October 20, 2007
Our Vanishing Constitution
THIS IS JUST MY RANT -- FEEL FREE TO SKIP TO THE IMPORTANT PART BELOW
The other day I saw something on a computer screen called TinyWatcher. I was told that TinyWatcher looks for unwanted implants on your computer, deposited by god knows who. (Evidently Real Player is a big offender.)
Fabulous idea -- I wanted my own TinyWatcher until I realized that I know so little about my computer that even if a list of what had been installed on my computer overnight was handed to me on a platter, I wouldn't know what I didn't want. And worse, I'm really not that interested in finding out. I'll just hope for the best, that is until it's too late and I'm infested with something terrible, and my computer clogs. Oh well, I can always replace it.
Some things, however, are irreplaceable. My TinyWatcher lethargy helps me understand why people are having so much trouble paying attention to what is happening to democracy. It's complex and it's complicated and it's going down the drain, but it takes quite an effort to understand how it's happening. And guess what, the Democracy Demolition Team and their press corps prey on our disinterest.
Actually, it's not just democracy that's tanking. As we, good citizens, turn our flitting attention to baseball statistics and Reality TV, our food supply has been contaminated by agribusiness, our water and petroleum resources have been privatized, as have our armed forces and our medical and prison systems. Corporate takeover of public education has not as yet proved profitable, though No Child Left Behind has all but eliminated thinking in the classroom. Oh and our Constitution is being systematically dissembled, right before our very eyes.
Perhaps we will begin to pay attention when Great Aunt Sadie is strip searched at the airport hauled off to an island in the Indian Ocean, or maybe we simply won't miss her that much if the World Series is on.
HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART
Did you know that Bush authorized domestic spying BEFORE 9/11
Now there is a lawsuit brought by the The Electronic Frontier Foundation explained for our edification by Glenn Greenwald A short excerpt follows, but if you are a good citizen, you will read the whole thing:
The EFF/AT&T lawsuit -- based in part on the testimony and documentation of Mark Klein, a former AT&T employee -- will entail an investigation into the extent to which AT&T and other telecoms enabled the Bush administration to spy illegally on their customers. As of now, these telecom lawsuits are the best (arguably, the only real) hope for obtaining a judicial ruling as to whether these surveillance programs were illegal. Precisely for these reasons, the Bush administration is demanding "telecom amnesty" -- to bring a halt to EFF's lawsuit and thus ensure that no investigation of its spying activities on Americans ever occurs, and that no ruling is ever obtained as to whether it broke the law.
The FISA law is up for a vote once again in the Senate complete with a succulent immunity clause for the telecoms. But our democratic heroes have greatly disappointed us. It seems that they have been purchased for a pittance.
Christopher Dodd is the hero of the day because he put FISA on hold, but there will be consequences. From Dodd
The Military Commissions Act. Warrantless wiretapping. Shredding of Habeas Corpus. Torture. Extraordinary Rendition. Secret Prisons.
No more.
I have decided to place a "hold" on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President's assault on the Constitution by illegaly providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.
I said that I would do everything I could to stop this bill from passing, and I have.
It's about delivering results -- and as I've said before, the FIRST thing I will do after being sworn into office is restore the Constitution. But we shouldn't have to wait until then to prevent the further erosion of our country's most treasured document. That's why I am stopping this bill today.
Had enough? I have, but not before I donate to Christopher Dodd for good behavior.
Photo note: Vulnerable wires, hanging out there, just waiting to be tapped.
Posted by Dakota at October 20, 2007 05:13 PM