Poor, stupid Americans... you get what you pay for

[Patriot]

How could this even be discussed by lawmakers in Washington?  Simple.  Average Americans are too ignorant and/or too busy with their daily BS to be bothered.  Too lazy to get off their iPods & feed trucks to raise hell.  They seem to think all will be well if they simply elect people to represent them in government, then fail to keep watch over the elected.  Heck, many people are too lazy to even vote.  Well, sheeple Americans, you get what you vote (or don't vote) for... Good luck with your poor choices and lack of vigilance!  

First, the background:

United States Constitution - Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

Now the Treason & tyranny:

Senate bill rewrite lets feds read your e-mail without warrants
Proposed law scheduled for a vote next week originally increased Americans' e-mail privacy. Then law enforcement complained. Now it increases government access to e-mail and other digital files.

CNET
by Declan McCullagh
November 20, 2012 4:00 AM PST

A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law.

CNET has learned that Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.
Revised bill highlights

✭ Grants warrantless access to Americans' electronic correspondence to over 22 federal agencies. Only a subpoena is required, not a search warrant signed by a judge based on probable cause.

✭ Permits state and local law enforcement to warrantlessly access Americans' correspondence stored on systems not offered "to the public," including university networks.

✭ Authorizes any law enforcement agency to access accounts without a warrant -- or subsequent court review -- if they claim "emergency" situations exist.

✭ Says providers "shall notify" law enforcement in advance of any plans to tell their customers that they've been the target of a warrant, order, or subpoena.

✭ Delays notification of customers whose accounts have been accessed from 3 days to "10 business days." This notification can be postponed by up to 360 days.

Leahy's rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies -- including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission -- to access Americans' e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge. (CNET obtained the revised draft from a source involved in the negotiations with Leahy.)


A complaint from law enforcement?  Just who the hell do they work for?  Oh, that's right... government.  Government pandering to government.  What a concept, foolish Americans.

Full story: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57552225-38/senate-bill-rewrite-lets-feds-read-your-e-mail-without-warrants/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

[jarhead]

Will this insanity ever end ?

[Patriot]

Will this insanity ever end ?

Never, unless Americans everywhere stop acting stupidly.  When citizens start paying attention to what elected officials and unelected bureaucrats are doing in between elections... then there might be some hope.

[Warph]

Ok... since this is a re-write of the original Bill 2471 with these new amendments and it passes the Senate, doesn't it have to go back to the House for a vote on these amendments, too?  And will SCOTUS have to get involved since its a right issue? 

One big plus that the Germans have over us is that they lived under two totalitarian regimes (Nazi and DDR/Stasi), and they LEARNED from their experience.  That's why the right to privacy in Germany is a CONSTITUIONAL RIGHT, and in the EU its a FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT.

That doesn't mean that its an absolute right because it is just one of a number of rights that may and do conflict.

The "Volkszaehlungsurteil" (Census Ruling) of the Federal Contstutional Court in 1988 established the "Right to informational self-determination " as a constitutional right which has been repeatedly defended up to the present day.

Basically it says, "my data belongs to me" and it is a powerful concept that the U.S. government simply doesn't understand.

But its one damned good bit of constitutional law making that we Americans are slowly beginning to realize has been lost in the U.S.  We are no longer a functioning democracy, our legal system, patent system and a number of other fundamentally important defenses to freedom are completely dysfunctional.

But, we have the best government that money can buy.  Just ask Obuma, The House and Senate!

When I saw Eric Holder argue that the constitution guarantees the right to "due process", but not the right to a judicial process, and that the decision of the president to authorize the killing of a US citizen ... I wondered whether it was a quote from "The Communist Manifesto," "Mein Kampf" or "1984."

[Patriot]

Ok... since this is a re-write of the original Bill 2471 with these new amendments and it passes the Senate, doesn't it have to go back to the House for a vote on these amendments, too?

I suspect so.  But it's still terribly troubling that a senior senator would even consider such a travesty.  At the very least it will go through a conference committee, but the way things have been going, there's no telling what a Boehner selected conference committee might do.

When I saw Eric Holder argue that the constitution guarantees the right to "due process", but not the right to a judicial process, and that the decision of the president to authorize the killing of a US citizen ... I wondered whether it was a quote from "The Communist Manifesto," "Mein Kampf" or "1984."

Is 'D', All of the above, an option?

[Warph]

Is 'D', All of the above, an option?

I'm sorry... 'D'?

[redcliffsw]

The Federals are stealing our liberty for themselves.

The Federals want the people to be transparent and the Federals want their privacy.

Well, it's supposed to be the other way around - the Fed's are to be transparent
and we are to have our privacy.

Is that too hard for the communists to understand?  It is.

[Diane Amberg]

WARPH, make it a multiple choice question with ''d"...all of the above, as the last option.

[Warph]

Leahy scuttles his warrantless e-mail surveillance bill

After public criticism of proposal that lets government agencies warrantlessly access Americans' e-mail, Sen. Patrick Leahy says he will "not support" such an idea at next week's vote.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57552687-38/leahy-scuttles-his-warrantless-e-mail-surveillance-bill/

[Ross]

Do we need to worry about about our government screwing us?
I think we need to worry about our government protecting us as well.

Check it out:

United Nations threatens Colorado, Washington state over marijuana decriminalization laws
http://www.naturalnews.com/038140_United_Nations_Colorado_marijuana_prohibition.html

Next generation of airport scanners will scan every single molecule in your body
http://www.naturalnews.com/038135_airport_scanners_TSA_privacy_invasion.html#ixzz2Dc3K3GwU

Texas student expelled for refusing to wear tracking chip on school campus
http://www.naturalnews.com/038129_student_tracking_chips_expelled.html#ixzz2Dc3Vk0d2

Remember when the idea of the government reading your emails was a 'conspiracy theory?'
http://www.naturalnews.com/038128_emails_privacy_government_surveillance.html#ixzz2Dc3k2vcm

Global government now seeks total control over the internet
http://www.naturalnews.com/038125_United_Nations_internet_global_government.html#ixzz2Dc3wjCN7


Global Government, United Nations, TSA all attacking our freedoms and rights under our Constitution.
Is our Constitution 6' under all ready?
Is our Federal Government working under "Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak (NO) Evil"?