« A Lie Often Repeated... Is Still A Lie | Main | The New Patriots »
How I Knew About William Proxmire
Former United States Senator William Proxmire died on Thursday, December 15, 2005, at a care facility in Maryland. He had Alzheimer's disease. He served in the United States Senate from 1957-1989. He was 90 years old.
How I Knew About William Proxmire
Growing up in a family where "spending money" was something other families had, I knew of Senator William Proxmire from the time I was a little girl.
While other people would joke that my Dad had eight children so he could have his own baseball team, and my sister swore it was so he could control a block of votes, I think we all really knew that it was so he could have an audience. Just about every night my father would use that audience, reading to us from the newspaper at the dinner table.
Each night, armed with knives and forks, all the kids would engage in the Darwinian-ritual of getting to the bowls of food for our rightful share before the contents disappeared. My father was stern and clear on the morality of each child's serving size- you were only entitled one-eighth of whatever was being served. But some people weren't very good at math, and it generally turned into something of a free-for-all. My mother would despair of the civility of her household, sigh and look to the heavens in an unspoken, and largely ungranted, appeal for help.
Once the food had been disbursed, my father would clear his throat loudly and announce in faux stentorian tones, "A Reading From The Newspaper." This was our cue to sit up a little straighter and fein rapt interest in whatever had interested my father that night. Except on the nights when he would read, "The Golden Fleece Award." On those nights, we were always quiet and paid attention, waiting for the punchline.
"The Golden Fleece Award" was started by Senator William Proxmire in 1975, to highlight "the biggest or most ridiculous or most ironic example of government waste." It came in the form of a speech on the Senate floor that was reprinted in newspapers across America.
I remember being amazed at ways that money could be so wasted by our government. I knew that we weren't the only family struggling. Everyone's Dad worked hard for thier families. Why was the government wasting money?
It's interesting to notice all of the little things that contribute to the adult you become. William Proxmire's consciousness-raising Golden Fleece Awards was one of the things that contributed to my lifelong fascination with how government spends the money we send it. I imagine it helped along my adult view that how our government chooses to spend our money, is actually a manifestation of the moral choices we make as a country.
William Proxmire did many things that helped shape the lives of both individuals and families in America.
He was a Democratic fiscal hawk who thought that credit card companies should behave differently than loan sharks.
He stood in the well of the United States Senate over the course of his near 32-year career there and gave over three thousand speeches to support the ratification of an international treaty outlawing genocide before the US passed a bill in 1986.
He had run for office many times before he was elected in 1957.
He never forgot what it was like to lose and even ran on that as a platform, saying in one of his stump speeches, "My opponent doesn't know what it is to lose. I do. And I'll welcome the support of voters who do, too. I'll take the losers. I'll take the debtors. I'll take those who've lost in love, or baseball, or in business. I'll take the Milwaukee Braves."
He finally won in 1957 in a special election, held to fill the seat vacated by the death of a Wisconsin senator. The seat he took over when he was elected to the Senate, was Joe McCarthy's seat.
He thought government had a duty to equality, however that concept manifested itself. Moreover, he thought government had a duty to make sure everyone had an equal shot at the American dream.
William Proxmire, R.I.P. America sure misses you.
----------
And here is where I, Karen, take over the story. Casey is ill this weekend (feel better!) and she asked me to run the blog. I found this little gem she had written and it jibes neatly with what I wanted to write about this morning, so here we are, tag teaming.
I, too, grew up in a household in which politics was discussed at the dinner table, at least by the women in the household who, it must be admitted, did MOST of the talking anyway. Dad was much better in the one-on-one conversation. He is slower than Mom anyway and he needed the time to gather his thoughts.
I was recalling some of the conversations I had with Dad, who is about to turn 84, when I came across NonnyO's link to Bill Moyers' speech delivered on December 9, 2005 for the 20th anniversary of the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research institute and library at The George Washington University, in Washington D.C. The full text of it is here.
It is called In The Kingdom Of The Half-Blind.
In the early part of the speech, Moyers recounts the battle for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which was truly a struggle for FREEDOM of information and the right of the public to know what the government is doing with our money and our other resources. I remember conversations with Dad about whether or not our government was telling us the truth about VietNam, or the Civil Rights movement. Dad thought it was unlikely.
The speech is a critical read because, of course, Moyers segues into current concerns, including the censorship of his hard-hitting but balanced program, NOW, late of PBS.
