J. Edgar Chertoff

The new policy by Homeland security to seize any laptop, camera, or mobile phone they wish at international airports sure has me more than chilled. Visiting this country will become an act of pure masochism and for us natives, we may never be able to leave our harrowing hamlet again without the fear of some twit at the airport picking us out of the crowd only to fuck with our identity and long term personal safety. This could be especially problematic for artists and documentarians dealing with sensitive or controversial subject matter. It's harrowing to think of the costs and abuses of such a policy especially when you consider the "trained" eye of TSA workers.

Wired, should get a lot of credit for speaking to Chertoff about some major questions/concerns for us all. Of course our little czar misleads and answers in some of the greatest doublespeak ever uttered. What exactly is an "experiment in interactive policy-making" ?

be afraid and speak out.


image: Wired (an my sincere apology)

your new FISA flow chart

Ok, so I'm still rather gripped by this legislation because frankly it scares me. Also because there continue to be excellent posts generated examining this bill. You do have to wonder, did Congressional staffs give this the same attention?

So for the latecomers to the issue or those simply confused/indifferent to it all , here is a handy flow chart examining and comparing the "old FISA" with the "new and improved FISA".

From Ketchup and Caviar:

The focus of change is the bolded red line marked “U.S. or non-U.S. Persons Located Inside or Outside the U.S.” Currently a warrant is required in this case. Notice the changes involving the bolded blue lines and text in the following chart:

continue reading Wes Alwan here and see if you can figure out how this new bill improves anything...

new FISA and the dismantling of the free press

Chris Hedges has an ominous opinion piece at the LA Times about the new FISA agreement. This will have a huge impact on how information is disseminated to the public - objective fact finding will severely be hindered. This isn't simple about the private citizen's right to privacy.

If the sweeping surveillance law signed by President Bush on Thursday -- giving the U.S. government nearly unchecked authority to eavesdrop on the phone calls and e-mails of innocent Americans -- is allowed to stand, we will have eroded one of the most important bulwarks to a free press and an open society.

The new FISA Amendments Act nearly eviscerates oversight of government surveillance. It allows the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to review only general procedures for spying rather than individual warrants. The court will not be told specifics about who will be wiretapped, which means the law provides woefully inadequate safeguards to protect innocent people whose communications are caught up in the government's dragnet surveillance program.

The law, passed under the guise of national security, ostensibly targets people outside the country. There is no question, however, that it will ensnare many communications between Americans and those overseas. Those communications can be stored indefinitely and disseminated, not just to the U.S. government but to other governments.

This law will cripple the work of those of us who as reporters communicate regularly with people overseas, especially those in the Middle East. It will intimidate dissidents, human rights activists and courageous officials who seek to expose the lies of our government or governments allied with ours. It will hang like the sword of Damocles over all who dare to defy the official versions of events. It leaves open the possibility of retribution and invites the potential for abuse by those whose concern is not with national security but with the consolidation of their own power.

total failure

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow asked: "What if Congress had responded to Watergate by immunizing the executive branch's lawbreakers and giving Richard Nixon sweeping new powers to snoop?

"Oh, wait! They just did! They just took thirty years or so to get around to it."

H.R. 6304, updating the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was passed by the Senate and awaits a pleased President Bush's signature Wednesday. The bill grants the executive branch virtually unchecked power to monitor Americans' electronic communications originating, or terminating, overseas, and immunizes from civil lawsuits the telecommunications companies that agreed to help the NSA eavesdrop on such communications without obtaining the proper warrants through the FISA court.

I promise to get back to art related posts soon, but I have been swept up in the drama of the Protect America Act/FISA over the last months and particularly the last weeks. The whole charade has depressed me deeply and is not without a dimension of fear. My support for the Obama candidacy has also been deeply compromised and the reality has set in that he is not ready for the enormous responsbilities of preisdent. There is an enormous legal cleanup job required after Bush's departure and it will take someone willing to fight tyranny. I'm not seeing it as he drifts closer and closer to the hypocrisy of the beltway elite.

I have to wonder how this will affect the online community and the alternative political narrative the web provides?

Here's how the whole day shook down:

Prior to final approval, the Senate, in the morning, rejected three separate amendments which would have improved the bill but which, the White House threatened, would have prompted a veto. With those amendments defeated, the Senate then passed the same bill passed last week by the House, which means it is that bill, in unchanged form, that will be signed into law -- just as the Bush administration demanded.

