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Bush Administration has more Spying Powers than first believed

rawstory.com — Intelligence legislation passed earlier this month is angering a growing number of critics who say an end-of-session scramble inadvertently gave the Bush Administration wider spying powers than previously thought.

Who dugg this? Made popular Aug 19, 2007

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  • greenback1, on 10/10/2007, -8/+122I'm a Republican who has been trying to get Bush impeached since 2003. I've been so disturbed by the political hijackers who have taken control of my Republican Party and have trashed the supreme law of the land, the Constitution. So angry that I bowed my head and voted for the Democrats in 2006 to reign in the criminal executive branch and to bring our brave soldiers home from the immoral invasion/occupation of a soverign nation. The Democrats turned their backs on Americans and the rule of law. In 2007, instead of carrying out the will of We the People, they turned around and increased the funding of the Iraq slaughter and voted to approve and expand Bush's illegal survaliance program. They are worse than Bush, if that is at all possible. They are the ultimate decievers. Do not vote for any top tier Republicans or Democrats. I'm voting for Ron Paul. If your a Democrat vote for Mike Gravel. If your a real liberal, vote Ralph Nader. It's time to purge our great nation of these internationalist who put the interests of rich men who hold no allegiance to any nation before the interests of Americans.
  • scabbers, on 10/10/2007, -0/+35So we're agreed, BOTH parties are essentially ***** you all over - with a (very) few patriotic dissenters on both sides.
  • doctechnical, on 10/10/2007, -1/+32Replace "Bush Administration" with "Federal Government". This is not a right vs left issue, this is a FREEDOM issue.
  • SavageBlackCat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+25And the democrats just let it happen - just so they can go on vacation on time.
  • digichris, on 10/10/2007, -2/+25Republicans/Democrats - same ***** thing....oh wait abortionlol
  • bruinexmo, on 10/10/2007, -9/+29Christ, why can't submitters link to actual articles? Why do they insist on sending us to blogs?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/washington/19fisa.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
  • synthpop, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18stop being so un-American, the Ministry of Truth passes these laws for your own good. Why don't you people focus on all the good things that are happening, like how the surge against Eurasia is a huge success..
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18Okay, Gonna type this slow for the folks in the cheap seats still trying to figure it all out.

    Congress grants the Bush administration more power- while the administration is under investigation for a variety of nefarious and illegal activities. Bush also pushed through illegal agreements with Canada and Mexico- which basically amounts to the formation of the American Union without congress even knowing about it (questionable- but congress's approval was not sought):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T74VA3xU0EA

    Now the ***** are giving Bush even more spying powers!!!! Not surprising and is further proof that they are ALL in on it.

    Alas, this is too big for most Americans to comprehend. Its just too big- so the people will deny it- just like the German people did during Hitler's reign. Its the same thing. Its happening again and this time its gonna be far worse because one of Bushe's private armies (Blackwater) is far superior to Hitlers Sturm Abteilung (Storm Section aka; Stromtroopers/brownshirts).

    http://www.wtprn.com/Blackwater.html

    Whats funny about this is its EXACTLY the same process Hitler took only slower and over years. Hitler did it in a matter of months.

    What's no funny is its happening again.

    Keep your firearms- we are going to need them when these murdering ***** come knocking on our doors.
  • Secularian, on 10/10/2007, -2/+19I'm more inclined to vote Democrat than Republican, but I'm also inclined to agree your statement. The Democrats not only failed to take on the criminal Bush/Cheney regime, they LIED when they told us they would. The failure to impeach sets a dangerous and frightening precedence.
  • Sil369, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16You can't fit all of that on a picket sign! (j/k)
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17Listen, I'm sure they'll use unmonitored, unwarranted wiretaps on American citizens responsibly. Has this administration ever let you down?

    If you live in California, New Orleans, a mine, the environment, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Arctic, the Antarctic, Darfur, poverty, or "sin" please refrain from responding.
  • jellygraph, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17isn't the definition of being spied upon that you _don't_ know that it is happening?

    dugg you down for being silly
  • Tyrsson, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Advice to Congress:

    1. There is NOTHING legislatively so pressing that it can't wait until the next session of Congress to address. Never rush a bill to the President's office, especially if the Executive branch is the one that penned the legislation to begin with.

    2. Any time the Executive branch asks for more power, vote against the proposition. Our founding fathers put you in charge of legislation and the purse strings for a reason.