After the litany of abuses and underminings of the FOIA from the past 20 years, Moyers states:
They couldn't get away with all of this if the press was at the top of their game. Never has the need for an independent media been greater. People are frightened, their skepticism of power, their respect for checks and balances—eclipsed by their desire for security. Writing in The New York Times, Michael Ignatieff has reminded us that democracy's dark secret is that the fight against terror has to be waged in secret, by men and women who defend us with a bodyguard of lies and armory of deadly weapons. Because this is democracy's dark secret, Ignatieff continues, it can also be democracy's dark nemesis. We need to know more about what's being done in our name; even if what we learn is hard, the painful truth is better than lies and illusions. The news photographer in Tom Stoppard's play Night and Day, sums its up: "People do terrible things to each other, but it's worse in the places where everybody is kept in the dark."
and in summary:
In his recent book, The Gospel According to America, David Dark reminds us again of a lesson we seem always to be forgetting, that "as learners of freedom, we might come to understand that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance." He might well have been directly addressing the press when he wrote, "Keeping one's head safe for democracy (or avoiding the worship of false gods) will require a diligent questioning of any and all tribal storytellers. In an age of information technology, we will have to look especially hard at the forces that shape discourse and the various high-powered attempts, new every morning, to invent public reality."
So be it.
Both Casey's Dad and my Dad provided the seeds of the Democracy Cell Project. It is our purpose to seek truth, to uncover it, to provide context and perspective, and to support each of us on the quest for efficacy and effective actions.
The front page of this site is the daily call to action. The forum is the incubator for message development and the library of resources. The blog is the thread of currency and the irc chat room is the space for getting to know others in a more intimate and personal setting.
As we head into the holiday season, we plan to be here to encourage, empower, educate, and inform each other. Every day brings good news and terrible news, and we are here to sort through it all, and to act singly, locally, nationally, and internationally, to restore, refresh, remember, and reunite.
And it is our job to share the truth, often, and, as Wild Salmon reminds us: BE THE MEDIA.
Bill Proxmire has gone off to find the land where the people aren't sheeple and the fleece really is golden after all.
Good journey and safe harbor to you, sir.
And thanks, too. From all of us.
chimpeach,
Otter
Nice thread leader Casey and Karen!
Ok...so I just heard GWB's Saturday chat--amazingly done live. He admitted he broke the 4th ammendment of our Constitution. So, when can we expect Congress to take action and impeach. (Though do we really want Darth for Pres?)
Then I heard the Democratic side and they discussed setting an agenda for raising ethics standards in Washington.
That definitely sounded like a great plan to me!
Oh yes - I remember the Golden Fleece awards!!
Other:
Check out this nice quote!
Bush Vows to Continue Spying on Americans
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121705Y.shtml
Reacting to Bush's vow to continue spying on Americans, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., said the president's remarks were "breathtaking in how extreme they were." Feingold said it was "absurd" that Bush said he relied on his inherent power as president to authorize the wiretaps. "If that's true, he doesn't need the Patriot Act because he can just make it up as he goes along. I tell you, he's President George Bush, not King George Bush."
Also: Bush Refuses to Discuss NSA-Spying
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121705Z.shtml
President Bush said yesterday that he would not discuss ongoing intelligence operations in the United States, after a report in The New York Times said he secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States. Several Republicans and Democrats have criticized Bush's action.
Nice link just received from Andree in France:
Le Sénat américain se rebelle contre les excès de la lutte antiterroriste
= The American Senate Rebels Against the Excess of the Anterrorism Law. Good article too.
Also she says that I sent her some photos from when Bert from Minneapolis protested at Mall of America with Reverend Billy (gave a sermon in Abercrombie & Fitch about consumerism etc, & got kicked out) - they had a choir too. French tv just had a long piece about the group.
Seattle PI has headlines about Bush Authorizing Spying on American for yesterday's issue & I saw 2 guys with cowboy hats pictured next to the headline. I didn't have my glasses on & thought it was Bush & Cheney but it was those 2 guys from the movie about the gay cowboys in Montana. (plug: http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1669252,00.html)
Here is something from a democracycell here:
I just read this article today and do not remembering about this in the New York Times. Still the issues it brings up is more important than the revelation itself. Media will often get requests to withhold information for various reasons. It is part of the understanding. But to find out a year later that nothing has changed and that the article can be published now, then it's all about timing.
Bush, not surprisingly, defends this secret wiretapping and fulfilling his promise to defend the nation. But what has really happened in this last year? Are we really safe?
At the Times, a Scoop Deferred
The New York Times' revelation yesterday that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to conduct domestic eavesdropping raised eyebrows in political and media circles, for both its stunning disclosures and the circumstances of its publication.
In an unusual note, the Times said in its story that it held off publishing the 3,600-word article for a year after the newspaper's representatives met with White House officials. It said the White House had asked the paper not to publish the story at all, "arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny."
