Tag: Opinion

The US continues spying on phones under Obama

There are a ton of opinions on this subject and we’ll get to those in a moment.

But first the story:

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19.

Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered.

via NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily | World news | The Guardian.

But, there is a big difference this time:

Under the Bush administration, officials in security agencies had disclosed to reporters the large-scale collection of call records data by the NSA, but this is the first time significant and top-secret documents have revealed the continuation of the practice on a massive scale under President Obama.

The unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is extremely unusual. Fisa court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets.

Which sounds about right for the Democrats, because they are perfectly fine with Government of a massive scale.

Now there are two very important opinions on this subject that I want you to see. They are same political slant; however, the opinions are very different. Please go check out Michelle Malkin’s take and Ed Morrissey’s take on this subject. While I agree on Michelle Malkin’s assessment, I really do not agree with her narrative at all. If you are smart and read her a good deal, you will know what I am talking about.

Now there is one thing that Ed Morrissey wrote that I, as an Independent, and someone who believes that the war on terror is a very real thing and that we should at least try to keep America safe, without trampling on our constitutional rights. I believe this to be very true and  very profound statement coming from someone like Mr. Morrissey:

Hypocrisy is an unfortunately ubiquitous condition in politics, but in the case of NSA seizing Verizon’s phone records, it’s particularly widespread.  Some of the people expressing outrage for the Obama administration’s efforts at data mining had a different attitude toward it when Bush was in office.  Conversely, we’ll see some people defending Obama who considered Bush evil incarnate for the same thing.

Either way, we’re left with the situation of having the federal government seizing private records without any meaningful civil due process that engages the citizens affected, whether that includes actual wiretaps or just cataloguing our calls and movements.  Perhaps this will move this issue out of the partisan sphere and into a common ground in which we can all work to define exactly how far we’re willing to go in trading privacy for security.  In order to get there, we’d all better recognize the hypocrisy that has abounded on this issue for far too long, and start thinking about higher principles than party affiliation when it comes to national security and constitutional protections.

Now that last part that I underlined, is something I wholeheartedly agree with. When the story broke about Bush and Co. came about the wiretaps, I remember Keith Olbermann doing a special comment on it and I admired him for standing up. Now, where’s Keith? Where are the liberals who thought that this was much too intrusive? Where are they now? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

My hat tip goes to Glenn Greenwald for putting principles over partisanship and getting this story to the masses. Glenn has been about the only liberal who has stood up and pointed out that Obama Administration has continued the policies of the George W. Bush Administration and in some cases; like this one here — has expanded them to an alarming degree. Yes, this is overreach and it is alarming and I do hope the Congress does something about it.

Others: Hullabaloo, Yahoo! News, Washington Wire, Washington Monthly, New York Times,ThinkProgress, Politico, Firedoglake, BuzzFeed, CNN, Forbes, Joshua Foust, The World’s Greatest …, msnbc.com, The Atlantic Wire, JustOneMinute, American Spectator, Democracy in America,WorldViews, TIME, Business Insider, Examiner, The Fix, News Desk, Associated Press, New Republic, Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog, Mashable, Wake up America, Wonkblog, The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, The Volokh Conspiracy, Mediaite, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Library of Law & Liberty, Moon of Alabama, The Daily Caller, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, Betsy’s Page, Patterico’s Pontifications, AllThingsD, Outside the Beltway, Post Politics, Informed Comment,Nice Deb, Real Clear Politics, Wired, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Illinois Review,AMERICAblog, Pirate’s Cove, CANNONFIRE, VentureBeat, No More Mister Nice Blog, First Read,Prairie Weather, The PJ Tatler, Telegraph, The Hinterland Gazette, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools, GigaOM, Corrente, The Spectacle Blog, Gawker, Boing Boing, The Raw Story, Shakesville, Secrecy News, The Verge, Conservatives4Palin, susiemadrak.com, Sense of Events, Taegan Goddard’s …, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The BLT, emptywheel and Overlawyered  Via Memeorandum 

I am all for children being protected at school…. But…..

I do believe that this is just a wee bit overboard. 😯

The story:

OWINGS, MD — The father of a middle schooler in Calvert County, Md. says his 11-year-old son was suspended for 10 days for merely talking about guns on the bus ride home.

Bruce Henkelman of Huntingtown says his son, a sixth grader at Northern Middle School in Owings, was talking with friends about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre when the bus driver hauled him back to school to be questioned by the principal, Darrel Prioleau.

