hello again. i do not believe nobody can see this is a small victory. the wiretapping and surveillance programs continue. when probable cause is collected, then it is presented to a judge for a warrant to collect evidence. this presumption that a judge was not already bought, only slows the process of information gathering as evidence. big brother can circumvent Constitutional law to control everything. every word on an internet is public domain. what you write ruins your own life.

Scarier than Bush-Cheney is the fact that the majority of the public doesn’t have a problem at all with wiretapping and pervasive electronic surveillance. The average American is convinced that “security” not freedom is the highest good, and most don’t have a clue as to the concept of “privacy.” Any attempt to explain Franklin’s warning about those who place such a value on “security” falls on deaf, dumb ears and that same moronic cliche-  ” well, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.”

Scarier than Bush-Cheney is the fact that the majority of the public doesn’t have a problem at all with wiretapping and pervasive electronic surveillance. The average American is convinced that “security” not freedom is the highest good, and most don’t have a clue as to the concept of “privacy.” Any attempt to explain Franklin’s warning about those who place such a value on “security” falls on deaf, dumb ears and that same moronic cliche-  ” well, if you you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.”

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross.” Sinclair Lewis, ‘It Cant Happen Here’

It seems that our Attorney General has been muzzled by his boss. If laws are not respected or enforced then we have no laws at all, worse we set up a scenario wherein another leader can freely ignore our laws as he/she wills.

“A nation consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individual’s morals are situational, that individual is without morals. If a nation’s laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isnt a nation.
Milgren, in Spook Country by William Gibson

Oh wow, Bush’s wiretapping was illegal? Well dang and go figure. Hmmm, what
about Bush’s illegal wars of naked aggression? What about all that icky Bushco
treason? What about the torture? The renditions? The detentions? Enron? Valerie
Plame? Yeah and big freaking deal. Bush’s wiretap program is illegal? What galling
bullshit.

Well I guess for the moment we can breathe a very small, restrained sigh of relief so far as illegal surveillance is concerned?  Or not?  Frankly, I’d feel better about it if the Obama Administration would take the responsibility to issue a widely circulated public statement of the exact specifics of this ruling,publicly reassert strong support for the right of habeas corpus and spell out in detail how we are being protected from “lapses.”

Unfortunately we should have recognized in 1978, when FISA was enacted by Congress, that wiretapping without warrant was illegal. I can’t remember who was threatening our sovreignity and security and nationhood back then; was it AlQaeda, Saddam, Freddie, the monster from the swamp lagoon, precocious children, mimes, unionized circus clowns…..?

hello. does that mean the Patriot Act and Homeland Security can not proceed without a warrant? that is a reversal of intelligence gathering i could support. if you can convince a judge to sign a warrant, then it is a probable cause. without a warrant it is an invasion of privacy.