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Fritz Feds

Tuesday, January 17, 2006


"We want confirmation that we were wiretapped, or else confirmation that we weren't" said the crazy woman on tv.

Well, we knew that this was going to happen.  Several groups, including, guess who? The ACLU, have filed suit (that will probably get tossed) in New York and Michigan alleging that  President Bush and the NSA’s  “secret” domestic surveillance program that we’ve been hearing so much about (well, so much for secrecy) was illegal and unconstitutional.  They rest their claim on first (a stretch) and fourteenth amendment protections.  Here’s my thing: some of these people think they have standing (i.e. their eaves have been dropped), how are they going to prove it?  Crap, there I go advocating the unitary executive again, eh Senator?

Oh, and this was funny:

The Detroit suit, which also names the NSA, was filed by the ACLU, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greenpeace and several individuals.

Greenpeace huh?  I thought they would be cool with a chilling effect…


2 comments

Comments:
From the article: "The Detroit lawsuit said the plaintiffs, who frequently communicate by telephone and e-mail with people in the Middle East and Asia, have a "well-founded belief" that their communications are being intercepted by the government." Combined with the information coming from the FBI these days (see, e.g., http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/politics/17spy.html?ei=5094&en=998d7190aee080f7&hp=&ex=1137560400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all), it hardly seems irrational to think many, many people with calls in that region had their phones tapped and the calls forwarded to the FBI. If it takes a lawsuit to bring this stuff into the open, so be it.
 
Sorry, I just have this notion that their "well founded belief" is actually paranoia, unless of course they are in fact talking to unsavory characters (which would, you know, give them a good reason to think they were being listened to), in which case I honestly have very little sympathy for them.
 
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