The NSA spying program is bigger than you think, and bigger than the government is willing to admit
While Barack Obama is trying to quell the outrage over the NSA spying program by claiming nobody is listening to phone calls and by claiming that his regime–and the Congress–has struck a balance between national security and personal liberty we are learning that the program might actually be bigger than we thought it was when the news first broke that the NSA was collecting data on domestic phone calls.
A whistleblower has come forward with the claim that the NSA has actually been targeting many people seemingly for political reasons as early as 2004 when then candidate Barack Obama was running for office in Chicago:
Here’s the big one,” he said. “[T]his was in summer of 2004, one of the papers that I held in my hand was to wiretap a bunch of numbers associated with a 40-something-year-old wannabe senator for Illinois. You wouldn’t happen to know where that guy lives right now would you? It’s a big white house in Washington, D.C. That’s who they went after, and that’s the president of the United States now.”
But many more have been targeted over the years, including members of the Congress and at least one person who now sits on the Supreme Court:
They went after–and I know this because I had my hands literally on the paperwork for these sort of things–they went after high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the–and judicial
“But they went after other ones, too. They went after lawyers and law firms. All kinds of–heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House–their own people”
In the interest of full disclosure my position on the PATRIOT Act has evolved much in the same manner as Bill O’Reilly’s and Sean Hannity’s positions have evolved on immigration reform. I used to be one of those people who thought that if you had nothing to hide you had nothing to fear. I now realize how stupid and naive that position was because I was not taking into account the manner in which this act violates to protections granted in the Bill of Rights. I was one of those who was willing to give up a little liberty for a little security, but I am no longer!
I was wrong and I have since seen the error of my ways. I once blindly followed a political party but I do so no more! I used to believe that the PATRIOT Act was passed with good intentions but now I am not so sure because I distrust virtually every single person in the Federal Government, and yes, that includes almost all Republicans as well. At this point I no longer know what to believe because we have been lied to so many times in the past.
Since the news of the spying program first broke I stated that this was an issue which should concern people on both sides of the aisle and I think these new revelations proves that point.
Much like most government programs, since its inception the PATRIOT Act has done nothing but grow to the extent where the government is now spying on political opponents as well as the American people.
You now have to wonder how the government found out about General Petraeus’s affair through his private emails, and you have to wonder why exactly Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts changed his Obamacare vote so shortly before the Supreme Court issued its Obamacare ruling.
But the news gets worse still: There is an old saying that goes something like this; what the large print giveth the small print taketh away and according to this story that is the case with the NSA spying program as signed off by Eric Holder in 2009 as well. While we are being told that the data taken in on American citizens is being destroyed it turns out that not only might that not be the case, but also the data inadvertently collected on American citizens can be used to spy on some Americans without a search warrant.
As I wrote about here, Eliot Spitzer was actually caught banging high priced prostitutes because he was inadvertently ensnared by the PATRIOT Act–proving that non-terrorist related information found through the PATRIOT Act can and will be used against you in a court of law–so if you do not think it can happen to you you had better think again.
The PATRIOT Act must be repealed, the NDAA must be repealed, the FAA must cease its program which will allow drone use on American soil, and the Federal Government must be purged of everyone who voted for these policies in the first place.
When I first started this blog it was named ‘Wake Up America’ and it is time for us to do so before it is too late, if it is not already…..
Trackbacks
- Haters! Permission? Watching! Weak Eyed!! Alaska. Biden! | Freedom Is Just Another Word...
- The IRS was improperly scrutinizing the tax returns of political candidates and donors | America's Watchtower
- Benghazi: Colonel Bristol to testify tomorrow | America's Watchtower
- Peter King defends the NSA spying program and slams Rand Paul for questioning it | America's Watchtower
- Dick Cheney defends the NSA data-mining program | America's Watchtower
America's Watchtower 
You are right about the unauthorized use of data gathered via the Patriot Act. I’m pretty much like you and felt the need for such legislation following the 9-11 attacks. But now I realize that if information like that provided by the Act is out there, politicians being the animals they are, will find a way to get their hands on it and use it against their political enemies. It is the nature of the beast. There are few men of honor left in this old world and even fewer in the ranks that call themselves “public servants”.
