Major Oxymoron Alert: What Civil Liberties Panel?
US Civil Liberties Panel Expected To Approve Surveillance Programs
When this panel was proposed it was stated that it would serve to protect our civil liberties, privacy and constitutional rights. I didn't believe that because the people making those statements were the same bastards authorizing torture, circumventing habeas corpus, conducting illegal wiretapping programs (note that programs is PLURAL) without probable cause or duly issued warrants, operating illegal extraordinary rendition programs, promoting the maltreatment of prisoners in detention centers operated by US troops, and lying to us on a regular basis. On top of this evidence that our rights would not be protected, I don't trust anyone that keeps assuring us that we can trust them. From the time of my early teens my male relatives warned me that anyone trying to assure you that they are trustworthy are either a used car salesman or a politician trying to get something over on me... and in any case they were damn liars.
Additionally, I do not believe there is constitutional authority for the executive branch to monitor itself when it comes to following the Constitution, protecting our civil liberties, or establishing a commission of this type. Once again the "trust us we know how to protect you" lie is being thrown at us. This panel circumvents congressional and judicial oversight, the provisions of the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th and 19th Amendments of the Bill of Rights. The entire structure of our government, as prescribed in Articles I, II and III of the Constitution is being bypassed in favor of the power-grabbing and authority usurping Bush gang operating under a theory and practice of fascism, much in the same manner as Hitler, Jodl, Himmler, Mussolini, Franco and other charming historical figures.
Even calling this panel a "Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board" is an insult to our collective intelligence because it is nothing more, and nothing less, than a rubber stamp approval process that mocks our notions of due process and deliberately circumvents our rights. The proof of that is in the irony that no one on that panel could find any reason to object to warrantless wiretapping, bypassing the Fourth Amendment's affirmative duty to obtain warrants with evidence of probable cause, the obliteration of any notion of due process guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment, and the entire concept that the rights, powers and authority not specifically delineated to any of the three branches of government are reserved to the people and/or the states. Additionally, this panel, and all of the actions of the Bush gang of fascists seem to have forgotten the basic high school civics lessons regarding inherent rights and that the Constitution serves to guarantee that the government--including the executive branch--would not violate those rights.
Given that four out of the five members of this panel are Republicans, each has held high office in a Republican administration, some even working directly for past GOP presidents, and all of the panel members are lawyers having direct connections to major law firms and/or big corporations, it doesn't appear that any of these panel members represent the "average citizen" or any real concerns outside of the interests and agendas offered by the Bush administration. This is certainly a case of the foxes watching the wolves invade the chicken coop.
The statement that these warrantless surveillance and seizure programs have sufficient privacy measures intact doesn't change the fact that other provisions of the Constitution are being violated and ignored in the process. That makes the argument that the government can protect our privacy, our rights and still conduct these types of invasive programs moot and a slippery slope into complete and utter fascism.
I do not see how a five member panel of people handpicked by the same people violating our inherent rights can make such a decision--morally, ethically or legally--without weighing evidence for each individual case that the government wants to assault. Violation of our civil rights is a latent form of assault. If the rights of a sovereign nation are violated, international law considered that an act of aggression and an act of war. There is no difference when our government violates our rights... it is an act of aggression and an act of war... against our own people.
The five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is expected to approve the Bush administration's controversial electronic eavesdropping and financial tracking programs when it presents its first report to Congress next week. Three members of the board told AP that warrantless electronic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency and the financial tracking program implemented by the Treasury Department have sufficient privacy protections. Board chairperson, Carol Dinkins, a Texas lawyer and former senior Justice Department official, told AP that the programs are "properly protective and attentive to civil liberties."
The panel began operations last March after the Board's five members were sworn in at the White House. The board was created by Congress in December 2004 based on a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission. Legal experts, right groups, and Democrats have criticized [Center for American Progress opinion] the board for being too close to the administration. US Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee [official website], said the board's findings should not be completely trusted until the board has been shown to be fully independent of executive influence.