“The principal told me that with what happened at Sandy Hook if you say the word ‘gun’ in my school you are going to get suspended for 10 days,” Henkelman said in an interview with WMAL.com.

So what did the boy say?  According to his father, he neither threatened nor bullied anyone.

“He said, I wish I had a gun to protect everyone. He wanted to defeat the bad guys. That’s the context of what he said,” Henkelman said. “He wanted to be the hero.”

The boy was questioned by the principal and a sheriff’s deputy, who also wanted to search the family home without a warrant, Henkelman said. “He started asking me questions about if I have firearms, and [the deputy said] he’s going to have to search my house.  Search my house?  I just wanted to know what happened.”

No search was performed, and the deputy left Henkelman’s home after the father answered questions in a four-page questionnaire issued by the Sheriff’s Office.

via WMAL : Where Washington Comes to Talk – WMAL EXCLUSIVE: 11-Yr-Old Suspended From School For Merely TALKING About Guns.

Look, nobody likes the idea of any kids being shot or guns being brought to school by kids, — period, end of story. But, merely talking about guns?!?! I tend to think that is just a little over the top. This is not nazi Germany or the communist soviet empire. We do have a right to freedom of speech.

Second of all, now don’t think that I am going to drone on like some Alex Jones reject about how this is some sort of conspiracy by the Obama Administration to take all of our guns or something silly like that, sorry, I don’t play that game here.  If anything at all, it is overly cautious school board, who is reacting to the recent shootings that have taken place over the past few months. I can see why they did it; but, I think the principal and teachers went a bit overboard.

There is nothing wrong with trying to be safe, but being paranoid can be very dangerous itself. Plus too, censoring kids speech just makes you look like fascists.

Oh and too, searching a house, without a warrant?!?!?  I don’t think so! You have probable cause, and a warrant signed by a judge —- or you take your silly donut eating pig ass back to the station where you belong. 😡

This whole trampling on the rights of the American people for the so-called “greater good”, just pisses me the hell off. 😡

Others: protein wisdom, The Gateway Pundit, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, National Review,Joanne Jacobs and WJLA-TV

About those ricin letters

I have some thoughts about this here and I will share them after the story here:

A threatening letter was mailed to President Obama that is similar to two letters containing poisonous ricin sent to Mayor Bloomberg and his anti-gun group, officials confirmed Thursday. 

The letter, first reported by NBC 4 New York, is being tested for ricin. It was received Wednesday at an off-site facility, and did not reach the White House, according to the Secret Service.

“This letter has been turned over to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force for testing and investigation,” said Brian Leary, a Secret Service spokesman.

The text of that mailing was identical to the letters sent to the mayor and his gun group, which threatened: “what’s in this letter is nothing compared to what I’ve got planned for you,” police and law enforcement sources said.

via Third Letter Sent to President Obama, Similar to NY Mayor Ricin Letters: Officials | NBC New York.

I just want to say the following: Call me cynical, but I happen to think that anyone who blames the NRA for the actions of one lone nut; is just scapegoating. Of course, the usual suspects are blaming that organization. I mean, it is one thing to blame radical Islam or America’s foreign policy for terrorism and Jihad. Because it is established that Islam, especially that of a political sort happens to be a  threat. A threat most likely created by the United States love for foreign policy.  However, this could have been some lone nut or even some idiot looking to smear the gun crowd.

This is why I have come to dislike politics, because both sides case blame so early, which is very dumb in my opinion. Casting blame cheapens the debate.  Now, before anyone says it in comments; I know about the stupid “We came unarmed, this time” signs. I wish those people with those signs were removed the Tea Party gatherings, as it gives the impression that Tea Party people are crazy. The accusation that the Tea Party supporters are crazy gun nuts or whatever is so totally unfair, because a good number of those people are like me —- people who love their Country and just do not want to see it end up like up like Europe or even worse, like Canada with a broken healthcare system or worse — broke. Truthfully, America is already broke and borrowing money for China as it is.

However, that is no reason to send these sort of letters, nor is it a reason do it, if you think your gun rights are being infringed upon. The best course of action is the ballot box; which is an American constitutional right that many a brave man fought, bled and died for in this Country and in other Countries abroad.

Anyway, just my thoughts on the subject. 😀

Others: Little Green Footballs, Yahoo! News, Mediaite, Wonkette,msnbc.com, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller and CNN

Update: Pic of said letter:

(via ABC News)

 

IRS official to take the Fifth

Oh boy:

WASHINGTON — A top IRS official in the division that reviews nonprofit groups will invoke the 5th Amendment and refuse to answer questions before a House committee investigating the agency’s improper screening of conservative nonprofit groups.

Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, won’t answer questions about what she knew about the improper screening — or why she didn’t disclose it to Congress, according to a letter from her defense lawyer, William W. Taylor III. Lerner was scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

“She has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation but under the circumstances she has no choice but to take this course,” said a letter by Taylor to committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Vista). The letter, sent Monday, was obtained Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times.

via Top IRS official will invoke 5th Amendment – latimes.com.

She’s taking the fifth, but she didn’t do anything wrong. Right. 🙄

I dunno about you, but I am thinking that the fit is about to hit the shan —- real quick. Especially after seeing this here. Again, I say, Oh boy, oooohhhhh boy…. 😯

Others: Power Line, Post Politics, Weasel Zippers, UrbanGrounds, Hot Air, National Review,New York Times, CNN, Scared Monkeys, americanthinker.com, The Jawa Report, News Desk,Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The PJ Tatler, Right Turn, The Daily Caller, Belmont Club, Yahoo! News, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, Dark Money, Mediaite, American Spectator, Business Insider, First Read,Riehl World News, The Right Scoop, Conservatives4Palin, The Hinterland Gazette and Washington Free Beacon (Via Memeorandum)

Disaster Exploitation Redux

First it was the Republicans and now the Democrats are getting into the act.

The Video:

The Story via the Daily Caller:

While many Americans were tuned into news coverage of the massive damage from tornadoes ravaging the state of Oklahoma, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to rail against his Republican colleagues for denying the theory of anthropogenic global warming.

Whitehouse spent 15 minutes chastising GOP senators and justified his remarks by alluding to states that seek federal assistance in the wake of natural disasters.

“So, you may have a question for me,” Whitehouse said. “Why do you care? Why do you, Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, care if we Republicans run off the climate cliff like a bunch of proverbial lemmings and disgrace ourselves? I’ll tell you why. We’re stuck in this together. We are stuck in this together. When cyclones tear up Oklahoma and hurricanes swamp Alabama and wildfires scorch Texas, you come to us, the rest of the country, for billions of dollars to recover. And the damage that your polluters and deniers are doing doesn’t just hit Oklahoma and Alabama and Texas. It hits Rhode Island with floods and storms. It hits Oregon with acidified seas, it hits Montana with dying forests. So, like it or not, we’re in this together.”

Unlike some bloggers who claim to be Independent, I point out when both sides do stupid stuff like this; because it is sick and wrong to exploit a tragic event like this for one’s political agenda. For the record, I do not totally deny climate change; I just happen to think that the science in incomplete and that the whole climate change movement became radically politicized, which I believe personally is harmful. I believe that science is a great thing; but science with a political agenda is dangerous, like unto Nazi propaganda or Soviet propaganda.

Others: Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, americanthinker.com,Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Right Wing News and Rumproast

This is what is wrong with the Church today

One of the biggest things that is wrong with the Church today is apostasy. A classic example is this below, this was written some woman who had some sort of “spiritual crisis.”:

4. Contemplative Spirituality

Okay, here’s where I get in trouble.

One of the contemporary church’s problems is its rejection of Christianity’s contemplative heritage. As vital as a rich intellectual life and the study of theology are to our faith, information alone cannot yield produce transformation. Fortunately, our tradition brims with the wisdom of contemplatives and, dare I say mystics, who wrote about the why’s and how’s of spiritual union with God.  

Francis, a mystic himself, would advise the present-day church to revisit the practices and teachings of John Cassian, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Brother Lawrence, Jean Pierre de Caussade, Simone Weil and Evelyn Underhill, among others. People are hungry not only for good biblical teaching but for rich experiential encounters with the living God. Are we ready to lay aside our prejudice against the teachings of our contemplative mothers and fathers?

via Who is the most incredible Christian ever? | Fox News.

Sorry, but the only person that I try to pattern my life after is Jesus Christ. He and he alone is the basis of my faith. Furthermore, anyone that wants to have an honest discussion about this heretical nonsense, I would recommend them to start RIGHT HERE.

If people want to know why society is on the downturn, and shootings are on the rise; this is a good place to start. Churches today do not preach the Word of God, they preach garbage and this is a good example of that.

I leave you with the Bible:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:1-15 KJV)

 

I guess we can put Dana Milbank in the non-Obama left corner too

Ouch! 😯

Quote:

NPR’s Ari Shapiro asked Carney to square Obama’s belief in an unfettered press with the fact that he has prosecuted twice as many leakers as all previous administrations combined.