The Times said it agreed to remove information that administration officials said could be "useful" to terrorists and delayed publication for a year "to conduct additional reporting."
The paper offered no explanation to its readers about what had changed in the past year to warrant publication. It also did not disclose that the information is included in a forthcoming book, "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration," written by James Risen, the lead reporter on yesterday's story. The book will be published in mid-January, according to its publisher, Simon & Schuster.
The decision to withhold the article caused some friction within the Times' Washington bureau, according to people close to the paper. Some reporters and editors in New York and in the bureau, including Risen and co-writer Eric Lichtblau, had pushed for earlier publication, according to these people. One described the story's path to publication as difficult, with much discussion about whether it could have been published earlier.
In a statement yesterday, Times Executive Editor Bill Keller did not mention the book. He wrote that when the Times became aware that the NSA was conducting domestic wiretaps without warrants, "the Administration argued strongly that writing about this eavesdropping program would give terrorists clues about the vulnerability of their communications and would deprive the government of an effective tool for the protection of the country's security."
"Officials also assured senior editors of the Times that a variety of legal checks had been imposed that satisfied everyone involved that the program raised no legal questions," Keller continued. "As we have done before in rare instances when faced with a convincing national security argument, we agreed not to publish at that time."
In the ensuing months, Keller wrote, two things changed the paper's thinking. The paper developed a fuller picture of misgivings about the program by some in the government. And the paper satisfied itself through more reporting that it could write the story without exposing "any intelligence-gathering methods or capabilities that are not already on the public record."
Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said it was conceivable the Times waited to publish its NSA story as the Senate took up renewal of the Patriot Act. "It's not unheard of to wait for a news peg," he said. "It's not unusual to discover the existence of something and not know the context of it until later."
Yesterday's article was a dramatic scoop for a newspaper whose national security coverage has been marked by some turmoil in recent years. The Times admitted last year that much of its reporting on Iraq's weapons programs before the war was flawed. The principal author of those stories, Judith Miller, later spent 85 days in jail to protect the identity of an administration source in the CIA leak case.
More recently, the Times has been scooped by the Los Angeles Times on a story that the U.S. military has been secretly paying to run favorable stories in the Iraqi media, and by The Washington Post on the revelation last month of a secret network of CIA prisons for terrorism suspects in foreign countries. The Times announced last week that it was replacing its deputy bureau chief in Washington, which outsiders read as a sign of the paper's dissatisfaction with its Washington coverage.
The Post was in contact with senior administration officials before publication last month of its story on the CIA prisons. But officials did not seek to stop publication of the article, only to remove information that could jeopardize national security, said Leonard Downie Jr., The Post's executive editor.
The story said the officials argued that the disclosure might disrupt counterterrorism efforts in those countries and could make them targets of terrorist retaliation. The Post honored one request by not publishing the Eastern European countries that permitted the prisons.
Making it up as they go along--well, that pretty much sums it all up, doesn't it?
We are working this weekend to plan an event here in DC for January 6th--a prelude to the January 7th Out of Iraq Town Hall Meetings we hope you are ALL going to be part of in some capacity, for the State of the Union actions (looks like we might actually be able to have a protest in front of the Capitol, with speeches and music and my beloved tap dancers!), and for the Saturday event following the State of the Union, where we invite hundreds of thousands of you to Washington DC to stand outside the White House and DEMAND that George Bush STEP DOWN and TAKE HIS AGENDA WITH HIM.
Bring goosedown jackets--we will provide the heat!
Posted on the wrong thread.
Should the government have been given the authority to spy on Americans without warrants after the 9/11attacks?
Yes 30% 54684 votes
No 70% 127688 votes
http://edition.cnn.com/
Jean Schmidt's first 100 days
Freshman lawmaker fails to shake image of insult to decorated colleague
By Malia Rulon, Enquirer Washington Bureau
and Howard Wilkinson, Enquirer staff writer
WASHINGTON - In her first 100 days, Rep. Jean Schmidt argued the need for spending restraint, fought for private property rights and voted to continue President Bush's tax cuts.
But that's not what she's best known for.
When her name comes up, it's her 16th speech on the House floor, made on her 74th day in office, that most people talk about.
During that speech, the freshman Republican lawmaker from Clermont County urged Congress not to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. And she told 17-term Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a decorated Marine veteran of Vietnam who had called on Bush to start pulling out troops, that "cowards cut and run. Marines never do."
Schmidt, R-Miami Township, was booed and shouted at, and forced to apologize. But her words - and the bright red, white and blue dress she wore that night - instantly propelled her into the national spotlight.
