Comments on: Well, Knock Me Over With a Feather

By: Love

Love — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 18:17:09 +0000

If the President and members of congress can scream that the New York Times is guilty of treason then how long will it take them to arrest left leaning bloggers for treason?

By: Yadda

Yadda — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:51:26 +0000

I highly doubt this program is targeting foreign or terrorist transactions exclusively. That’s what they say, and that’s what the Patriot Act specifies, but then how do they explain this:
Some couple in Texas decided to pay off their credit debt all at once and sent their credit card company a check for 6,000 bucks. When the husband checked his bank statement he noticed the check had been frozen, so he called up and asked what was going on. It turns out the transaction had been flagged and was under investigation by the Dept. of Homeland Security.
I doubt this is the only story out there where the DHS has snooped into the bank records or credit card transactions of non-teorrorist, law abiding US citizens.

By: kate

kate — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 04:09:20 +0000

I am afraid that many who should be sounding louder alarms, those who have the public ear, are afraid to sound afraid, to sound alarmist, or worse yet, a little loony.

I fear this more than for individual sufferings, even though that is in itself noxious enough.

I see this as a sign of the executive having the ability to monitor the activities of different demographics of the population, to be able to monitor possible objection or dissent and the ability to take action to stop it swifty, quietly and effectively. Also I am sure such copious information about certain demographics will also give great ability to direct various misinformation campaigns or see for exact where ‘the enemy lies’ and take action accordingly.

It does sound loopy, but damn it someone has got to come out and say it. Once the box is open and Pandora is out, there is no possible way of putting her back in. It is obvious that many in congress on both sides of the aisle, if not all, have put up little fuss about these executive over reaches and all I can think is that they all cannot resist the possibility of power it also gives them as long as they keep some positive association with those in the w.h.

For those who don’t have the association priviledge, I simply think they only yearn for their chance to enjoy the imperial court.

I’m afraid the time at which people will suddenly realize that their personal sovereinty and civil liberties have been usurped will be far too late.

The people are misdirected yes, but on the whole I think they know they are being taken down the road. The tragedy is that they can’t see that repubs, like the pedo who lures the neglected child with promises of love, the one who coddles and promises so much is exploiting them the most.

By: mattsmom

mattsmom — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 01:52:33 +0000

I think this particular invasion of privacy will end since I imagine it impacts more readers of the Wall St. Journal than the New York Times. Rich people (read: Republican contributors) don’t like people getting in their financial business. I’d also think that major corporations might not want the government to look too closely at their transactions. I’m a liberal, a Democrat, and I don’t have overseas financial transactions, so what do I have to fear? But I still don’t like this, and I wouldn’t like it (and all of the other invasions of privacy) if it was President Gore who was overstepping his executive power boundaries. And Steve, I think most liberals would agree with you . . . that privacy for all, not just liberals.

By: steve

steve — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 21:56:38 +0000

I wouldn’t mind many protests to this if I didn’t know it was partisan. If you can’t investigate this you cannot investigate ANY group by these means. I am a Libertarian and am very leary when a non libertarian cries privacy. They usually don’t really mean it it is just privacy for them.. I believe in privacy for all, even the gorups that give YOU nightmares.

By: spiiderweb

spiiderweb — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 17:08:32 +0000

Would you, as an attorney, comment about these SCOTUS cases?

By: oudemia

oudemia — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 11:16:49 +0000

D. L. Hughley is never anything but great on that show. They should let him take over.

By: Loosely Twisted

Loosely Twisted — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 09:04:16 +0000

You know when it will stop. Everyone knows when it will stop.

When it starts to come back to bite them on the ass. Those who allowed certain things to go unnoticed, unannounced, and silent. The media. When enough people (you know the repugs) are exposed to the effects of their own pandering, then it will stop.

Then again I could be wishful thinking.

By: Dusty

Dusty — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 05:35:19 +0000

“Polls show that Americans generally accept some erosion of civil liberties if they think it makes them safer from the possibility of terrorist attacks.”

Just one of the many points of Facism.

By: kiki

kiki — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 03:48:00 +0000

Yeah, but how do we stop it ? Unfortunately, I think that we live in a time where people are scared of everything and especially of each other and that it is for that reason that they will accept less privacy if it means getting the “bad people” those who want to get them. I am starting to believe that the only way to stop it is to show that less privacy doesn’t equal more security.