolls coming by.
set phasers to ignore! engage research engines to warp 9! load constitutional restoration torpedoes to maximum!
That's why I'm going to buy video software this morning...
... to put up a clip of DiFi.
If a thirteen-year-old can put up clips on YouTube, surely I can.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
trolls
I'm still in a convulsive fit of laughter over xan's response to "YEA I'M A REPUBLICAN".You have to wonder how folks like this have gotten so far in life yet cannot figure out the simplest of things like picking a name to post under.They're pretty good at getting innocent civilians and our troops killed for nothing more than their own advancement though,gotta give em that one.
Big Brother is watching you
Unfortunately the self appointed American patriots called conservatives support commie Bush.