Re: How Prosecutors Wiretap Wall Street

[Paul Schmehl <pschmehl_lists () tx rr com>]

--On November 5, 2009 9:12:29 PM -0600 Chris <r0ck () operamail com> wrote:
> and someone could sue you for burying your head up your ass.
> Fortunately, we have this list as proof.

Oh my, aren't we clever.

> Getting back on topic, it is well-known, and proven, that the NSA has
> surveillence facilities inside  several U.S. telecom carriers.  You need
> only look inside one of AT&T's PoPs in San Francisco for proof.

You know this to be true because you've looked for yourself, right?  You 
didn't just take the world of a complete stranger quoted by a compliant 
press at face value, did you?

> Yes, the NSA might target non-citizens, however, without oversight, who
> is to know?  Don't mention FISA judges either. They have become a rubber
> stamp for wiretap requests with an approval rate of well over 99.99%.

Sure, because we all know those rat bastards at the NSA and all those 
federal judges don't give a shit about the USA or freedom or personal 
rights.

When you forget that the people who work in government are just like you, 
trying to make a living and do the best they can, it's easy to 
depersonalize them and demonize them as if they're all blackhearted evil 
turds.  Easy, that is, if you don't have much of a brain.

> The same applies to the NSLs issued by the FBI.  Not only are targets
> not permitted to talk about such NSLs, but they can't even acknowledge
> the existance of such NSLs.
>
> And yet, here you are asking for the very proof that cannot be provided.

That's hilarious.  The surveillance program didn't even survive for four 
years after 9/11 before someone inside the NSA "blew the whistle" on the 
program.  Of course, even though they were working for those evil bastards 
somehow their altruism got the better of them and they revealed "the 
truth" about the program, despite the fact that they had sworn an oath to 
keep it a secret.  (And I'm sure they didn't get a dime for blabbing 
either!)

And of course Congress knew nothing about it, even though they had been 
briefed about it dozens of times and never raised a single objection.

Then of course, once the program had been "revealed" publicly, all those 
altruistic politicians immediately began investigating because they care 
so deeply about your privacy and your personal freedoms.  And then all the 
privacy experts, motivated by the purest of concerns, your personal 
privacy and freedoms, immediately sprung into action to protect you 
because they all care so deeply for you personally.

Or maybe, just maybe, there was the ever-so-slightest twinge of politics 
involved.

Of course we all know that Joe Wilson told the truth and George Bush lied. 
That should be obvious to any rational person, right?

But we'll never know for sure if the "whistleblowers" were motivated by 
something other than altruism, because you're so deeply concerned about 
your personal privacy and freedom that it would never even occur to you to 
question the motives of anyone who agrees with your view of the world.

The fact that you believe that only those who violate their oath of office 
are honest and only those who never violate their oath of office are 
dishonest blinds you to the possibility that the truth lies somewhere in 
between.  It's OK though.  So long as you don't apply that standard to 
your investments, you'll probably be able to retire OK.

> The only question I have for you is...
>
> Which government agency is paying your mortgage?

The same one that is proposing to pay for your healthcare and control 
every other aspect of your life because you're too blind to see the forest 
for the trees.  You and millions of other blithering idiots who see 
nothing wrong with the government forcing you to buy insurance but 
everything wrong with them trying to keep terrorists from blowing your 
worthless ass up.

Paul Schmehl, If it isn't already
obvious, my opinions are my own
and not those of my employer.
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