An Alan Grayson intern stirs up the hive.

[Freeper]

Alan Grayson (295 posts)

What If Richard Nixon Had Had Your E-Mail Password?


 
If he were President right now, Richard Nixon would absolutely adore today's National Security Agency. Nixon would be able to snoop, shadow and spy at will. He could read your e-mail; see what you've googled; check out your browsing history; find out whom you called, who called you, when you spoke and for how long; and know where you are at every moment, because of that GPS chip in your phone.

And he wouldn't have to offer that lame, barefaced excuse that there was a Communist hiding under your bed. No, all he'd have to say is that there is a terrorist hiding under your bed.

(Maybe you need a bed that's closer to the floor. But then you'd have to watch out for the rats.)

When I was a kid, I sure didn't trust Tricky Dick. But as I grew up, I realized that the problem went well beyond The Trickmeister. He was simply exploiting spytech to its fullest. I learned that President Eisenhower had spied on Eleanor Roosevelt, that J. Edgar Hoover had recorded Martin Luther King Jr.'s private conversations, and that Lyndon Johnson had enlisted the FBI's assistance during his 1964 campaign. For almost a century, the federal government has used surveillance to keep tabs on civil rights, environmentalist, and antiwar activism. Spying on us: it's the one thing that Republicans and Democrats seem to agree on. It's bipartisan. It's as American as apple spy.

That's one reason why the revelations over the past few days of near-universal government surveillance are so disturbing.  Microsoft, Google, Apple – they're all in on it. Former NSA official William Binney has said that we are "on a slippery slope to a totalitarian state." I don't know what's worse: that I'm not sure he's right, or that I'm not sure he's wrong.

Fortunately, I'm a Member of Congress, so I can do something about it. And you are likely an American citizen and voter, which means that you can help.

I'm introducing a bill that I call the "Mind Your Own Business Act". This bill prohibits our government from spying on us, or collecting data on us, unless there's probable cause that you have committed or you will commit an act of terrorism or similar criminal offense.

I submitted this provision as an amendment to the House Rules Committee today. I am attempting to attach it to the National Defense Authorization Act, which will come up for a vote in the House later this week. Sign your name here to show your support for the Mind Your Own Business Act:

http://MindYourOwnBusinessAct.com/

You'd have to be nuts to think that it's necessary to inquire into the personal web browsing habits, telephone calls and physical location of 320 million Americans in order to keep us safe. What's next – are we going to try to prevent hijackings by all flying naked?

Are we going to ban forks and knives? And if so, then how will we eat spaghetti?

Mass indiscriminate surveillance is a necessary ingredient in tyranny. It's also an utterly inefficient means to protect us.  Osama Bin Laden routinely sent e-mails for years, completely evading the NSA. Here's how he did it (pay attention, would-be terrorists): He wrote up e-mails, saved them on a $10 thumb drive, and had some lackey send them from a web cafe in Pakistan. Maybe the reason why the NSA couldn't find Osama Bin Laden's e-mails was that they were too busy spying on everyone else in the world. They're the gang that couldn't snoop straight.

Ben Franklin said that "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Leaving aside those quirky initial caps, I agree wholeheartedly.

We didn't give up our constitutional rights 150 years ago, when 1,000,000 heavily armed soldiers rose up in rebellion.  Those rebs had cannon, the nuclear weapon of the 19th century. Why should we give up our constitutional rights when a small number of barely armed men on the other side of the world, garbed in sheets, try to threaten us?

We have preserved our freedom and our rights for the past half-century, with over 10,000 nuclear warheads pointed right at us – enough to kill all of us even if we were like cats, and had nine lives. Why should we forsake our freedom and our rights now?

This is not North Korea. This is not Maoist China. This is not East Germany. This is the United States of America. If we put the word "Freedom" on our stamps, then we should put it in our lives, too.

For God's sake, we are not cattle. We Are Human Beings!

