Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Constitutional Issues Big brother is watching

Joe Keegan,
The argument you pose to the Republicans, that they should be concerned about the potential that the abuse of the fascist power they love may one day come back to bite them, is specious.

The plan remains a "permanent Republican majority" and there is no reason to believe that Rove intends to sit idly by over the next year and a quarter.

The "Checks and Balances" problem which Nixon succumbed to has been subdued. Everythin in the Senate takes 60 votes. Everything in the Supreme Court takes 5 Votes.

The majority is intact, and the plans to keep it that way are working quite nicely.

Hillary? Not a problem.

Fermi,

You may be right. The next election will tell- if there's a next election. If there is, Hillary and Obama will win it. That's not political analysis. That's prophesy.

Joe

Schlack,

Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean that they're not out to get you.

Joe

Al Gore was prophesied in 2000 as well. And then there were only four 100% guaranteed Republican votes on the Supreme Court.

I’ve given my Congressman, Jeff Miller (R) the opportunity to serve me. I requested his help obtaining a reply from the Jacksonville FBI office regarding my complaint. I enclosed copies of my FBI complaint and evidence in my EXPRESS MAIL envelope to the Honorable. I also faxed him a signed and dated CASEWORK AUTHORIZATION FORM. In my letter, I wrote that the Special Agent In Charge and Civil Rights Supervisor haven’t replied to my follow up letters inquiring about the status of my complaint. It’s been almost two months and if the FBI intended to reply they would have done so by now. So I’ve requested Rep Miller’s help in securing their reply.

Rep Miller found my VHS tape compelling. He wrote that this illegal surveillance was a federal matter, but suggested that I contact my State Rep Don Brown, who he believed would help. I wanted to resolve this discreetly and locally, too, but the FDLE’s and SAO’s arrogance and unaccountability made that impossible, so as Rep Miller suggested I phoned the Jacksonville FBI office. The FBI screener connected me with a FBI agent, who identified himself as Chris (he said that they don’t give their last names). I identified myself and gave my address. Chris didn’t question my veracity, but only if the devices were located on a public street or on private property. When convinced that they were on private property, Chris instructed me to write a brief letter to the Jacksonville FBI Civil Rights Supervisor.

All attempts to resolve this on-going violation of Constitutionally protected rights with Florida State authorities were met with stonewalling, lies, and cover-up. There’s not only an inherent conflict of interest with the FDLE and SAO investigating my charges, but also there are no effective checks and balances within this system. Both the FDLE and SAO maintain that there is no basis to my charges. I sent the FBI and Rep Miller a copy the West Florida Electric Cooperative Association’s Executive VP and CEO William S. Rimes’ reply to my request for an inspection of his lines for “bugs” in which he wrote:“We take your concerns seriously and have taken the following actions based on your letter and telephone conversation with my Executive Assistant: First, the appropriate employees have been briefed and assured me that WFEC is not involved. Second, we have forwarded this correspondence to the Sheriff of Holmes County for appropriate action. Lastly, this action has been coordinated with our Board president and attorney.” Both Rep Miller and Mr. Rimes’ found my charges credible, yet some FDLE and SAO clowns don’t. Hmmm, I wonder why?

A former FDLE Agent and others asked me: Why is this still going on? Good question. Why is this still going on? I asked Congressman Miller in my letter: Is this an example of the “freedom” that our troops are fighting to protect in Iraq?

As a little side documentation to this week's revelation of the extent of Bush Administration spying on Americans:

Ther was a program, proposed out of the Pentagon in 2002, called Total Information Awareness. It was meant to spy on all activities of all Americans: Phone calls, financial transaction, internet browsing... the works.

The prime backer of the project was Elliot Abrams, of weapons sales to Iran fame.

Even the Republicans balked at the program and deleted funding for it from appropriations and blocking any activity for it.

Once again, Bush considered laws passed by Congress to be just advisory and continued with the program anyway.

What will Republicans do about that now? Why block any action on the part of Democrats that would shed light on the extent of Bush Administration lawbreaking, of course.

And who will the spineless media and bloggers blame for this Republican sheltering of Bush? Why the Democrats, of course.

Philadelphia Steve,

Of course, you're only talking about the BAD Republicans. My Congressman, Jeff Miller (R), is a GOOD Republican. He's also a staunch conservative, champion of the US Constitution, and a great American! When he returns to Pensacola from DC and learns of the continued egregious violation of one of his constituents Constitutional rights, he'll be outraged and demand that the FBI do their job and investigate my charges!

Joe

US satellites have been used by civilian agencies, including law enforcement, to spy on Americans for at least the past two decades. Years ago Ms. McClendon invited me to address one of her evening DC salons regarding government spying. At the time, I distributed to the attending guests a 5-frame photo sequence of a Navy Huey hovering over my residence and speeding off when the pilot saw me photographing him. I later supplied this one particular sequence and my affidavit to a number of others being retaliated against for exposing various scandals. Typically the state was trying to either deny visitation rights or remove their children because these whistle-blowers were claiming “black helicopters” were following them (via satellite tracking) and therefore were nut cases and not fit to visit nevermind have children. My photos and affidavits helped them retain visitation rights or custody. Two US Presidents and one US VP also found this particular sequence that I supplied the whistle-blowers in their legal battles compelling, as technically such spying was a no-no at the time. In Florida former Rep Joe Scarborough and Rep Allan Boyd found other more recent photos of military aircraft (both fixed and fling wing) used to spy on and harass a US citizen compelling.

Does anyone believe that the respective agency IG’s will exercise effective oversight? If you do, then you may want to read my above posts. And realize that I’m dealing with just with local and state law enforcement. Try dealing with federal and military agencies and you'll see just how- to use Gov. Crist's term- "vulnerable" you really are. Incidentally, the “bugs” described in the above posts have a satellite uplink.

Joe

Patriot Act used to search for evidence in cockfighting case. This is one recent example. The government has been using the Patriot Act in regular criminal cases since Congress foolishly passed it. The recent extension of government spying authority is unbelievable, especially giving state and local law enforcement legal access (they've had it for some time) to intelligence and military satellites. Unlike the FBI, many state and local law enforcement agencies don't administer intelligence and psychological tests to their applicants. Congress has opened the door for widespread abuse. What you see the feds abusing today, you'll see local law enforcement abusing tomorrow. And, realize that there are no effective checks and balances.

Joe