Alan Grayson: IT'S NOT OKAY WITH ME - "We are not North Koreans. & We don’t live in Nazi Germany."

[kpete]

ALAN GRAYSON:

I submit to you that this program, although the proponents picked it as American as ‘‘apple spy,’’ is an anti-American program. We are not North Koreans. We don’t live in Nazi Germany. We are Americans and we are human beings, and we deserve to have our privacy respected. I have no way to call my mother except to employ the services of Verizon or AT&T or some other telephone company. I’m not going to string two cups between my house and her house 70 miles away. That doesn’t mean that it’s okay with me for the government -- and specifically the Department of Defense -- to be getting information about every telephone call I make to her. It’s not okay with me.

http://americablog.com/2013/06/alan-grayson-nsa-mind-your-own-business-act.html
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2013-06-14/pdf/CREC-2013-06-14-house.pdf

[backscatter712]

1. K&FuckingR! The authoritarians telling us to bend over can suck it!

[forestpath]

2. [phone]

[reformist2]

25. Erase the database!

[lastlib]

53. ^ ^ THIS ^ ^ !!!

...and ALL the backups!

[limpyhobbler]

73. +a billion. nt

[demwing]

46. +100% /nt

[premium]

3. Shout it loud and long

Mr. Grayson.
We need more people like him in the Congress, a true patriot.

[woo me with science]

4. THANK YOU!

[East Coast Pirate]

5. What do you expect from a radical leftist

who hates President Obama?

[Katashi_itto]

6. NSA operations were rubberstamped by FISA

The court oversees requests for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States by federal law enforcement agencies.

That does not give NSA carte Blanche for dragnet operations, despite what they rule.

In June a copy of a top secret court order the court issued on April 25, 2013 requiring Verizon's Business Network Services to provide metadata on all calls in its system to the National Security Agency "on an ongoing daily basis", was disclosed by British media. Subsequently, the Obama Administration disclosed that the records of all phone companies had been collected by the NSA for years, with "oversight" from Congress and the FISA court.

[sabrina 1]

30. FISA doesn't have the authority to issue warrants for domestic spying, or 'collecting and storing'

of data that is none of their business anyhow. They only have authority to deal with foreign intel.

It seems to me that if the FISA Court DID warrants on Americans, they need to be disbanded.

As for Obama's statement, Nadler and Sanchez and Wyden disagree with his use of Congress providing oversight to diminish concern. Both Wyden and Nadler say that THEY CANNOT TALK ABOUT the briefings they get so they cannot state their objections publicly. This silence publicly should not be construed as any kind of support for this program.

Maybe Obama should talk Democrats once in a while. He appears to get all of his advice from Republicans and Right Wing Democrats. He seems very uninformed on a lot of important issues due to, as he calls them, his 'advisers'. Same thing with Offshore drilling, when he announced the ban, he made a not so subtle negative comment about liberals who supported the ban, when he called their reasons 'outdated'. HIS advisers, he stated, had assured him oil rigs were no longer a threat in terms of leaks. 18 days later he was proven tragically wrong. I would have assumed those advisers would be fired, but I doubt it.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

7. Could there be a few Germans who are gratefully saying, "We don't live in the USA".

[tblue]

18. There are probably CHINESE people saying that.

Tell me again why we are the shining city on the hill. Please. Cuz I forget.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

24. There are. My wife in China is one of them

Between the shootings and the loss of the facade of "freedom," alot of people here in China look at the US as giant, hypocritical hegemonists only out for their own interests while hiding behind the betterment of the world.

Not that the Chinese government doesn't do the same thing (they do), but at least they are open and honest about their bullshit and hypocrisy.

[tblue]

38. Isn't that a doggone shame?!

I was in England back during the W years. Friends we made there said they were afraid to come to the US because they might get shot. I wish I could say the number of deaths by gunshot they envisioned was an exaggeration. It's not.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

71. Many English people consider Miami

to be like the entire US. Florida is the number one place, or close to it, for Brits to vacation. Also the average Brit doesn't realize how huge the US is. I live thousands of miles from Florida and it's a different climate and culture here, but it's hard for a average Brit to understand that. Back in W's years there were some Brits shot while on holiday in Florida and it was big news.

Brits generally don't understand that there are neighborhoods in the US that if you wander into and get shot, then you must have been up to 'no-good'.

[bvar22]

8. Thank You. I STAND with you!

[magellan]

9. Or me

The more I learn about the corporate side of this and how the language is being exploited to gather intel on every American, the angrier I get. Thank Dog for Alan Grayson!

[tblue]

19. Yes. THANK DOG!

I never once thought this country would actually make giant leaps of REgress.

[rhett o rick]

10. k&r thanks for posting.

[99Forever]

11. Alan Grayson for President 2016

[Initech]

12. Warren - Grayson or Grayson / Warren 2016

That would annihilate Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, or any number of crazy, failed candidates the GOP plans to trot out for their clown car candidate circus.

[Enthusiast]

13. PLUS ONE! nt

[99Forever]

15. I absolutely agree 1000%.

Imagine, 2 actual Democrats as the top of the Democratic Party ticket.

[Zorra]

28. +1

[zeemike]

29. Ether way would be fine with me.

And I would hope we did not get fooled again.

[NorthCarolina]

54. I wish, but either Warren or Grayson would have DU's

resident Clinton/Obama "third-way" neoconservatives flinging poo from every direction.

[harun]

64. You are correct. They will run all third-way neo-con's next time around.

[Plucketeer]

60. I'll bet that such a DUO

would deliver more CHANGE than HOPE! Hope's cheap and ethereal - Change is concrete.

[WillyT]

14. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[nashville_brook]

16. k and r. that's my congressman. he rocks.