You're innocent until you're proven guilty, and therefore you ought to be un-snooped until you do something wrong. Let's force the NSA to stop snooping -- join me:

http://MindYourOwnBusinessAct.com/

Click here for freedom.
Courage,

Rep. Alan Grayson

"Everybody knows the scene is dead.
There's gonna be a meter on your bed.
That will disclose
What everybody knows."
-Leonard Cohen, "Everybody Knows" (1988).

P.S. Please, please, please forward this to your friends, and urge them to sign the petition.

http://election.democraticunderground.com/10022996354

Whisp (17,513 posts)
1. woah, just a wee bit over the top, no?

This is not North Korea. This is not Maoist China.

wtf? Everybody's jumping on the wagon.
Come back and post next week when things clear up and the truth gets a chance.

Usually they line up to kiss Grayson's intern's ass, not today. 

Cha (125,438 posts)
17. I don't think that's in the realm of possibility.. but, that's a

good question. It's so easy to rage on those who actually have the job of protecting people while balancing civil liberties.

I trust Pres Obama and VP Biden to do their job.. they're not out to Screw the American people. I don't care what the whiners on the intertubes say.

 

Only a fool would trust those liars.

NightWatcher (20,630 posts)
14. "Sign my petition" is the new "give me your address to sell"

or solicit for endless donations.

This DUmmy isn't fooled by Grayson's quest for money from the DUmmies.

A DUmmy created a whole new thread to bitch about how Grayson's intern was treated for that post.

DisgustipatedinCA (5,768 posts)

It's really embarrassing to see a liberal US Congressman made fun of to his face when he posts here


 
Sure, everyone has their right to free speech and yes, to get into heated discussions--god knows I do enough of that for 3 people. But Congressman Grayson has always fought a good liberal fight for us. And his exemplary conduct in office deserves just a little more decorum than this. He posted here about the NSA spying scandal, asking the hypothetical, would you want Nixon to have these spying powers? In response, there are multiple people openly making fun of him, with another individual telling him he was acting like a Teabagger. This is low-brow behavior, but more than that, it highlights a rabid mentality that will brook no discussion of the President being culpable for a spy program. We have problems, both in the country and in the Party.

http://election.democraticunderground.com/10022998293

I love how these fools believe that Grayson himself is typing out theses things. 

[FiddyBeowulf]

http://election.democraticunderground.com/10022996354


I love how these fools believe that Grayson himself is typing out theses things. 

The fact that the same post will show up on other leftist sites verbatim does not phase them either. The person I pity is the intern that has to spend all day going to those kook sites and press CTRL+V on their keyboard over and over and over. 

[Karin]

(Maybe you need a bed that's closer to the floor. But then you'd have to watch out for the rats.)

Not in my home.  Speak for yourself, Alan Grayson's intern. 

The spaghetti remark was absurd as well.   

[obumazombie]

A banning for Alan ?

[USA4ME]

...  a small number of barely armed men on the other side of the world, garbed in sheets,...

They let their own get away with saying junk like this. If it were a conservative saying it, you'd hear "Racist!" all year long.

That's one reason why the revelations over the past few days of near-universal government surveillance are so disturbing.

And yet the libs can't make the connection that the gov't will do the same thing if we have universal healthcare.

I'm introducing a bill that I call the "Mind Your Own Business Act".

We as conservative have out own MYOBA. We just simply point and laugh at idiots like you, while ignoring your stupid ideas and doing what we want to do despite your protests that we do as you want us to do.

What a simple-minded individual Grayson is.

.

[obumazombie]

What ever happened to Grayson's DUI ?

[Vagabond]

I'm glad to see liberals upset about this.  I'm not inclined to think that storing all that data has any honest purpose. 

The British quartered soldiers in the house of known revelutionaries during the civil war for the express purpose of snooping about and knowing what they were doing.  That was the 17th century method of a wiretap.  Being they were the British they didn't bother with search warrants either. 