    3. Don't EVER use the excuse that you didn't understand a piece of legislation that you voted for. Understanding legislation is your ***** job!
  • bitcloud, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14If they have a political opinion, they've been wiretapped.
    The US has extraordinary rendition procedures (where they kidnap you and leave you in the hands of someone like the egyptian police. I'm not speculating. this is verified)
    They have secret prisons the world over - Like Gitmo or AbuGraib, but ones we DIDN'T find out about. Again - verified.
    They have imprisonment without trial. Again - Verified daily...
    They have corporate interests in consolidating power ($9 million in halliburton stocks for cheney for example)

    They have the means and the desire to commit some of the most abhorrent crimes the world has ever seen. They've already proven to be the most criminally corrupt administration I've ever seen. It really is important that you understand the gravity of the situation.
  • bitcloud, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14@bluezine: Absolutely! The wording in the bill was very deliberate.

    If the information crosses US borders it can be spied upon. Which means legally the US can spy on basically anything. They're legally entitled to read my emails without me ever knowing... and I live in australia...

    @everyone else: Get your ***** country sorted out now. I'm sick to death of your inaction and your complacency.. there is more at stake than poor little america.
  • scottc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13I have friends who were spied on in the 80's because their church was helping refugees. The actually won a lawsuit against the US government over it. Today there would be no grounds for a suit.
  • thefirstenemy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Martin Luther King.
  • ganjadude4391, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13john lennon
  • moxley, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12I have been spied on; you have a poor understanding of political systems and tyrrany, like a lot of people in the US. The spying and repression and chilling effect now is bad enough, but the real problem that people are so scared about is what is going to come later, after their next 'terror attack.'

    This administration is spying on innocent Americans in a wholesale fasion as well. All of your calls and emails are being recorded and data mined. Do you know what for? Do you know something you say isn't going to be misinterpreted? True terrorists sometimes use code words, what if you happen to be talking about a football game, and the terrorists happen to be referring a planned act of terror using those words? Your door gets kicked in; your dog is shot and your elderly parent is knocked to the ground and accidentally killed.. You have no habeus corpus. You have no right to anything, no right to trial, no right to a jury..The only right you have is to shut the ***** up and be tortured. You know what happens then? They keep you for years, or render you to Kazahkstan where you are tortured until you'll sign or do anything to make it stop. They you are either executed, spend your life in a camp, or are released with no apology and under order not to talk about it at all to anybody.. This is the kind of ***** that can happen and will happen much more often if this continues.
  • tybris, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Earth to morons (read: congress): Bush should not be given ANY additional powers.
  • gotamd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Why do we let the executive branch write laws in the first place? At the very least, anything passed by Congress should be highly scrutinized. If it's a piece of legislation written by the Executive Branch, then that scrutiny should be even higher. When we let the President make the laws we lose our system of checks and balances.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11You're kind of a douche... just thought you should know...
  • scottc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11"inadvertently gave the Bush Administration wider spying powers"

    There was nothing "inadvertent" about it. It was by design, IMO.
  • doctechnical, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11So because they've been doing it for 30 years, you no longer mind having their fist up your ass?
  • ganjadude4391, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12***** comment system
  • PieterOpie, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11Well before the 2000 elections I foresaw this exact kind of eventuality. Chatting with Americans in various message boards even many of the Democratic supporters told me all the things I warned against if he were ever to rise to power could never happen because of your sacred constitution. Obviously the Republicans scoffed at everything I said. Why did I get it right and so close to the mark? I read about things which happened in Germany before the Nazis came to power and they were being echoed in the USA. I merely took it to a few years ahead and here you now are. If Bush finds or creates a perceived attack against the mainland then he will declare a state of emergency and many new rules they have been preparing will become active and Bush will be Dictator in sole command of America. He could then do anything he wanted unchallenged. He could even postpone or cancel your 2008 elections. Do say "he can't do that.... blah blah..." because I have heard that and I reject it. Bush may be Dictator for an indefinite period; perhaps years. Prison camps are being built all over the states ready to welcome anyone who protests or is deemed to be "a danger to nation security" and that could be you. They do not need a reason nor explain their actions. if I were any one of you I would leave now and take all your draft-age family and friends with you. BTW--- I hope like once before that I am wrong. Sadly I wasn't.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8You'll be saying that when they start sending your internet logs over to the RIAA to make sure you aren't doing certain deeds.