The first amendment, from Sens. Dodd, Feingold and Leahy, would have stripped from the bill the provision immunizing the telecoms. That amendment failed by a vote of 32-66, with all Republicans and 17 Democrats against (the roll call vote is here). The next amendment was offered by Sen. Arlen Specter, which would have merely required a court to determine the constitutionality of the NSA spying program and grant telecom immunity only upon a finding of constitutionality. Specter's amendment failed, 37-61 (roll call vote is here). The third amendment to fail was one sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, merely requiring that the Senate wait until the Inspector General audits of the NSA program are complete before immunizing the telecoms. The Bingaman amendment failed by a vote of 42-56 (roll call vote here). Both Obama and Clinton voted for all three failed amendments.

The Senators then voted for "cloture" on the underlying FISA bill -- the procedure that allows the Senate to overcome any filibusters -- and it passed by a vote of 72-26. Obama voted along with all Republicans for cloture. Hillary Clinton voted with 25 other Democrats against cloture (strangely, Clinton originally voted AYE on cloture, and then changed her vote to NAY; I'm trying to find out what explains that).

With cloture approved, the bill itself then proceeded to pass by a vote of 69-28 (roll call vote here), thereby immunizing telecoms and legalizing warrantless eavesdropping. Again, while Obama voted with all Republicans to pass the bill, Sen. Clinton voted against it.

Obama's vote in favor of cloture, in particular, cemented the complete betrayal of the commitment he made back in October when seeking the Democratic nomination. Back then, Obama's spokesman -- in response to demands for a clear statement of Obama's views on the spying controversy after he had previously given a vague and noncommittal statement -- issued this emphatic vow:

To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.
[read on at Glenn Greenwald]

Here is David Hutchins on why Democrats caved in - The MONEY Trail


image: the 110th Congress

Dodd-Feingold Amendment

Firedoglake is running the current voting tallies as the Congress debates for the final time on the approval of the Protect America Act and it's revision of FISA (and telecom immunity).

Call your rep today and check out where they stand here.

August 8, 1974 v. July 9, 2008

from Glenn Greenwald:

The votes in the Senate on various amendments to the FISA "compromise" bill and to the underlying bill itself were originally scheduled for today, but have been postponed until tomorrow (Wednesday, July 9) to enable Senators to attend the funeral of Jesse Helms. Rejection of the amendments -- including the Dodd-Feingold-Leahy amendment to strip telecom immunity from the bill -- is all but certain, and final passage of the bill (with the support of both presidential candidates) is guaranteed.

Once passed by the Senate, the FISA bill will then immediately be sent by the Democratic Congress to an eagerly awaiting and immensely pleased President Bush, who will sign it into law, thereby putting a permanent and happy end to the scandal that began when -- in December, 2005 -- he was caught spying on the communications of American citizens in violation of the law. The only real remaining questions are (a) whether Bush will host Steny Hoyer and Jay Rockefeller at a festive, bipartisan White House signing ceremony to celebrate the evisceration of the Fourth Amendment and the rule of law, and (b) whether Bush, when he signs the bill into law, will append a signing statement decreeing that even its minimal restraints on presidential spying are invalid.

If nothing else, as the Democratic-led Senate follows in the footsteps of the Democratic-led House this week by passing a bill demanded by George Bush and Dick Cheney to cover-up and retroactively legalize their surveillance crimes and protect the lawbreakers, there will be a clear record -- delivered to their front doors -- of what they're really doing, along with an accounting of the deceitful propaganda they are disseminating to mask and justify it.

continue reading here

Senator, get FISA right

Sorry for being offline, finally finally got the computer sorted and online. Anyway, if you are like me and have been deeply disappointed by Obama's position on the new FISA bill and telecom immunity from civil suits, you can pressure him via his campaign website

If you want to take further steps try these.

• Take 3 minutes to contact the Obama campaign office about the FISA bill.
• Call (866) 675 2008
• Press 6
• In your own (calm, coherent) words, tell them what you think. See here for suggestions on how to say it.
  

• Contact Barack Obama's Senate office and do the same.
• Phone: (202) 224-2854
• Fax: 202-228-4260
• Detailed contact information here
• In your own (calm, coherent) words, tell them what you think. See here for suggestions on how to say it.

• Use Cause Caller to contact both the Senate and Campaign Offices
• As an alternative to the above options, you can use the Cause Caller website to help you contact the Senator and his campaign by phone
• Click here for the Cause Caller page. The page provides a script of suggestions for things to mention on the phone, and an auto dialer for the campaign and senate offices.
• In your own (calm, coherent) words, tell them what you think. See here for suggestions on how to say it.

