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talkpoliticshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/20/russ-tice-nsa-obama_n_3473538.html?view=print&comm_ref=false
So not only has a man who was a source in the story that broke this program eight years ago come forward, he's noted that the Government was spying on a then-state Senator who now has his residential address at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I do wonder if Obama was the only Democratic state senator the Government was spying on at the time. I also wonder whether or not the people who consider it a good thing to have the government illegally snooping would excuse it in this case, and how many people who approve of it in the name of security will consider the Feds spying on state senators to be justifiable in the name of security.
Personally, this kind of thing is why I think that the real issue all along was illegal spying on people. Nothing says that the government ever spies only on who it admits to spying on. Spies lie all the time. It's part of the business. There's sensible paranoia, and there's the 'Lizardmen are sending radio waves into my brain' variety. Sensible paranoia is to assume that people who snoop for a living never tell you the truth when they admit to who they're spying on. After all, you can bet their fellow intelligence agencies don't believe a word of it. I also think that this is just a sign of business as usual. The government has tended to spy on black people more continuously than it does on white people.
So not only has a man who was a source in the story that broke this program eight years ago come forward, he's noted that the Government was spying on a then-state Senator who now has his residential address at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I do wonder if Obama was the only Democratic state senator the Government was spying on at the time. I also wonder whether or not the people who consider it a good thing to have the government illegally snooping would excuse it in this case, and how many people who approve of it in the name of security will consider the Feds spying on state senators to be justifiable in the name of security.
Personally, this kind of thing is why I think that the real issue all along was illegal spying on people. Nothing says that the government ever spies only on who it admits to spying on. Spies lie all the time. It's part of the business. There's sensible paranoia, and there's the 'Lizardmen are sending radio waves into my brain' variety. Sensible paranoia is to assume that people who snoop for a living never tell you the truth when they admit to who they're spying on. After all, you can bet their fellow intelligence agencies don't believe a word of it. I also think that this is just a sign of business as usual. The government has tended to spy on black people more continuously than it does on white people.
(no subject)
Date: 24/6/13 17:57 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 24/6/13 18:37 (UTC)Everyone is spinning madly, wildly, but to what effect? On one hand you have civil libertarians shocked, shocked to find that a multi-billion dollar agency dedicated to intercepting and analyzing telegraphy is actually intercepting and analyzing telegraphy. Then you have hawks who are just shocked, shocked to find that things already widely held to be true now have marginally more grounds for being believed. Of all the second term Obama Administration pratfalls, this seems the least consequential to me. Hey, the White House was using the FBI to strong arm a journalist in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Khan and people hardly turn a hair. Somehow the fact that included in the "public" in "public knowledge" is also the NSA turns out to be a danger to the Republic? Feh. The only reason Snowden's revelations are titillating is that he divulged them in Hong Kong and is now going all Julian Assange deep cover "the ricin tipped umbrella is aimed at my leg, get me to Cuba, Uncle Vladimir!" routine.
(no subject)
Date: 25/6/13 09:55 (UTC)[Tips hat.]