Spying on those that really need spying on

Normally I peruse Sister Toldjah's site, she is one of my regular reads in which I posted something in a comment section I thought should be carried over to a post here, so without further delay.....

The NSA program just went from an academic exercise to a practical application. The Colombians know that at least eight people snuck through on faked passports and are now in the United States. Do you suppose that an NSA program designed to check international calls might help locate these suspects — and perhaps help stop a planned attack on an American target? Obviously, this long-term and expensive project by the al-Qaeda/Hamas partnership has some grand mission in mind. They’re not traveling to the US for their health; they want to stage new attacks on the American mainland.

How does everyone feel about that international surveillance now? Sounds like a pretty damned good idea, doesn’t it?

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The Capt sums it up quite nicely.

In Bin Ladens video he states there are already cells here in the US. We have proof that they have been sneaking in with false identifications by this report.

How much more does the media and the democrats want to whine about warrantless INTERNATIONAL wire taps?

I’m sorry, but if it protects US citizens by finding out information where we can prevent a terrorist attack on US soil, I have no problem with it at all.

In fact there would not be the uproar that this has caused if it had not been for illegal leaks of classified information to the NYT, which the NYT knew it was classified information but ran with it anyways, which would make them accomplices in these leaks. If none of this would have been leaked in the first place no one would even care and the the media and democrats would not be spinning this as Domestic Spying (something the Clinton Administration did) and not as International Eaves Dropping as what this is.

I agree with the Capt on this, it sure makes the International Eaves Dropping a helluva good idea in my opinion. If your talking with terrorists, I want our Government to know so they can do something about it before it becomes to late.

I think ColdHearted Truth has hit the nail on the head here in this post:

If you go out on the internet and your internet provider can track your website usage… what level of privacy can you expect? Certainly your phone company tracks your phone call usage, if not the phone calls themselves. They know who you called, when you called them, and how long you talked. If you talk on a cell phone, you know in all probability that if someone ‘wanted’ to listen in that they could with the right scanning equipment tuned to the right frequency. What level of privacy can you really expect?

One of the most frequent arguments about the 4th amendments goes to these questions. You must first determine that you have a reasonable expectation of privacy before you can claim that someone violated your rights. You cannot walk into a public restaurant, start talking within earshot of 10 people and expect that what you say is private. You cannot go to a public place, open up a public computer, bring up a child porn site and expect any privacy. You can expect that the conversation that you have with your wife that takes place in your home is private.

So I wonder out loud if our expectation of privacy hasn’t gone over the edge. Because we now do see people argue that what they do in public is private. Some seem well established valid claims, where others seem unreasonable. For example, we have heard that video cameras in places such as stores are a violation of privacy. Certainly a situation where a video camera is hidden in a tanning booth is a classic example of violation of privacy. Everyone sees this. But video cameras have been allowed in changing booths to prevent shoplifting. I would suspect mixed reaction on that one. Others argue that an open video camera monitoring a store is a violation of privacy in and of itself. Most would disagree. So where do we draw the line? What is reasonable to expect in terms of privacy as we move into the 21st century. What responsibilities do we have ourselves to be more discreet about things we want private?

While we quibble and bicker over what rights the government has to wiretap suspected terrorists and whether or not they need a FISA warrant to do so… it seems like we almost miss the point. More to the point, we need to wake up and smell the coffee. We cannot expect our law enforcement and our government to go out of their way to not do the sorts of things that a relatively good teenage hacker could do. We should not tell our law enforcement and government that they cannot have the same access to information that our internet providers and phone providers have. We have people out there who can steal everything from us, including our identities. We have people out there that can cause unlimited damage on our society. But we don’t want the very people we expect to prevent these things to play the games at the same level. I hate to tell you this, but people are gonna be out there trying to invade your privacy, and they are not doing it with the intent of preventing a terrorist attack. They have other intentions. Ask me and I would rather have the best of the best of these hackers working for us, not against us.

We think of a big brother as a bad thing… but a good big brother is always around the corner in case someone calls on his little brother and wants to do him harm. Now if we tell our big brother to leave us be and give us our space… then who are we to blame him for not being there when the bully calls and beats the hell out of us?

Do those that protest so much actually believe they have the RIGHT to privacy?
Then what do they do about these Privacy intruders:
* Telemarketers?
* Companies that sell your information?
* ISP that track your Internet usage?
* Cordless phone. You think they are Private?!?!
* You Credit Report? Ask Michael Steele how Private that is.

And there are many more instances where intrusion into your privacy happens that you don't even realize it happens.

Which raises a question, is it inherently in the Constitution that you actually HAVE a Right to Privacy? Is that one of our rights granted to us by the Constitution?


Meanwhile Iran wants DIRECT flights into the US for thier Commercial Airliners:

Iran has asked the United States to allow direct flights between the two countries after a break of more than two decades, a senior civil aviation official said on Thursday.

The request comes as the United States and its European Union allies are pressing for the Islamic Republic to be reported to the United Nations Security Council where it could face possible sanctions for its nuclear program.

“We sent a letter to the relevant American officials on Wednesday, announcing Iran’s willingness to resume direct flights,” Nourollah Rezai-Niaraki, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, told state television.

He said the decision to make the request was taken by hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad due to demand from the large Iranian community living in the United States.

“They have repeatedly complained about wasting time and losing their baggage on connecting flights,” the official said.

Iranian airliners have been barred from the United States since the US government broke ties with Tehran after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

An Iranian civil aviation spokesman said Ahmadinejad’s decision did not signal any move to try to improve relations between the two old foes. “I hope American officials do not adopt a political stance in making a decision on this request,” said spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh.

The United States and the EU accuse Iran of trying to make nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Tehran says it needs nuclear technology to satisfy booming domestic electricity demand.

Iran is subject to US economic sanctions imposed in 1996, under the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. Due to the sanctions, Iran has struggled to maintain its ageing fleet of aircraft, mostly US-built Boeing planes bought before the 1979 revolution.

Iran, who at this time wish to “wipe Israel off the map”, wishes to have direct flights to the US, an ally to Israel.

Umm…No.

Let me think about that for a moment….

HELL NO. Are you out of your ever-loving mind?!?!