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| Nobel Committee should take back the Peace Prize from Pres Obama and give it to Medea Benjamin |
From a McClatchy comment thread
Government without the consent of The Governed is illegitimate... and here we have a situation where the NSA is lying to Congress, and Congress/govt routinely keeps secrets from, and lies to, The Governed.
Snowden had to leave the US because the US govt no longer obeys its own laws. He's royally screwed his life up, to bring this news to you [as did Bradley Manning].
So rather than shooting the messenger, you should be taking a look around -- talking to friends, neigbors etc -- about what you're going to do about the fact that your govt is no longer legitimate.
Don't feel too bad though -- pretty much every country in the world has a similar problem. That's why there are protests and riots everywhere from Sweden to Turkey to Brazil, all about pretty much the same thing, all at the same time. Read more and click on image of deer in top right corner to hear this site's fight song: "Uprising" by Muse.
Big Brother is indeed watching
Digby 6-22-13 weighs in on a rapidly developing government, corporate and mil-intel informant culture, including the Insider Threat Program to weed out suspected leakers of the truth. Above all else, keep the public in the dark! Must read.
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How metadata works: What every American should know
By Lindsay Wise and Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Washington Bureau, June 20, 2013
Metadata is data about data. It is not strictly-speaking “content” like the narrative sentences inside your emails, but it is revealing nonetheless. Metadata is where surveillance starts. It reveals information about what communications you send and receive, who you talk to, where you are when you talk to them, the lengths of your conversations, what kind of device you were using and potentially other information, like the subject line of your emails. "Metadata will tell you which groups of people go to political meetings together, which groups of people go to church together, which groups of people go to nightclubs together or sleep with each other,” said Peter Eckersley, the technology projects director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties group. Read more here
EDITORIAL COMMENT 6-22-13 by PC editor Jane Prettyman on above McClatchy article:
One concern we have is that surveillance of the sort being done now by NSA, FBI, CIA, military intelligence, police and independent corporate contractors will allow these agencies and powers to pre-empt activities and plans for peaceful civil disobedience and non-violent passive resistance against various forms of oppression of citizens including thrrat of indefinite detention without due process (NDAA Section 1021) designed to keep dissenters silent and invisible so the general public is not roused to action.
The problem is not only the actual thwarting of non-violent organization but intimidation of average citizens who are becoming afraid to be called "terrorists" and dealt with by Dept of Homeland Security acting as a new form of Stasi police to enforce the status quo of Executive power and policy. This is reminiscent of the old Soviet Union, yet both major parties in Congress have been (largely) bought off (or swallowed the Kool-Aid) and are acquiescing to this rhetoric and fear-mongering under the rubric of "keeping America safe." This is nothing more than empty marketing propaganda and is not sound rational operation of a democracy. Indeed, such propaganda is dangerous because serious efforts to thwart terrorism are being ignored almost entirely in favor of fear-tactics -- making people afraid to bring the full light of rationality to the problems of extremist violence (called "terrorism") which actually does exist. To do do risks being called "soft on terror."
Part of the process of muzzling the opposition includes commercial newsmedia's lack of coverage of third parties as well as lack of objective (as opposed to disparaging) coverage of reasonable and legitimate grievances of protesters and dissenters as seen in the Occupy movement. The public is being kept in the dark, uneducated and fearful of an inflated notion of "terrorism" while not fearful enough of the loss of our freedoms and the rule of law.
Finally, we are concerned that dragnet surveillance warrants, whether for metadata or content, in the hundreds, thousands, even millions are being approved by FISA court judges. This contradicts the Fourth Amendment principle of establishing "probable" or "reasonable" cause which cannot be done without distinguishing the facts from one case to the next. Even if the facts are kept secret, as they are in the FISA court, they must be presented to a disinterested judge one set of facts at a time (preferably a panel of 5 or 6 judges to avoid a captured panel persuaded by political prejudice or corporate pressure rather than facts). The blanket warrant idea is designed to skip probable or reasonable cause
Saying "it's only metadata" sounds harmless but in fact due process is being watered down to a meaningless gesture, no longer protecting the American people. There appears to be no effort to distinguish between probable terrorist activity and genuine disagreement and rational dissent. Tom Paine would not have counseled this. In fact, he and his fellow Patriots went to Revolutionary War over it.
Homework to read: Law vs War
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THE REFRAME GAME:June 20, 2013 by Thom Hartmann, Alternet
Corporations are trying to use the PATRIOT Act in ways that have nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden because the PATRIOT Act gives transnational corporations the power to snuff out the activism of all those who oppose them.
