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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGovernment Confirms That It Has Secret Interpretation of Patriot Act Spy Powers
Government Confirms That It Has Secret Interpretation of Patriot Act Spy Powers
.............on Thursday, the government confirmed that it does indeed have a secret interpretation of Sec. 215, as Senators Wyden and Udall have been arguing. That confirmation comes in a document release to the ACLU from their FOIA request, but doesn't yet enlighten on what exactly that interpretationwhich the Senators say will shock and enrage the publicsays.
This secrecy is overbroad and unnecessary. Americans have a right to know how their government is interpreting public laws, especially when those laws give the government sweeping authority to collect more and more of our personal and private information.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/government-confirms-it-has-secret-interpretation-patriot-act-spy-powers
LOTS MORE:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/16/1075072/-Administration-confirms-it-has-secret-interpretation-of-Patriot-Act-nbsp-provision
3waygeek
(2,034 posts)they interpret the Patriot Act to mean they can do whatever the fuck they want.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)I remember when the United States used to give the old Soviet Union about 18 shades of shit for its secret courts and hidden legalities. We used to say that their secrecy was the hallmark of tyranny, and proof of the soviet's animosity toward its own citizens.
Now? We'd probably praise Stalin, Beria and the rest of those thugs for laying out such a great blueprint.
DefenseLawyer
(11,101 posts)came directly from the Chinese and the North Koreans. USA! USA!
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)"Steal from the best."
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Until then, they aren't telling. Shhhh. National Secret!
MrDiaz
(731 posts)That President Obama Signed an Extension for this bill.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)than the existence of "secret interpretations of the law." This is shit that War Criminal John Yoo would have come with.
Rex
(65,616 posts)nt.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Knowing what it actually says is quite another. Whatever their "interpretation" is, I am sure it is horrifying.
Rex
(65,616 posts)The truth was probably far more horrifying then what we were told.
indepat
(20,899 posts)know.
elehhhhna
(32,076 posts)The Shock Doctrine breifly discusses certain think tanks' studying how much fascist shit a given population will accept from a "liberal" Prezzydent versus a "conservative" Prezzydent.
Seriously: Abu Gonzales and Hiding Holder -can't we find someone who's read the frikken Constitution?
_ed_
(1,734 posts)I guess he used his knowledge of the document to subvert and ignore it.
a2liberal
(1,524 posts)_ed_
(1,734 posts)my ass.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Is that we have reached the point where the people serve the government, rather than the government serving the people.
You see it in things like that massive facility they are building in Utah to suck up every bit of telecommunications and archive it. Everything you do via communications will be archived. How does that serve the people? It doesn't. We are paying for things like that - we are paying the government to spy on us. Worse, rather than being apologetic about it, they expect to be thanked for doing things like this.
Is it Constitutional? No, of course it isn't, but they do it anyway. How can you challenge it when the second you mention it, they start screaming state secrets and national security?
When the government operates under a shroud of secrecy, it becomes completely unaccountable to the people. That's where we are. Do you honestly think any politician can speak out about it at this point? They are probably monitored more closely than anyone. No politician is going to risk having embarrassing or criminal actions being released - even if it was gathered in an Unconstitutional manner.
I don't know how we can get this country back under control at this point.