She was profiled as "Mean Jean" in the New York Times and lampooned on "Saturday Night Live."
Suddenly, people across the globe were talking about her.
And they weren't talking about the two bills she had proposed or more than a dozen bills she co-sponsored.
"Jean learned that she's in the big time now, and she's not ready for that kind of scrutiny," said Herb Asher, an Ohio State University political science professor who has studied state politics for 30 years.
"The Speech" not only defined Schmidt for the national news media and the satirists; it also became the one thing that many of her constituents can point to when asked what they know about her first 100 days in office.
"That's the obvious thing that made an impression on me,'' said Jackie McCollum of Anderson Township, as she repaired an ornate wall clock at a work bench in the Ken-Hav clock repair shop on Newtown's Main Street.
"She obviously jumped up and said something without thinking it through," said McCollum, who said she voted for Schmidt in the Aug. 2 election. "It was the kind of exuberant mistake a new person makes. Hopefully, she learns from her mistakes."
Another of Schmidt's constituents, 69-year-old Earl Carter of Batavia, was far less forgiving.
"Inexcusable," Carter said, as he dropped some letters in a mailbox in front of the Clermont County Courthouse on Batavia's Main Street. "She stood up in Congress and insulted a man who is a hero. She should resign; or be voted out next time. I voted for her once, but never again."
Gives herself an "A-minus"
Despite the criticism, Schmidt has taken on her new position with gusto.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051214/NEWS01/512140408/-1/all
Bush Vows to Continue Spying on Americans
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121705Y.shtml
Reacting to Bush's vow to continue spying on Americans, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., said the president's remarks were "breathtaking in how extreme they were." Feingold said it was "absurd" that Bush said he relied on his inherent power as president to authorize the wiretaps. "If that's true, he doesn't need the Patriot Act because he can just make it up as he goes along. I tell you, he's President George Bush, not King George Bush."
[Well, gee... I feel so much "safer" with the Chimperor-in-Chief protecting our civil liberties as he seeks to take away our Constitutional rights and privileges to keep us all safe... NOT! Hey, Georgie! Remember Osama Been Forgotten? When are you going to bring him to justice, since you once again mention 9/11 and Al Qaida?!? If you capture Osama Been Forgotten you can authorize American troops to leave Afghanistan AND Iraq.... If spy satellites can identify a dime from outer space, why can't you find Osama Been Forgotten with those spy satellites?!? And... Go Russ Feingold! :-) Caveat: Reading this article may cause you to shake the marbles around in your head, but you will find that they are all too big to fit where they're supposed to go. The illogicality of things the Chimperor says defies explanation.]
There are a couple from the alternative press investigative reporters following a potential link the mainstream media won't touch with a thousand foot pole. They are from Raw Story and from Antiwar.com.
Was there a connection between Sybel Edmunds and Valerie Plame?
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_340.shtml
Interesting Scooter Libby & the neocons angle.
NonnyO
Did you read where Al-Zaquari has been caught but released? I keep saying that we capture & interrogate suspected terrorists. The Europeans actually stalk them, get evidence & arrest them.
Yet Bush says we are safer (thanks to him) and Condi even told Europeans they were. Ludicrous.
France:
Now it’s (domestic spying)
making the headlines at the 8 p.m news on TV, watched by millions of people + the Mac Cain amendment.
End of the report”...but the American President is a stubborn guy, not willing to change his mind”
BY THE WAY:
Here you can read the law Bush is breaking:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50/usc_sup_01_50_10_36.html
I heard a guy on NPR last night who wrote a book on the National Security (Understanding the NSA: James Bamford http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5058734) (see Bush talking to Hadley: http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/) and he said people he knows there are outraged - didn't know all this was going on.
Domestic Spying:
What's Legal
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5058707
Bush Signed Order:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5058704
Determining What's Legal:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5058707
Radio Address by the President to the Nation
The Roosevelt Room
10:06 A.M. EST
LINK TO VIDEO CLIP
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.
As President, I took an oath to defend the Constitution, and I have no greater responsibility than to protect our people, our freedom, and our way of life. On September the 11th, 2001, our freedom and way of life came under attack by brutal enemies who killed nearly 3,000 innocent Americans. We're fighting these enemies across the world. Yet in this first war of the 21st century, one of the most critical battlefronts is the home front. And since September the 11th, we've been on the offensive against the terrorists plotting within our borders.
One of the first actions we took to protect America after our nation was attacked was to ask Congress to pass the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act tore down the legal and bureaucratic wall that kept law enforcement and intelligence authorities from sharing vital information about terrorist threats. And the Patriot Act allowed federal investigators to pursue terrorists with tools they already used against other criminals. Congress passed this law with a large, bipartisan majority, including a vote of 98-1 in the United States Senate.