Carney said Obama’s love of press freedom “is backed up by his support for a media shield law.” This would be the shield law that died in Congress in 2010 because of Obama’s objections.

Alexis Simendinger, from RealClearPolitics, challenged Carney to harmonize his refusal to meddle in an “ongoing investigation” with Obama’s comments on the Trayvon Martin case last year, when a Justice Department investigation was ongoing.

“Come on,” Carney replied with scorn, repeating the excuse that “we have no knowledge” of the phone snooping “beyond the press reports that we’ve read.”

And that’s just the problem.

via Dana Milbank: Obama, the uninterested president – The Washington Post.

Yeah, I pretty much think that Obama bit the very hand that elected him; and I believe you are going to see a press driven beltway turning against Obama.

 

UPDATED – It’s official: The Obama Administration is in deep trouble and I am done defending them

My friends, I was very, very wrong and for that, I am terribly sorry. 🙁

I said that I believed that the entire Benghazi, Libya debacle was over-hyped by the Republicans; and I still believe that, to a point.

However, there are many things that have come up since then, which I simply cannot defend.

They are:

  1. The IRS targeting Jewish groups.  – I mean, honestly, what the hell were the IRS and Obama’s people thinking when they let this one happen?
  2. IRS targeting Conservative groups in Washington and Elsewhere. — Did they not know that this would be exposed?
  3. DOJ going after the AP – This is borderline Watergate, so says a watergate player. — Again, what the hell were these people thinking?

My friends, the “Giving the benefit of the doubt” of the President and his Administration by this writer and blogger are over. There is no doubt in my mind that the Obama administration; much like the Administration of George W. Bush, became consumed with a lust for power and abused and exploited the office of President of the United States and the instruments of Governmental office for political purposes.

I leave you with two videos:

Update: Better clip via The American Spectator:

The Democrats have screwed themselves out of ever winning an election; for like oh, maybe the next 2 major election cycles. This is the sad part, Obama and his Administration promised Americans that he would be a clean break from the policies and practices of President George W. Bush and his Administration and sadly, it turns out that Obama and his Administration are just as bad; if not even worse.   As I wrote before, it is sad ending to a Presidency that offered so much to give; but ended up delivering little or nothing at all, in the realm of change.

It is going to be a long, hot, nasty, political summer for America, Americans, Black Liberal Americans and for Washington D.C.. I just hope that cool heads prevail. But, I really do fear the worst in yet to come.

Blogger Round Up #1: (via) Yahoo! News, JustOneMinute, Michelle Malkin, New York Times, Sunlight Foundation Blog, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Right Turn, waysandmeans.house.gov, Hot Air, The Week, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Daily Kos, First Read, The Maddow Blog, PostPartisan, The Fix, White House Dossier, The Other McCain, Betsy’s Page, Da Tech Guy On DaRadio Blog, Scared Monkeys,msnbc.com, Obsidian Wings, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools, Twitchy, National Review,The Lonely Conservative, Power Line, Conservatives4Palin and CBS DC

Blogger Round Up #2: (via) Yahoo! News, Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed, The Week, Associated Press, Hit & Run,News Desk, Fox News, Open Channel, msnbc.com, emptywheel, Guardian, WorldViews, Patterico’s Pontifications, The Huffington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, USA Today, The Hill, Weekly Standard, Poynter, The Daily Caller, The Volokh Conspiracy, Erik Wemple, ThinkProgress, Right Wing News, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, Addicting Info, americanthinker.com, CNN,CANNONFIRE, The BLT, PJ Media, NO QUARTER USA NET, The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette, NationalJournal.com, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Examiner, Wired,Politico, Weasel Zippers, Gawker, THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE, Hullabaloo, Ed Driscoll, The Verge,The Gateway Pundit, SPJ News, The PJ Tatler, National Review, National Republican …, Philly.com,Mother Jones, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Sister Toldjah, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, TalkLeft andLawfare, more at Mediagazer »

Update #1: Franklin Graham says they were targeted. Those rat bastards have no shame at all. 😡

 Update #2:  Obama Admin’s IRS targeted reporter who gave hard interview.

Update #3: I am just going to say this and get it off my chest:

IMPEACH THE FUCKER AND GET IT OVER WITH!

Roundup #3: The Gateway Pundit, Sister Toldjah, Weasel Zippers, Washington Free Beacon, Rule of Law, BuzzFeed, ViralRead, Jammie Wearing Fools,The PJ Tatler, VodkaPundit and Hot Air