Good morning, Gerbil Nation!
The last week of classes continues!
Over the next two days, my students will be demonstrating their group Diet Coke & Mentos projects. Some will be okay, some will be ‘meh’, and there might be a couple that are actually good!
“He’s a traitor,” the highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives said in an extensive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “The disclosure of this information puts Americans at risk. It shows our adversaries what our capabilities are. And it’s a giant violation of the law.”
traitor = exposer of what seems to be rather serious malfeasance
Americans = government crapweasels
adversaries = private citizens
Boehner endorsed President Obama’s characterization of two programs, which allow the NSA to gather information about phone calls made in the U.S. as well as information on foreign suspects collected from major internet companies, as critical to the government’s ability to fight terrorism. He said that there are “clear safeguards” built into the programs to protect Americans.
“The president outlined last week that these were important national security programs to help keep Americans safe, and give us tools to fight the terrorist threat that we face,” Boehner said. “The president also outlined that there are appropriate safeguards in place to make sure that there’s no snooping, if you will, on Americans here at home.”
terrorist threat = unwashed rabble who object to a security state
if you will = I’m lying my beta carotened ass off
==============
NSA keywords: freedom, Gadsden flag, Thomas Jefferson, echelon
Yeah, I mostly agree, Fatwa. The pundits and politicians are lining up on this one. On the one side, you got those screaming about the ‘rule of law’ and treason. On the other you got the transparency guys and hero labels. I lean more and more towards the transparency side.
We are either a nation of laws or we arent. It seems to me that govt, with its selective prosecution of the law (the Black Panther case, F&F, Spitzer, immigration law, etc), and its habit of over-charging criminal behavior in hopes of a plea deal, has already destroyed the rule of law: they did it, not us. The compact between citizen and govt has been broken and I have no respect for it anymore.
“When NSA Director Alexander failed to clarify previous public statements about domestic surveillance, it was necessary to put the question to the Director of National Intelligence. So that he would be prepared to answer, I sent the question to Director Clapper’s office a day in advance. After the hearing was over my staff and I gave his office a chance to amend his answer.”
Clapper’s response:
“I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful, manner by saying ‘no,’” Clapper told NBC News on Sunday.
I guess we must now put our finest legal minds to work in order to determine what the meaning of the word “no” is.
During one of the many, many times my ex-wife had us in court, she was caught in a flat out lie. When my attorney tried to nail down her witness, a psychiatrist, about her lying, he refused to characterize it as a lie: instead, she, to use his words, “told the truth selectively.”
Been 20 years or so, but I’ve never forgotten that.
Clapper also reminds me of an exchange in HBO’s The Wire when one character has been grossly misrepresented by a reporter: “A lie isn’t a side of a story, it’s just a lie.”
“Much of what that program involves is classified,” Rubio said in an interview Thursday with Florida reporters, referring to the report about NSA phone monitoring. “I’ll tell you that program is part of intense congressional oversight. It’s a program members are aware of and they get to review from time to time and see how it’s being applied.”
Need. Moar. Oversight.
“The threat that we face — largely radical, political Islamists — is probably a threat that is going to exist for the rest of our lifetimes. It’s just the reality. We have to deal with it. The world changed after 9/11, and it changed after Boston. It’s just a struggle to try to balance our deeply held convictions of privacy and freedoms and liberties with our need to provide for national security.”
Y’know, perhaps if the NSA had been doing other than hoovering-up electronic communications, they might have paid more attention to warnings from the Saudis and Russkis in regard to the Boston Marathon perps.
The world didnt change after Boston unless you want to go back to the Revolutionary war. We face more of a threat from the Mexican drug cartels and dangerous illegal aliens than we do from the Islamonutjobs.
These guys in DC have to decide if we are fighting a war or fighting criminals. It’s either a war matter or a criminal matter, but it can’t be both depending on who is talking or what actions they are trying to justify.
Good morning, Gerbil Nation!
The last week of classes continues!
Over the next two days, my students will be demonstrating their group Diet Coke & Mentos projects. Some will be okay, some will be ‘meh’, and there might be a couple that are actually good!
Riffing off of Mac’s thread pic:
Tuesday greetings from Happy Larryville, GN…and get offa my lawn, ya hoodlums!!
From Weepy teh Oompa Loompa re Edward Snowdon:
traitor = exposer of what seems to be rather serious malfeasance
Americans = government crapweasels
adversaries = private citizens
terrorism = insisting on constitutionally-protected liberties
clear safeguards = fishing expedition free-for-all
terrorist threat = unwashed rabble who object to a security state
if you will = I’m lying my beta carotened ass off
NSA keywords: freedom, Gadsden flag, Thomas Jefferson, echelon
Yeah, I mostly agree, Fatwa. The pundits and politicians are lining up on this one. On the one side, you got those screaming about the ‘rule of law’ and treason. On the other you got the transparency guys and hero labels. I lean more and more towards the transparency side.
We are either a nation of laws or we arent. It seems to me that govt, with its selective prosecution of the law (the Black Panther case, F&F, Spitzer, immigration law, etc), and its habit of over-charging criminal behavior in hopes of a plea deal, has already destroyed the rule of law: they did it, not us. The compact between citizen and govt has been broken and I have no respect for it anymore.
Hear, hear!
Ron Wyden is pretty much calling Clapper a liar:
Clapper’s response:
I guess we must now put our finest legal minds to work in order to determine what the meaning of the word “no” is.
Jeebus.
During one of the many, many times my ex-wife had us in court, she was caught in a flat out lie. When my attorney tried to nail down her witness, a psychiatrist, about her lying, he refused to characterize it as a lie: instead, she, to use his words, “told the truth selectively.”
Been 20 years or so, but I’ve never forgotten that.
Clapper also reminds me of an exchange in HBO’s The Wire when one character has been grossly misrepresented by a reporter: “A lie isn’t a side of a story, it’s just a lie.”
Turkey is burning. Do I care? No. Should America care? No.
Dang…that means teh gravy’s probably ruined, too.
(My opinion of Turkey is probably colored by Dad’s experiences there in the ’40s. Unfair? Possibly…but there you have it.)
I wonder what would happen if I reported my income selectively to the IRS? 😉
Up yours, Marco Rubio.
Need. Moar. Oversight.
Y’know, perhaps if the NSA had been doing other than hoovering-up electronic communications, they might have paid more attention to warnings from the Saudis and Russkis in regard to the Boston Marathon perps.
Rubio, why not just move back to Cuba?
The world didnt change after Boston unless you want to go back to the Revolutionary war. We face more of a threat from the Mexican drug cartels and dangerous illegal aliens than we do from the Islamonutjobs.
These guys in DC have to decide if we are fighting a war or fighting criminals. It’s either a war matter or a criminal matter, but it can’t be both depending on who is talking or what actions they are trying to justify.
Droll…very droll.
And sad…very sad.