Since then, America's law enforcement personnel have used this critical law to prosecute terrorist operatives and supporters, and to break up terrorist cells in New York, Oregon, Virginia, California, Texas and Ohio. The Patriot Act has accomplished exactly what it was designed to do: it has protected American liberty and saved American lives.
Yet key provisions of this law are set to expire in two weeks. The terrorist threat to our country will not expire in two weeks. The terrorists want to attack America again, and inflict even greater damage than they did on September the 11th. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that law enforcement and intelligence officials have the tools they need to protect the American people.
The House of Representatives passed reauthorization of the Patriot Act. Yet a minority of senators filibustered to block the renewal of the Patriot Act when it came up for a vote yesterday. That decision is irresponsible, and it endangers the lives of our citizens. The senators who are filibustering must stop their delaying tactics, and the Senate must vote to reauthorize the Patriot Act. In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment.
To fight the war on terror, I am using authority vested in me by Congress, including the Joint Authorization for Use of Military Force, which passed overwhelmingly in the first week after September the 11th. I'm also using constitutional authority vested in me as Commander-in-Chief.
In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on our nation, I authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. Before we intercept these communications, the government must have information that establishes a clear link to these terrorist networks.
This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security. Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends and allies. Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country.
As the 9/11 Commission pointed out, it was clear that terrorists inside the United States were communicating with terrorists abroad before the September the 11th attacks, and the commission criticized our nation's inability to uncover links between terrorists here at home and terrorists abroad. Two of the terrorist hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon, Nawaf al Hamzi and Khalid al Mihdhar, communicated while they were in the United States to other members of al Qaeda who were overseas. But we didn't know they were here, until it was too late.
The authorization I gave the National Security Agency after September the 11th helped address that problem in a way that is fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities. The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time. And the activities conducted under this authorization have helped detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad.
The activities I authorized are reviewed approximately every 45 days. Each review is based on a fresh intelligence assessment of terrorist threats to the continuity of our government and the threat of catastrophic damage to our homeland. During each assessment, previous activities under the authorization are reviewed. The review includes approval by our nation's top legal officials, including the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al Qaeda and related groups.
The NSA's activities under this authorization are thoroughly reviewed by the Justice Department and NSA's top legal officials, including NSA's general counsel and inspector general. Leaders in Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this authorization and the activities conducted under it. Intelligence officials involved in this activity also receive extensive training to ensure they perform their duties consistent with the letter and intent of the authorization.
This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power under our laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil liberties. And that is exactly what I will continue to do, so long as I'm the President of the United States.
Thank you.
END 10:13 A.M. EST
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051217.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2318523
MSM told to carry Bush speech live tomorrow.
Oops here's the video link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051217.v.html
Posted by: DiAnne at December 17, 2005 02:11 PM
I did read that.... Makes about as much sense as not catching Osama Been Forgotten.
I sense a conspiracy to let legitimate terrorists go which then gives Georgie a "legitimate" reason to continue talking about his fake 'war on terra' as long as the criminals go uncaught and unpunished... which keeps the sheeples as paranoid as he is, but they somehow feel "safer" as long as their messiah keeps talking about how safe he's keeping them with the 'terraists' on the loose....
Besides which, he's the chimperor and he can order anyone to do anything he wants, whether it's torturing innocents or leaving the guilty go free - and, hey... he doesn't need an excuse to detain anyone without due process - he fancies himself as the all-powerful "leader of the free world...." Oh... wait a minute... The Cretin said we don't do torture, didn't he?!?
Now, where's my tin foil hat?!?
The FBI is supposed to do domestic surveillance, not the NSC.
Bush says:
In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on our nation, I authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. Before we intercept these communications, the government must have information that establishes a clear link to these terrorist networks.
---------------
Can an Executive Order go around the Surveillance Law of 1978?
This piece from 2002 looks like they were still following the law, which specifies involvement of the Attorney General and a secret court, essentially warrants.
That procedure was used approx. 1500x last year, acc/NPR. & it looks like it was being used in 2002. So what is Bush talking about, & what about the reports of grouple like Quakers being "watched" - who is having their communications and activities intercepted without warrant and in what way is this legal (as Bush says it is)?
-------------------------------------------------
April 30, 2002 Associated Press
Secret U.S. court approved 934 wiretaps, searches last year (meaning 2002)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government requested and won approval of fewer WARRANTS last year for secret wiretaps and searches of suspected terrorists and spies, attributing a slight decline to streamlined procedures that became law after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The government received court approval for 934 of the secret warrants, down from 1,003 in 2000.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday the new Patriot Act, which amended the 1978 surveillance statute, made it easier for authorities to request fewer warrants since they don't expire as quickly and can be used in some cases across jurisdictions.