Are we now back to needing to pre-arrange our meetings in person at sidewalk cafes and wooded lots just to be free from government observation?

[Big Dog]

Are we now back to needing to pre-arrange our meetings in person at sidewalk cafes and wooded lots just to be free from government observation?

Cigar shops, biker bars, and VFW halls.

 

[USA4ME]

I'm glad to see liberals upset about this.

Put me down as skeptical to the point of unbelief. You can't want all these big gov't programs they keep saying they want without wanting a system by which your opposition can be dismantled and, in their minds, one day executed. Totalitarianism is the LW's first, middle, and last names.

Feigned outrage is what we're seeing from liberals, at best.

.

[Ptarmigan]

Put me down as skeptical to the point of unbelief. You can't want all these big gov't programs they keep saying they want without wanting a system by which your opposition can be dismantled and, in their minds, one day executed. Totalitarianism is the LW's first, middle, and last names.

Feigned outrage is what we're seeing from liberals, at best.

.

I am thinking the same. They are okay with it when a leftist is in power.

[Karin]

Ooo yuck, a commie-worshipping comment:

Response to Alan Grayson (Original post)
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 08:44 PM
 leftstreet (22,186 posts)
3. Definitely not East Germany. They had healthcare and jobs n/t

[Vagabond]

Put me down as skeptical to the point of unbelief. You can't want all these big gov't programs they keep saying they want without wanting a system by which your opposition can be dismantled and, in their minds, one day executed. Totalitarianism is the LW's first, middle, and last names.

Feigned outrage is what we're seeing from liberals, at best.

.

At some level you're right.  The thing is they don't think they should be observed, but that we should be.  In this case their people are spying on them as well and that doesn't sit well with them.

[jukin]

Put me down as skeptical to the point of unbelief. You can't want all these big gov't programs they keep saying they want without wanting a system by which your opposition can be dismantled and, in their minds, one day executed. Totalitarianism is the LW's first, middle, and last names.

Feigned outrage is what we're seeing from liberals, at best.

.

I tend to agree based on previous performance. Another thing the big government fascists love is calling legislation the exact opposite of what it is (i.e. the affordable care act). My guess is that if you really inspect the MYOB amendment it will increase the power to spy on American citizens.

I do love the full blown hypocrisy on display at the DUmp. A DUchebag and integrity shall never meet.

[Carl]

Cha (125,438 posts)
17. I don't think that's in the realm of possibility.. but, that's a

good question. It's so easy to rage on those who actually have the job of protecting people while balancing civil liberties.

I trust Pres Obama and VP Biden to do their job.. they're not out to Screw the American people. I don't care what the whiners on the intertubes say.

Funny that all the things you dumbasses screeched about when Bush was President never happened until O took office.

[98ZJUSMC]

Response to Alan Grayson (Original post)
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 08:44 PM
 leftstreet (22,186 posts)
3. Definitely not East Germany. They had healthcare and jobs n/t

Somebody knows absolutely nothing about the former East Germany.

I'm introducing a bill that I call the "Mind Your Own Business Act". This bill prohibits our government from spying on us, or collecting data on us, unless there's probable cause that you have committed or you will commit an act of terrorism or similar criminal offense.

So you were for data collection (ObingaCare) before you were against it?

We didn't give up our constitutional rights 150 years ago, when 1,000,000 heavily armed soldiers rose up in rebellion.  Those rebs had cannon, the nuclear weapon of the 19th century

Boy, are you stupid.

We have preserved our freedom and our rights for the past half-century, with over 10,000 nuclear warheads pointed right at us – enough to kill all of us even if we were like cats, and had nine lives. Why should we forsake our freedom and our rights now?

No, we had men and women who, took their place in the world as adults, and ensured that that did not happen.  You, and people like you, would have surrendered.  You had nothing to do with that.  It took a man like Ronald Reagan to finish it off after a numbnutted imbecile almost threw it all away, you jackass.