The Republican conservatives are siding with Obama while liberal Democrats are attacking him? Justice Breyer sides with the conservatives while Justice Saclia sides with the liberals? What is going on in D.C.? The first part is easy to understand. With revelation of the intelligence program PRISM keeping track of vast amount of phone calls and internet communication, Obama being called "Big Brother" by liberals is easy to understand. It is also obvious why Republicans come to Obama's defense. This type of program was put in place by the Bush administration. So while saying that Obama is hypocritical for embracing the program now after attacking Bush's policies, the Republicans have to say that Obama is right for continuing the program.
I would have to agree with Obama and the Republicans. (That is a weird sentence). It is easy to attack the government for infringement of freedom as an outsider. But once you are the government and responsible for security, you are going to try to get as much legal power as possible. If Obama had stopped PRISM and an attack occurs, he would be fried. Now he can say there is Congressional and court oversight of the program. He is still hypocritical but he would rather be hypocritical than a failure at national security. For all those people who cry about privacy, how many of you have facebook and other social media accounts? How many of you buy things over the internet or use membership cards at a Costco? You no longer have much privacy. Companies all over the world know what you like or dislike and how best to sell you stuff already! So at least for now the invasion of my privacy by private sources is more annoying to me than any government monitoring of my communications. (You are welcome, Big Brother who is reading this).
Regarding Scalia and Breyer reversing roles, I don't understand how that happened. This case was about whether the police can obtain DNA from anyone who was arrested as opposed to someone who was already convicted. Breyer voted yes and Scalia voted no. I agree with Breyer and the conservatives. (Again, a weird sentence). I don't see how this is anymore infringement than getting finger printed and a mug shot when you are arrested now. Sure, DNA reveals more of you than the finger prints. But this is hardly more intrusion to the privacy of someone arrested. This law would increase the national data base to help solve crimes. So I think the benefits outweigh the infringements here.
Sunday, June 09, 2013
3 comments:
Use the following html code to make a clickable link in your comment (instructions in the sidebar). You can test the link by previewing your comment.
<a href="http://angryyellowman.blogspot.com">Angry Yellow Man</a>
The above example will display as Angry Yellow Man
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I was thinking about Obama's policies recently. In my opinion, he has never been afraid to go against party lines. You would think that when he does something that conservatives would like, that it would help when he goes over to the left.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it doesn't really work that way. Even with PRISM, we've seen quite a few congressmen, like Rand Paul, thumping their chests against the administration.
I will admit that PRISM does concern me and make me feel uneasy, I also think that if you aren't doing anything illegal, you have nothing to worry about.
I consider myself a pretty private person, so I don't like things about me out there without me controlling what goes out there.
I did not hear about the Scalia/Breyer/DNA stuff. I agree with you that DNA should be obtained. You are right, it's just like a finger print, and unless a sample is contaminated, usually DNA evidence is what, 98% accurate?
-LBOAYM
So the guy who leaked PRISM fled to Hong Kong, believing it is the land of free speech. It is a land of free speech except when you criticize China! Does he not see the irony of accusing the U.S. government of being Big Brother and then running to a territory controlled by the biggest Big Brother of them all? If this guy is idealistic as his supporters claim, then he is also the most naive person in the world. Does he not realize that by going to a Chinese territory, he gives China ammunition when the U.S. and others accuse China of human rights abuse?
ReplyDeleteIf Snowden has secrets that he can sell to China for his protection, then he is a traitor. If he asks China for asylum, it will give China leverage in negotiations over human rights, cyber attack or censorship. I think this maybe more damaging to the U.S. than revealing PRISM. Lets face it, if a terrorist is too dumb to not know that the U.S. has the power to monitor phone calls and emails, then he is too dumb to be an effective terrorist anyway. Obviously, the U.S. has to prosecute any leaks but the leaks themselves in this case are not that problematic. I would say if China plays hard ball about extradition, then we should just let him stay in China. He will find out what Big Brother is really like and he will be China's headache!
So the two major leaks we have in the last year came from a person working for a defense contractor and a low level soldier. Neither are high ranking members of the government. So you tell me that millions of low level soldiers or non government workers can leak national security info? I think that is the most important lesson here. If we don't figure out how to keep secrets secret, then all the complaining about China hacking into our systems is totally useless.
Good point regarding letting him stay in China. The only bad thing is the information that he has or could potentially pass along to the Chinese government. Has there been any confirmation on what he copied?
ReplyDeleteThe problem the U.S. government has is that they had to hire out these 3rd party contractors to do the work. So there's it's a lot harder to control who is handling the information.
How does a company hire a high school dropout and someone who was discharged (though supposedly it was a medical discharge) get hired for a job like this?
I also can't imagine that the government would have outside companies handling high level spy information. You would think they would want to take care of that stuff internally.
Oh well, I guess we'll find out what the government wants us to find out eventually.
This guy will be found. He probably sticks out like a sore thumb in Asia anyway!
-LBOAYM