• New! Use Blue America's Whip Count Call Tool to call your senators in support of an amendment to strip telecom immunity from the FISA bill.

• Click here so they can connect you to your senator. (If they connect you directly, the call is free.)
• The page has suggestions for things to say in support of the Dodd-Feingold-Leahy amendment.
• You can help track support for the Dodd-Feingold-Leahy amendment.
• In your own (calm, coherent) words, tell them what you think. See here for suggestions on how to say it.

• Contact your own senators by phone and tell them why this is important.
• Find their phone numbers. (Phone is a much better option than email or "snail mail". Why? See here.)
• In your own (calm, coherent) words, tell them what you think. See here for suggestions on how to say it.
• Want to know more about the best ways to contact Congress?

The Fourth amendment is at stake and with it a free society. This is a very dangerous and slippery slope towards opaque government and abuses that history reveals all too clearly.

From Glen Greenwald:

Just to get a flavor for how fundamental a reversal is Obama's FISA position, here is what Obama said back in February when accepting Chris Dodd's endorsement:

We know it's time to time to restore our Constitution and the rule of law. This is an issue that was at the heart of Senator Dodd's candidacy, and I share his passion for restoring the balance between the security we demand and the civil liberties that we cherish.

The American people must be able to trust that their president values principle over politics, and justice over unchecked power. I've been proud to stand with Senator Dodd in his fight against retroactive immunity for the telecommunications industry. Secrecy and special interests must not trump accountability. We must show our citizens -- and set an example to the world -- that laws cannot be ignored when it is inconvenient. Because in America –- no one is above the law.

Here is what he said back in January:

Ever since 9/11, this Administration has put forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand.

The FISA court works. The separation of power works. We can trace, track down and take out terrorists while ensuring that our actions are subject to vigorous oversight, and do not undermine the very laws and freedom that we are fighting to defend.

No one should get a free pass to violate the basic civil liberties of the American people -- not the President of the United States, and not the telecommunications companies that fell in line with his warrantless surveillance program. We have to make clear the lines that cannot be crossed. . . .

A grassroots movement of Americans has pushed this issue to the forefront. You have come together across this country. You have called upon our leaders to adhere to the Constitution. You have sent a message to the halls of power that the American people will not permit the abuse of power -- and demanded that we reclaim our core values by restoring the rule of law.

It's time for Washington to hear your voices, and to act. I share your commitment to this cause, and will stand with you in the fights to come.

And obviously, his vow last October to "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies" can't be reconciled with his vow to "support" such a bill now.

The issue is not -- as one extremely confused Obama-cheering blogger put it -- that Obama has done "something contrary to what conventional wisdom as dictated by a small coterie of prominent bloggers agrees with," nor is it -- as an equally confused, Obama-cheering Ed Kilgore put it -- that Obama is "stray[ing] from Democratic Party orthodoxy or from strict down-the-line partisanship" by "expressing heretical thoughts on FISA" (incidentally, it's amazing how the rule of law, the Fourth Amendment and accountability for Bush lawbreaking have now -- in service of defending Obama -- all been instantaneously reduced to nothing more than quirky, self-absorbed, petty blogger "dictates," and Obama's disregarding of those core political values is a bold demonstration that he won't be held hostage to anyone's narrow partisan demands).

The issue is that Obama has repeatedly, over the course of the last year, made emphatic commitments and clear statements about his core political values that are completely irreconcilable with his support for the FISA bill. It's possible to recognize that someone is just a "politician" and still trust that they're telling you essentially the truth about what they think and what they'll do.

GITMO gear for father's day?

You thought the McCain golf pack was enough but why not splurge a little more at the GITMO gift shop? Yes, the Gitmo Naval base actually sells t-shirts, caps and other souvenirs advertising its detainee operations. You may want to buy now since the Supremes may move to close this hallowed institution. Now if I can just locate that Blackwater beer coozy...

via: the Sleuth/WAPO

FISA vote today

- Chris Dodd last Friday

According to the Senate website, the schedule for this afternoon is as follows (Note: all are in ET):

2:00 p.m.: Convene and begin a period of morning business.

3:00 p.m.: Resume consideration of S.2248, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance bill.

8:30 p.m.: Proceed to the House of Representatives for the president's State of the Union address.


First up in terms of voting will be the cloture vote that Sen. McConnell moved on Friday, regarding closing debate on S.2248. If the "no" votes take it, then there is a subsequent cloture vote to allow for a 30-day extension of the PAA, as I understand it, so that both the House and Senate can take time to go through the materials on NSA domestic spying that the Bush Administration finally turned over to the House Intel committee late last week. (Piles and piles of paper, which they have been pouring over all weekend, I hear.)

