Mueller falls on sword (Oops part II)

[Judy G. Russell]

FBI Director Robert Mueller today admitted that the FBI has been getting huge amount of personal information about Americans -- individuals and businesses alike -- without getting search warrants or court approval -- and in many cases the info has been obtained when the law simply doesn't allow it. Mueller said some of the problem was in record-keeping and some in sloppy execution of the law. Even the Republicans are not amused. GOP Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was quoted by the NY Times as saying: “When it comes to national security, sloppiness should be reserved for the hog lot, not the F.B.I.”

What a difference Congressional oversight makes...

Ooops, Part II.

[Lindsey]

What a difference Congressional oversight makes...
Exactly the point of this article (http://thehill.com/josh-marshall/in-firings-wake-dems-on-duty-2007-03-08.html) by Josh Marshall in The Hill on the subject of the US Atty purge.

Also, Glen Greenwald has a fantastic post (http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/?last_story=/opinion/greenwald/2007/03/09/fbi/) on his blog regarding this issue of the misuse of national security letters. (It's on the Salon.com site, but give that a try again -- you no longer have to click through an ad to get to the main page, the ads show up on the page itself if you don't have an ad-free subscription, so you may be able to get to it now with Firefox.)

Greenwald is right -- it's no surprise that the FBI was misusing its newly-granted powers. We all knew that was going to happen, no matter how vigorously supporters of the PATRIOT act denied it.

(And by the way, can we get rid of this new habit of calling this sort of thing a "tool"? as in "Congress must act immediately and reauthorize the Patriot Act before the men and women in law enforcement lose the tools they need to keep us safe." Warrantless surveillance is not a screwdriver or a hammer. Call these things by the proper term: Powers. Make them say, "Law enforcement must have these powers to operate effectively." I'm tired of letting them hide behind benign-seeming words like "tools," especially when the danger posed by them is abuse of power, not abuse of "tools.")

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

I'm tired of letting them hide behind benign-seeming words like "tools," especially when the danger posed by them is abuse of power, not abuse of "tools."I think Congress may finally be getting just that point.

[ndebord]

I think Congress may finally be getting just that point.

Originally Posted by Lindsey
I'm tired of letting them hide behind benign-seeming words like "tools," especially when the danger posed by them is abuse of power, not abuse of "tools."

Judy and Lindsey,

And why shouldn't they? When to use the word "tools" is merely to copy a page out of the NRA's playbook.

[Lindsey]

I think Congress may finally be getting just that point.
I certainly hope so!

--Lindsey

[Lindsey]

And why shouldn't they? When to use the word "tools" is merely to copy a page out of the NRA's playbook.
I guess I haven't been paying enough attention to the NRA. What, are they calling assault rifles "tools"?

--Lindsey

[ndebord]

I guess I haven't been paying enough attention to the NRA. What, are they calling assault rifles "tools"?

--Lindsey

Lindsey,

ALL weapons are just tools in the hands of fallible human beings, according to the dictums of the NRA. IF you're bad, you pick up an AK-47 and kill humans. If you're good, you pick up an AK-47 and go kill deer.

[Lindsey]

IF you're bad, you pick up an AK-47 and kill humans. If you're good, you pick up an AK-47 and go kill deer.
I'm not sure I'd consider someone who went deer hunting with an AK-47 "good."

--Lindsey

[ndebord]

I'm not sure I'd consider someone who went deer hunting with an AK-47 "good."

--Lindsey

Lindsey,

What? Dare you doubt the bona fides of the NRA?

;-)

[Lindsey]

What? Dare you doubt the bona fides of the NRA?
You betcha!

--Lindsey