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I am sure there will be those out there who claim we are only changing our minds because Obama is the president, and they will claim that if there is ever a Republican president again we will chnage our minds back, but that is simply not the truth.
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They’ve been abusing these kinds of programs ever since they’ve existed. The carnivore program the fbi started back in 1997 (since replaced by narusInsight) collected emails from anywhere. when found out about, of course they were only reading emails regarding terror. But you can bet there has been many American emails read that had nothing to do with terror. I think I can safely say, that every program ever designed has been abused by any administration that had access to it, Government cannot be trust with any privacy intrusive program. It *will* be abused.
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Little by little, and more and more every day these programs are expanded ad abused and it has been going on for a long time. And you are right, it is both sides that abuse the power once they have it. What is it that they say about absolute power again?
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When you see the pictures of the NSA center in Utah and read the information about it is chilling. But what is really stupid is we were not able to stop 911 or Bengazi. You’re telling me on the night that Benghazi happened the cell phone chatter did not light up the board at the NSA. BS! We demand answers now!
http://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/
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Thanks for the link, I have seen the picture but haven’t read the details. Yeah, they have claimed there was no chatter before Benghazi and to be honest that is nothing but bullshit.
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I really do believe the Patriot Act was passed with good intentions. But those good intentions have fallen far by the wayside and the legislation has been used for purposes far beyond its original intent. It is time for it to be trashed.
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I used to think so too Larry, but I am not so sure anymore because I have lost faith in both parties.
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We just might be watching watergate revisited. Just might be.
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Only if the pressure is kept up on them by the media and by the people.
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I am of the opinion that everything the Government does for “our own good” is NOT for our own good, but to ensnare us even further into their web. Not for a moment do I believe ANYTHING will be destroyed, but put away for later use. I will say this about both sides of Congress, minus a few that are trying to right things. At this point, I believe the American people are numb to all the crap that is surfacing and just don’t listen anymore. The more complicated the situations turn out to be, the more people are focusing on anything BUT that. I also think that once they have a new department in place, it will be near impossible to dismantle it. Obamacare is not our friend, but I doubt we will ever see it defunded or stopped. The Government is on a roll and we are in the way, so we are expendable.
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Yeah, nothing that is supposed to be for our own good seems to turn out that way in the end. There is no way in hell the data will be destroyed before a copy is made. And as far as so much being thrown at us all at once to numb us, that is all part of the plan; they figure if they throw it all at us at the same time we will either be overwhelmed or grow weary of fighting.
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Our government is corrupt to the core and this current administration is the worst of them all. Steve, if you can stand another possible twist to this saga, try reading this:
http://noisyroom.net/blog/2013/06/15/the-sandbagging-of-america/
Either way, you are right. this government must be taken apart brick by brick so we can start over again.
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I will check it out, thanks!
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Well, if they tapped obama, then they bungled that terribly. I figured the guy out in half an hour. How could they not know what this guy was-unless that’s the kind of guy they were looking for.
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You know, that is something I have been wondering about also, it almost makes you think the news about Obama being tapped was thrown in there to make him a victim also and to deflect some of the blame away from him.
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You got to figure if ‘conniving minds, control freaks’ have been working on this generation after generation [like the Minority Report] how deep is it? – deep. Here’s something from American Thinker that speaks to the personalities behind some of this invasion. The ever puffing up: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/06/an_uncontrollable_ego.html
Even Merkel has a look here that says volumes: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/19/us-obama-berlin-monitoring-idUSBRE95I0JH20130619
Even if people in positions of authority were exposed for what content they transmit, who would do anything about it? Facts don’t seem to matter.
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