If that fails, then we are potentially back to debate on S.2248 and all of the proposed amendments that various groups have been trying to put forward to improve the bill -- or change it in some way, depending on the amendment. And we are again facing the potential of a Dodd filibuster, among other efforts to block wholesale passage of telecom immunity and basket warrants, among other constitutional and legal problems with the bill.

Or Sen. Reid could remove the bill from consideration altogether if the 30-day extension is not agreed to, the PAA would expire on Friday, and we would then go back to the FISA bill as it stood before this whole chain of idiocy began -- and we could start fresh with the House RESTORE Act as a base for negotiations potentially. Or any number of other scenarios that can be spun out from there. - FDL

Contact your reps to oppose S. 2248 and support the Feingold-Dodd amendment to strip retroactive amnesty.

this TSA checkpoint sponsored by CIALIS!

Think flying can't get any worse? Well some evil genies have come up wth a pilot program - no pun intended- at LAX (Los Angeles International airport) which will allow companies to advertise to you at airport security checkpoints. That's right, you can't bring shampoo on a plane but you can certainly be targeted for products while you stand beltless and shoeless. As if the security charade isn't aggravating enough!

“TSA plans to launch a one-year pilot program where airport operators may enter into an agreement with vendors, who will provide divestiture bins, divestiture and composure tables, and metal-free bin return carts at no cost to TSA,” said spokeswoman Amy Kudwa. “In return for the equipment, TSA will allow airport operator-approved advertisements to be displayed on the bottom of the inside of the bins.”

“Any airport operator is allowed to submit a proposal by Feb. 16, 2007, to TSA outlining how they will fulfill TSA’s requirements,” said Kudwa. “If the proposal is accepted by TSA, a memorandum of agreement will be executed between TSA and the airport operator.” — Aviation Daily

I mean fuck - ya know?

tip via Homeland Stupidity and Law and Society blog

Hammer time

High Low welcomes the Hammer to the blogosphere!

so what does a big fat swollen tick look like?

So by now I know most people have seen the footage of Rush mocking Parkinson's Disease, but in case you haven't you really should take some time to view this footage at Crooks and Liars.

This folks is the nerve center for GOP smear tactics and the heart and soul of the party. The architect behind O'Reilly, Hannity and the other monsters. This is a man personally responsible for the reality of a GOP Congress - a man who was married by Clarence Thomas and routinely lunches with his good buddy Newt Gingrich. Lee Atwater would be proud.

meet the leader of the 'free' world.....

This made my day - thanks firedoglake!

Mouse Pad Pundit

Get your's today - and feel proud America.

Knife in Back: political payback for NY

I guess fronting the $multi-million tab for the GOP convention just wasn't enough to spare us from future repraisals. Guess I better get that kit together afterall - accepting spare rolls of duct tape....

Look on the bright side New York - the Gulf Coast is doing just fine with Mr. Chertoff and compassionate conservatism.

Mets, Yankees win!

Eye in the Sky: NSA Wiretaps

I promised myself I wasn't going to delve into this but after seeing Kazys post today I got inspired to chime in. You must be aware of the NSA wire tap scandal/program that was revealed in USA Today a week or so ago.

In that article the major telecoms were revealed to be giving data to the NSA on millions of phone calls by Americans, domestic calls, not simply the international calls the administration alleged. Since that time, Verizon and Bell South have denied their role, which leaves the story even more murky. The adminsitration has denied data mining and trolling but has apparently found a loophole around FISA (or click here) by purchasing commercial data - not personal data. Clever as usual when needing to break the law.

Well now Wired magazine has reveled that indeed data has been purchased by the NSA (taxpayer money of course) from AT & T - which has never denied the claim. Check out the pdf here. Seems we're all suspects as the NSA creates the biggest database ever assembled. This is exactly what John Poindexter (Iran Contra) has long envisioned as the developer of the Genoa program.

But wait, it doesn't stop with American citizens, the EU is also a part of this. The U.S. is now able to request foreign data through the EU Data Retention Act. This gives acces to phone calls, emails, sms' of EU citizens. Its access that the U.S. Gov. is getting quite agressive in requesting. We have our Orwellian crossroad at hand.

Read Kazys post about the reality of the dark side of network culture as this is a good contrast to the optimistic Economist survey of new media.. You should also check out this excerpt from "A Brief History of the State of Exception" by Giorgio Agamben as cited by Kazys.

Sovietization is apparently here.