When this panel was proposed it was stated that it would serve to protect our civil liberties, privacy and constitutional rights. I didn't believe that because the people making those statements were the same bastards authorizing torture, circumventing habeas corpus, conducting illegal wiretapping programs (note that programs is PLURAL) without probable cause or duly issued warrants, operating illegal extraordinary rendition programs, promoting the maltreatment of prisoners in detention centers operated by US troops, and lying to us on a regular basis. On top of this evidence that our rights would not be protected, I don't trust anyone that keeps assuring us that we can trust them. From the time of my early teens my male relatives warned me that anyone trying to assure you that they are trustworthy are either a used car salesman or a politician trying to get something over on me... and in any case they were damn liars.
Additionally, I do not believe there is constitutional authority for the executive branch to monitor itself when it comes to following the Constitution, protecting our civil liberties, or establishing a commission of this type. Once again the "trust us we know how to protect you" lie is being thrown at us. This panel circumvents congressional and judicial oversight, the provisions of the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th and 19th Amendments of the Bill of Rights. The entire structure of our government, as prescribed in Articles I, II and III of the Constitution is being bypassed in favor of the power-grabbing and authority usurping Bush gang operating under a theory and practice of fascism, much in the same manner as Hitler, Jodl, Himmler, Mussolini, Franco and other charming historical figures.
Even calling this panel a "Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board" is an insult to our collective intelligence because it is nothing more, and nothing less, than a rubber stamp approval process that mocks our notions of due process and deliberately circumvents our rights. The proof of that is in the irony that no one on that panel could find any reason to object to warrantless wiretapping, bypassing the Fourth Amendment's affirmative duty to obtain warrants with evidence of probable cause, the obliteration of any notion of due process guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment, and the entire concept that the rights, powers and authority not specifically delineated to any of the three branches of government are reserved to the people and/or the states. Additionally, this panel, and all of the actions of the Bush gang of fascists seem to have forgotten the basic high school civics lessons regarding inherent rights and that the Constitution serves to guarantee that the government--including the executive branch--would not violate those rights.
Given that four out of the five members of this panel are Republicans, each has held high office in a Republican administration, some even working directly for past GOP presidents, and all of the panel members are lawyers having direct connections to major law firms and/or big corporations, it doesn't appear that any of these panel members represent the "average citizen" or any real concerns outside of the interests and agendas offered by the Bush administration. This is certainly a case of the foxes watching the wolves invade the chicken coop.
The statement that these warrantless surveillance and seizure programs have sufficient privacy measures intact doesn't change the fact that other provisions of the Constitution are being violated and ignored in the process. That makes the argument that the government can protect our privacy, our rights and still conduct these types of invasive programs moot and a slippery slope into complete and utter fascism.
I do not see how a five member panel of people handpicked by the same people violating our inherent rights can make such a decision--morally, ethically or legally--without weighing evidence for each individual case that the government wants to assault. Violation of our civil rights is a latent form of assault. If the rights of a sovereign nation are violated, international law considered that an act of aggression and an act of war. There is no difference when our government violates our rights... it is an act of aggression and an act of war... against our own people.
The five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is expected to approve the Bush administration's controversial electronic eavesdropping and financial tracking programs when it presents its first report to Congress next week. Three members of the board told AP that warrantless electronic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency and the financial tracking program implemented by the Treasury Department have sufficient privacy protections. Board chairperson, Carol Dinkins, a Texas lawyer and former senior Justice Department official, told AP that the programs are "properly protective and attentive to civil liberties."
The panel began operations last March after the Board's five members were sworn in at the White House. The board was created by Congress in December 2004 based on a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission. Legal experts, right groups, and Democrats have criticized [Center for American Progress opinion] the board for being too close to the administration. US Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee [official website], said the board's findings should not be completely trusted until the board has been shown to be fully independent of executive influence.
posted by Jim Downey at 4:48 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home