"The Patriot Act provides some measures of efficiency that can be of assistance to us, and I think it would be fair to interpret the data in light of that," Ashcroft said.
Experts puzzled over the slight decline in a measure of the war on terrorism inside the United States. They said it probably reflected warrants that covered many surveillance requests under a single investigation -- plus increased use by the FBI of tools other than these warrants, such as subpoenas for a suspect's financial records.
"There's no question the number of investigations went up in 2001 -- it's unthinkable it would be otherwise," said Steven Aftergood of the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists.
Experts believe many of the warrants approved last year under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were driven by the Sept. 11 attacks and by the changes to the law by Congress in the aftermath.
The FBI often uses these specialized warrants to record the telephone calls and e-mails of citizens and immigrants believed to be agents of a foreign power. Authorities also can plant eavesdropping devices in a suspect's home or office or secretly search a suspect's property.
In one rare case where details have emerged of FBI surveillance under the 1978 law, authorities for more than 18 months secretly tapped the telephones -- and planted bugs in the bedroom -- of a husband and wife who were convicted in 1998 on espionage charges. An appeals court upheld the FBI's actions.
The government said it asked for 932 warrants for electronic surveillance and physical searches that the court approved in 2001 along with two requests made in December 2000. It said judges modified two warrants and two orders.
The judges have never denied a request outright. But in an unusual flap that became public after Sept. 11, the FBI was unable to gain approval in the weeks before the terror attacks for a surveillance warrant against Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person so far to be indicted as a conspirator in attacks.
FBI Director Robert Mueller has expressed frustration at how well the hijackers managed to evade authorities.
"The hijackers had no computers, no laptops, no storage media of any kind," Mueller said in a speech this month. "They used hundreds of different pay phones and cell phones, often with prepaid calling cards that are extremely difficult to trace. And they made sure that all the money sent to them to fund their attacks was wired in small amounts to avoid detection."
While some experts said the figures offered an unusual glimpse of the scope of the war on terrorism, others said the numbers were too vague to be meaningful.
"It's really difficult to read too much into these figures," said David Sobel of the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, urging more detailed disclosure about how the warrants were sought and used.
The government disclosed Tuesday that it used such a surveillance warrant in December to search the offices and director's home of a charity with ties to Osama bin Laden, the Benevolence International Foundation in suburban Chicago.
Court records suggest the FBI also used the special warrants last year in its espionage investigation of a retired Air Force master sergeant accused of offering to spy for Iraq, China and Libya. U.S. spy-catchers, for example, quietly searched the luggage of Brian Patrick Regan when he flew to Germany from Dulles International Airport last June and said they found glue and packing tape inside.
The Patriot Act, which became law on Oct. 26, broadened the 1978 surveillance law by allowing the FBI to request warrants in investigations that aren't mostly focused on foreign intelligence.
The law also expanded the number of judges who may approve the warrants from seven to 11, though the additional four have not yet been appointed by the chief justice.
The seven U.S. district judges on the court are: Presiding Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Washington; William H. Stafford Jr. of northern Florida; Stanley S. Brotman of New Jersey; Harold A. Baker of central Illinois; Michael J. Davis of Minnesota; Claude M. Hilton of eastern Virginia and Nathaniel M. Gorton of Massachusetts. Lamberth's term expires May 18.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press
--OK NOW -- to my understanding, what Bush is justifying now goes ABOVE AND BEYOND this.
April 6 2005, Representative Otter introduced H R 1526, to amend the Surveillance Bill of 1978, but that was to STRENGTHEN protection of civil liberties.
I want to know whether suspected terrorists were monitored illegally or regular citizens who are dissenting. In either case, it's a lie to say it's legal and Constitutional if judges and experts say it's not.
Here is a summary paper on surveillance law of 1978, efforts to amend it, what it has done & why. It's Post-Watergate & they tried did what they're doing now back in Nixon's day & there was a public outcry. But in those days we still had more balance of the 3 powers of government (which according to a recent survey, over 80% of Americans can't name). http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=586616
This summarizes wiretaps for the post 9/11 years and these are legal according to FISA, the secret court. Anything other than these, on anyone else, was unknown to the public and I for one am not convinced they are legal.
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/fisa/
And that is exactly what I will continue to do, so long as I'm the President of the United States.
Posted by: sparrow at December 17, 2005 02:31 PM
The first few days after 9/11 The Cretin told us to all go shopping and continue on with our lives....