TransCanada Corp., the Canadian-owned energy conglomerate that backs the Keystone XL pipeline extension was revealed in a set of documents obtained by the group Bold Nebraska to be encouraging American law enforcement agencies to treat anti-pipeline protesters engaged in civil disobedience like terrorists. Yes, terrorists.
The documents, which Bold Nebraska obtained through a FOIA request, were part of a briefing given to Nebraska law enforcement agents about the “emerging threat” of groups like Tar Sands Blockade and Rainforest Action.
And what are the “terrorist” activities that TransCanada is so concerned about? They include things like monkey-wrenching, tree-sitting, and tying yourself to a construction vehicle with a device called a “dragon-lock.”
If this seems familiar, it should, because what groups like Tar Sands Blockade are engaging in is classic civil disobedience. This is not terrorism, but this foreign corporation TransCanada wants American law enforcement agents to start looking at it like it is. The most damning document obtained by Bold Nebraska urges Nebraska authorities to consider using “State or Federal Anti-Terrorism laws prohibiting sabotage or terroristic acts against critical infrastructures.” In other words, TransCanada thinks American police should treat the blocking of construction vehicles just like the blowing up of a bus in downtown Washington, D.C.
And TransCanada is basing its stance on the PATRIOT Act which contained a new definition of domestic terrorism after the 9-11 attacks.
We already know, thanks to NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, that our government has used the broad powers of the PATRIOT Act to amass a large collection of American citizens’ telephone records, something even one of its authors, Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, has said goes beyond what he thinks was its original intent. (Read full story)
Complaining about water quality could be considered an 'act of terrorism'
AlterNet, Steven Hsieh
June 21, 2013 |
A representative for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation told a group of concerned citizens that complaining about water quality could be considered an “act of terrorism,” The Tennessean reports.
Sherwin Smith, deputy director of TDEC’s Division of Water Resources, made the claim during a meeting with residents of Maury County, Tennessee. Organized by State Rep. Sheila Butt, R-Columbia, the gathering sought to address complaints by residents that area water was making their children sick. In audio obtained by The Tennessean, Smith can be heard equating water quality complaints, an act of citizenry, with DHS-defined acts of terrorism:
“We take water quality very seriously. Very, very seriously. But you need to make sure that when you make water quality complaints you have a basis, because federally, if there’s no basis to water quality issues [complaints], that can be considered under Homeland Security an act of terrorism.”
According to The Tennessean, several residents saw the statement as “an attempt to silence complaints.” One 68-year-old woman who says she “prays” before sipping the “cloudy, odd-tasting water,” felt that Smith’s message was, “Leave us alone. Don’t come back anymore. We’re not going to continue on dealing with whatever problem you may have.” (Read full story)
PC comment: A state official “Gaslights” a citizen by undermining her complaint as "without basis" and threatens to call it “terrorism.” All citizens can complain, and should, if they are exposed to pollution regulated by the state. To shift the dynamic over to DHS and an implied threat of being indefinitely detained in secrecy for "terrorism" is to introduce a kind of irrational McCarthyism into the discussion to protect state and corporate O&G interests.
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| Presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate Cheri Honkala sat down quietly with American flag across their laps in civil disobedience in October 2012 to protest their exclusion from presidential debates despite being on the state ballots of 85% of all US voters. Photo by Jane Prettyman. |
After the civil disobedience of Dr Jill Stein in her peaceful action against KXL pipeline to resupply the tree-sitters in Texas in Oct 2012, she was instantly arrested, handcuffed and detained, but she did it to show solidarity with tree-sitters blockading KXL. We can all show solidarity with protesters against all sorts of corporate/govt encroachment, including simply speaking up in a town council meeting; writing letters to the editor and to elected officials; nonviolent civil disobedience with risk of arrest; and the kind of passive resistance Gandhi used to liberate India.
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Dr Stein being led away in handcuffs when she
attempted to resupply food & water to tree-sitters of
Keystone Blockade 10-31-12. She was held several hours
for "trespassing" and then released. This was her third and
last arrest during the 2012 presidential campaign, minimally
reported by mainstream newsmedia. Photo by Steven deSilva. Update 11-23-12: TransCanada security and local deputies used pepper spray to dislodge Keystone Blockade tree-sitters from trees. |
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Pennsylvanians protest against fracking in state capital at Harrisburg.
"NOPE" poster design and photo by Jane Prettyman |
