11-06-2005, 12:28 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Banned
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Give Me Back My Liberty, You Thugs !
I read this in a daily email I receive that distills reports that major newspapers lead with......
Quote:
http://www.slate.com/id/2129600/
Yossarian Lives! The Post's lead notes that only one figure in the government—the inspector general—monitors the use of national security letters. How exactly does he do this monitoring? By waiting for complaints from suspects … who, of course, are never told they are being investigated. Guess what! He has found no evidence of abuse. "'We do rely upon complaints coming in,' [the inspector general] said in House testimony in May. He added: 'To the extent that people do not know of anything happening to them, there is an issue about whether they can complain. So, I think that's a legitimate question.' "
Michael Brus, a former Slate assistant editor, is a writer and social worker in Seattle.
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I took some time, but I WAS able to confirm the DOJ's Inspector General's testimony here.
Quote:
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees...21139_0.htm#96
Mr. ARULANANTHAM. Mr. Chairman, can I comment very briefly on that?
Mr. COBLE. Yes, sir.
Mr. ARULANANTHAM. Just to clarify that. <b>Mr. Fine is relying on reports that other people send to him. So for example, in situations where there's a gag order, as in the National Security Letter context, and, you know, people are prevented from disclosing what may be abuses under the act, then obviously that's going to limit his investigation.</b>
Mr. COBLE. Mr. Fine, do you want to respond to that?
Mr. FINE. We widely publicize who we are, what our duties are. We do rely upon complaints coming in. We've received 7,000 of them. <b>To the extent that people do not know of anything happening to them, there is an issue about whether they can complain;</b> so I think that's a legitimate question. But I will say we have very widely publicized what we do, and we received a very significant number of complaints.
Mr. COBLE. I thank you, sir.
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This is excerpted from a five page article...this is the most ominous and important:
(It has been widely reported that the DOJ Inspector General has not received any complaints concerning National Secuirty Letters. Mr. Fine is referring to other types of complaints in his house testimony, earlier this year...)
Quote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...110501366.html
.....The FBI now issues more than 30,000 national security letters a year, according to government sources, a hundredfold increase over historic norms. The letters -- one of which can be used to sweep up the records of many people -- are extending the bureau's reach as never before into the telephone calls, correspondence and financial lives of ordinary Americans........
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These words were called to mind:
Quote:
http://liberty-tree.ca/qb/Thomas.Jefferson.Quote.EFEC
"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.
The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is
wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts
they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ...
And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not
warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as
to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost
in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure."
Source:
November 13, 1787, letter to William S. Smith, quoted in Padover's Jefferson On Democracy
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And this:
Quote:
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
<a href="Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.">Attributed</a> to Richard Jackson, circa 1759
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For 216 years, American patriots have fought and died to preserve a constitutional guarantee of proection from unreasonable search and seizure.
Exactly when do you plan to awake from your apathetic sleep-state and contemplate taking to the streets in protest?
Last edited by host; 11-06-2005 at 06:40 PM..
Reason: Mistake posted title. Changed from "your" to "you".
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