Yet for the last couple of years he and the Dickster and Rummy have been beating us over the head with repeated talk of 9/11 and terrorism dang near daily, weekly for sure.
"As long as he's president"?!? What?!? Is he making long-range plans to declare martial law, suspend elections, and stay in office after Jan. '09? Or what?!?
OK - the Patriot Act allowed some spying by the NSC rather than the FBI in America, but this was supposed to always go through FISA so does that mean Bush's Executive Order created a way to go around the Patriot Act to spy on additional people? That is what I want to know.
If so, get rid of the Patriot Act, get ride of the Executive order & Impeach him!
FAQs for FISA (Foreign Intelligence Security Act)
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Terrorism_militias/fisa_faq.html
Jason Leopold: The Case against Karl Rove
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121705X.shtml
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the second grand jury investigating the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson for several hours Friday. Unless Rove's attorney intervenes at the 11th hour yet again, Fitzgerald is expected to ask the grand jury to indict Rove-at the very least-for making false statements to the FBI and Justice Department investigators in October 2003, lawyers close to the case say.
A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."
Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.
The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.
The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.
--more at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/17/141334/67
Join the ACLU, if you haven't.
excerpted from AP:
Before the program began, the NSA typically limited its domestic surveillance to foreign embassies and missions and obtained court orders for such investigations. Overseas, 5,000 to 7,000 people suspected of terrorist ties are monitored at one time.
"This is Big Brother run amok," declared Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., called it a "shocking revelation" that "ought to send a chill down the spine of every senator and every American."
ACLU Says Bush Spying is Unconstitutional - he says it isn't
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/23078prs20051215.html
Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:
"Eavesdropping on conversations of U.S citizens and others in the United States without a court order and without complying with the procedures of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is both illegal and unconstitutional. The administration is claiming extraordinary presidential powers at the expense of civil liberties and is putting the president above the law. Congress must investigate this report thoroughly. We also call upon Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to appoint a special prosecutor to independently investigate whether crimes have been committed.
"The Patriot Act already provides law enforcement a wide array of surveillance powers and it vastly expands the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. These disclosures show that the kinds of safeguards many members of Congress are trying to build into the Patriot Act are urgently needed."
--OK I understand -- this is ABOVE AND BEYOND the Patriot Act, which is already controversial re impinging on civil liberties but at least requires a warrant and probably cause for domestic spying (which still is increased under its provisions)
Here, as of Dec. 2, the ACLU is investigating who the FBI is spying on domestically, but the FBI is who we would THINK would spy on citizens, not a completely different agency who normally has outside the US as its jurisdiction
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/18713prs20041202.html
WASHINGTON - Citing evidence that the FBI and local police are illegally spying on political, environmental and faith-based groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and its affiliates today filed multiple Freedom of Information Act requests around the country to uncover who is being investigated and why.
"The FBI is wasting its time and our tax dollars spying on groups that criticize the government, like the Quakers in Colorado or Catholic Peace Ministries in Iowa," said ACLU Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson. "Do Americans really want to return to the days when peaceful critics become the subject of government investigations?"
As a first step, the groups today filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in 10 states and the District of Columbia seeking information about the FBI's use of Joint Terrorism Task Forces and local police to engage in political surveillance. The FOIAs seek two kinds of information: 1) the actual FBI files of groups and individuals targeted for speaking out or practicing their faith; 2) information about how the practices and funding structure of the task forces, known as JTTFs, are encouraging rampant and unwarranted spying.
It's gone too far...
DHS agents show up at the house of a UMass senior because of a book he ordered through the university's interlibrary loan system to complete a research paper for class. The book -- an unabridged translation of Chairman Mao's Little Red Book.
Un-effing-believable. What a completely unwarranted waste of my taxpayer money, not to mention completely hairbrained management of resources in monitoring our own citizens for dangerous activities.
And if this site is being monitored, please be sure to report to your superiors that we think it's a complete waste of our money and your time. One might even say it's worthy of a Golden Fleece award. (Thank you Senator Proxmire!)
Here's the story about the UMass senior...
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-17-05/a09lo650.htm
The administration is claiming extraordinary presidential powers at the expense of civil liberties and is putting the president above the law.
Posted by: DiAnne at December 17, 2005 03:35 PM
Yes... that's the part that bothers me, and it does NOT make me feel any better to realize I knew the potential for extravagant abuses of power were apparent in the pres. debates of 2000... only to be horrified when Congress actually did give him extra power after 9/11 - power not given presidents by the Founding Fathers.