    It starts out as a govornment-only thing, but soon lobbyists have their way and BAM: Your privacy is up for the highest bidder.
  • WilliamDavis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8If american politicans could keep their hands to themselves and their own complacent flock, you'd be right.
  • Jelfish, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8A big problem is that lawmakers hide things in their legislation. This is why you have congressmen saying that they had no idea they voted on a certain thing. Even worse is that many legislators don't read the laws they vote on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_the_Bills_Act
  • bocaJWho, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I tend to agree with you, but remember that the members of congress are individuals - many democrats, in fact a majority of democrats, voted 'no' against giving bush increased authority. This means two things:
    1. Nancy Pelosi, along with the democratic whips, need to lose their positions for failing to demonstrate the necessary leadership to get the party to stand up to Bush (although they did vote against giving Bush increased authority)
    2. Democrats who did vote to spy on Americans need to be challenged and defeated in the primaries.
  • iLemon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7How is this Bush's administration? The government is a more accurate description of who is spying on you. Congress gave the executive branch these powers.
  • Arkavus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6My Dad was flagged under the Patriot Act for moving to Ohio and getting a new bank account. You can bet your ass they're spying on citizens.

    He's never even gone out of the country. Good thing all it means right now is he has to provide more information to who he is when he sets up his retirement fund.
  • grendel, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5The Federal Reserve OWNS you.
  • e68895f, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7Hey Bush, if your reading this, you SUCK!
  • Jmuduke, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Vote out EVERY incumbent. This is the only way to truly clean out the system. Bring all new, young, INTERNET AWARE people into the government. These old bastards only care about their lobbyist checks and don't know ***** about the stuff they pass laws against. I bet half of them haven't even used "the internets".
  • digichris, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Cept when they are so cocky about it, and making it law now, you should worry...
  • shaggytoker, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Unfortunately, even Congressmen aren't exempt from the fear mongering the Bush Administration has been infamously known for instilling in citizens. America is under attack by these tyrants, and until these people step down in '09, this country is not going to get better. The surveillance that Americans are witnessing is only getting worse; the only way out of Iraq is to get out! More cameras aren’t the answer to terrorism, but instead an end to democracy.
  • UtahApocalyse, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I had hoped that the Democrats would be elected and start fixing some things. Instead they have made things worse, rolled over and taken it up the ass. ***** Dems, ***** Neo-Cons,
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Turd sandwich or Giant Douche you get to decide in 08 (maybe)
  • imgstacke, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4TheEditor1 *****, BURIED
  • swrostmore, on 10/10/2007, -0/+49/15 DC http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ANS_homepage
  • moxley, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5He can't read.....try using pictures, apparently that is what had him so engrossed in "My Pet Goat" during 9/11
  • probl3mchild, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Does anyone ever notice that strong accusations of misconduct outside the US attorney scandal (which now is barely mentioned) rarely ever make it to newspapers, and when they do, they are only given a very small section? Government scandals were once big attention grabbing features of the paper, and now it seems as though something has changed, and the newspaper would rather report on other, much less important things when serious questions are being raised about our leadership.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Heil Bushler!
  • hiphoc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Yea, I am a repub also, and last election I voted D all the way across. I wanted change, but nothing has happened. Instead of happily going along with Herr Bush. We are treated to more political theater and pretend arguments only for the dems to cave at the last minute. They must think people in this country are complete dick wads. Well, we act like it. The more this goes on the more people feel helpless, and that's the purpose. For all this to be going on and nothing happening will make most Americans feel powerless. But I hope they dont buy into that *****, we got 300 million people here. And about 1000 or so corrupt bureaucrats. We have the power, we always have. When Joe Six Pack shuts off the ***** yankees game and realize that we have the highest prison population in the world with less than 10% of population, and 1,000,000 iraqis are dead maybe there will be change.
  • Bdog2g2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4"How freaking stupid are you people that you can't even grasp the basic mechanics of how your own gov't legislatures work."

    Oh we do. They tell us all the things we want to hear. They blow sunshine up our ass for our vote. Then they do what they want in their best interest until an election year. Rinse, latter, repeat.
  • FAT_PIGGY, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Remember Democrats voted for this
  • searchbeam, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Nancy has proved beyond doubt that she is incapable of understanding the anger and frustration of the country. After this summer recess, I hope the Dems get wise and find another leader who is in tune with the demands of the electorate and commits to start Impeachment proceedings.
  • Secularian, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I wish I could digg this comment up over and over again.
  • BlacklabelSAR, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4PieterOpie is exactly correct. And to the responders above, it is better to be wary than complacent and apathetic. Or are you going to defend the Bush Adminstration front to back?
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