The Cretin needs to be put on a short leash until we get a new president in Jan. 09, and Congress needs to restore the balance of power. I'd even be in favor of having Congress enact legislation to keep The Cretin and his motley crew of criminals in his administration boxed in without any power. After we have a new president in Jan. 09, we MUST have the balance of power restored or we all lose.... Impeachment seems impossible at this point, and how does one choose between one criminal and the other criminal to be president until inauguration day 2009???
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051217/ap_on_re_us/obit_jack_anderson
Pulitzer-Winning Columnist Anderson Dies
WASHINGTON - Jack Anderson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning muckraking columnist who struck fear into the hearts of corrupt or secretive politicians, inspiring Nixon operatives to plot his murder, died Saturday. He was 83.
NonnyO
The Cretin just is a yes-man for the multinational corporations. They continue to profit under this system. The religious right probably doesn't realize they were used.
Reactions:
James Bamford, author of two books on the National Security Agency, said the program could be problematic because it bypasses a special court set up by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to authorize eavesdropping on suspected terrorists.
``I didn't hear him specify any legal right, except his right as president, which in a democracy doesn't make much sense,'' Bamford said in an interview. ``Today, what Bush said is he went around the law, which is a violation of the law - which is illegal.''
Susan Low Bloch, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University Law Center, said the president needs authorization from Congress for this kind of activity.
``He's taking a hugely expansive interpretation of the Constitution and the president's powers under the Constitution,'' she said.
``It's consistent with everything the White House has been doing since 9/11. And every time that any of these measures have been challenged in the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court has ruled against the administration. The administration just doesn't seem to learn from that.''
That view was echoed by congressional Democrats.
``I tell you, he's President George Bush, not King George Bush. This is not the system of government we have and that we fought for,'' Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., told The Associated Press.
Added Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.: ``The Bush administration seems to believe it is above the law.''
Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Friday said the NSA program was inappropriate and he promised hearings soon.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5486780,00.html
Tom Delay Doesn't Get his Christmas Present
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5486703,00.html
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the second grand jury investigating the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson for several hours Friday. Unless Rove's attorney intervenes at the 11th hour yet again, Fitzgerald is expected to ask the grand jury to indict Rove-at the very least-for making false statements to the FBI and Justice Department investigators in October 2003, lawyers close to the case say.
Posted by: DiAnne at December 17, 2005 03:03 PM
If his indictment happens, my prayers will be answered.
Truth Shall Prevail
It also gives me a secret satisfaction to know that Tom Delay didn't get his trial speeded up as he wanted! (see link I just posted)
I'm also glad that although Bush says everything he's approved is legal and constitutional (all the range of torture, spying etc), that experts are contesting this (judges, lawyers, constituional experts etc).
Casey and Karen,
I too have a father who values truth and honesty, and taught that every moment of his life. He still teaches it, and our thread of commonality is our political view. He is now 88 and still spry, independent, and still loving truth with each breath he breathes.
He sends me clippings from his city's newspaper, along with letters to the editor. We call each other and talk about EVERYTHING that is going on. He tells me to email articles to my sister, and she runs them off on her printer and takes them to her.
Yesterday's thread is going to him.
We wonder how we got here and why, look at our parents!!!!!
Well, I have been so busy catching up with chores after being very ill, so am kind of out of the loop.
It is SOOO good to be able to come here and see all of you keeping the flame burning brightly. The flame of truth and good works!
Re: the Patriot Act, I still don't think we should completely trust Zogby and some of the other pollsters. Zogby did send me a poll and ask me if I was planning to leave the country a while back. I thought that a bit strange. Someone on the old Kerry blog said to be leery of him, too. But, that's just my personal opinion.
Posted by: DiAnne at December 17, 2005 04:17 PM
Yes, I noticed that too. He really wanted to get back in there, and that plan got foiled.
I still have to laugh when I think of the thread header someone posted a little while back that inferred that Delay's mug shot looked like nothing besides Disneyland was any better than being indicted!! (LOL!!)
Truth Shall Prevail
I think Zogby is trying to see if there is a correlation between fed-up people and those fantasizing about leaving the country. I am admittedly one who has thought of it many times, so I figure in agreeing to be polled, I just decide to have a little trust. I think it's fun, & he needs my demographic: pissed-off middle-aged urban progressive female Caucasian northwesterner.
Well, maybe you're right. He doesn't have my real name anyway.
I am a p.o.'d middle aged rural midwestern independent moderately progressive female who doesn't fit the stereotype at all.
MEGA pissed-off, middle-aged (Big 5-0 real soon), urban southwestern, progressive white male, America-loving patriot (who loves warm puppies and long walks on the beach).
And I don't care what they say about me or if they know my real name - as long as they spell it right.