[silvershadow]

17. And *this is why I am thankful Grayson was returned to office! Give 'em hell, sir! nt

[SidDithers]

20. But how will we eat spaghetti?...nt

Sid

[tritsofme]

21. Making comparisons to Nazi Germany ect shows how juvenile and nonsensical he is.

[Smarmie Doofus]

41. Not so juvenile. The families of a million dead Iraqis would surely beg to differ.

"Nonsensical"? That's nonsense itself.

[Le Taz Hot]

57. What exactly is a "Nazi Germany ect?"

[one_voice]

22. I respect Alan Grayson...

but comparisons to Nazi Germany are ridiculous. I think he can do better than that.

[kestrel91316]

27. It's not ridiculous. It's spot on.

"First they came for the trade unionists...."

[NoPasaran]

43. After all, who can forget the day Obama arrested all the trade unionists?

[840high]

23. Thank you.

[Progressive dog]

26. I like Alan Grayson, but the Nazi stuff isn't necessary nt

[RC]

31. It is a reminder.

We are heading in that direction ourselves.

[Progressive dog]

33. No it isn't, it is over the top

and the kind of statement that calls into question his credibility. It is a Glenn Beck type tactic.

[frylock]

62. Germans are making the same comparisons..

and they may know a thing or three about creeping fascism.

[Progressive dog]

65. Germany was where the Nazis started

and they have laws against Nazi stuff. This is from wikipedia
"The West German government had passed strict laws prohibiting Nazis from publicly expressing their beliefs, as well as barring them from politics. Displaying the swastika was an offense punishable by up to one year imprisonment."
That's how they stop fascism. Works well, too. Let's do it.

[frylock]

67. the germans are making the same comparisons. full stop..

address my actual words if you care to.

[Progressive dog]

68. I did, the Germans have laws about Nazi stuff, they think are

all right. You brought up the Germans supporting your view as if it added to the credibility of your argument. I merely gave you a fuller German view as reflected in their laws about the same subject.
I assume you have a German poll to share on your claim about the Germans view on NSA=Nazis are coming.
If you don't think that addressed your actual words, I can't help you with that problem.

[Progressive dog]

36. No we aren't

not anything near that direction.

[tblue]

39. The Germans didn't think so either.

They never thought it would go that far. Not saying we're becoming nazified. Just that we are pointed in the direction of a totalitarian state way more than we should be, and the time to change direction is now. I believe that's what Rep. Grayson was saying too.

[Progressive dog]

48. They must have missed the rallies

and the attendees were imported from neighboring countries.
The similarities just aren't there.
As said before, I like Alan Grayson, I like his passion but I also want leaders in a free society not to go Glen Beck.

[tblue]

74. Yeah. There were rallies. So?

A rally is just a rally. It doesn't necessarily lead to fascism. Why would anybody think, "Today there's a rally, and that means everyone's freedoms will be taken away." It's only in hindsight that we can look back and say those first Nazi rallies were going to turn into a purely repressive, murderous fascist state. Should the people have known? Yes! And so should we. We have to learn from the mistakes of a gullible people who willingly gave up their rights and freedoms. That's all I'm saying.

Even many Jews didn't think things could possibly go that far until it was too late.

[Progressive dog]

75. Where are the NSA rallies

Where is the actual support from the people and where is the Nazi party? Are your neighbors secret members or is it just those guys in the government? If it's just them, we outnumber them.

"Even many Jews didn't think things could possibly go that far until it was too late."
Let me see if I understand this, or you could explain it to me. I do not believe that the NSA spying scandal" has any resemblance to the rise of the Nazis. You have offered no evidence that it does, but you use a statement about the Jews as some sort of proof.

[BeyondGeography]

51. You're on a public message board, free to be as ridiculous as you want

That should tell you something.

[RC]

59. You mean about the ignorance of others?

Last edited Mon Jun 17, 2013, 01:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Just because we don't have any gestapo or too many check points does not mean it is not happening.


Oh and BTY, check this out:

Slaton police arrest woman after request to see warrant
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023033245

[ohheckyeah]

34. Obviously it is since

the people in this country are so willing to capitulate to being spied on. It's spot on. How do you think Nazi Germany got so powerful? Over night?

[Progressive dog]

35. go read a tiny bit of history

and then you tell me. As a hint, the Nazi's were a political party that made no secret what its' goals were. It had a leader that screamed hate at rallies. The German people didn't concede anything, they actively supported the Nazi government.

[ohheckyeah]

37. I've read plenty of history.

These things never happen over night.

[tblue]

40. You're right.

Why in the world would we wait before we take this seriously??? What are we waiting for?

[davidpdx]

47. Nor is the comparison to North Korea

I respect Grayson and am glad he is back in Congress. However North Korea actually has neighbors ratting on each other and they are sent to gulags (concentration camps). The last time I checked the FEMA camps hadn't opened yet.

[lastlib]

69. ....."yet".......

Gitmo ain't exactly Sandals Resort............True, it ain't for Americans........"yet"............


We stop this shit BEFORE it gets going.

[lastlib]

55. Wellm you can just substitute the Soviet Union, the KGB, East Germany/Stasi....

....how's that float yur boat?

Any governmant that so distrusts its own citizen that it spies on them has lost its legitimacy to be a government.

[Progressive dog]

56. You ain't Alan Grayson,

and anyway it depends on what you mean by spying.
The last time I looked, there were no concentration cmps, in fact there are no visible results on Americans of all this spying. Your elected representatives voted for it. Even the ones opposing it talk about changing the way it's done, not starting from the NAZI and N. Korea comparisons.
No visible results, the government sweeping up no one. I hope Alan Grayson is too smart to continue pandering to the extremists.

[mick063]

32. Pappa Bush's "Thousand points of light" is really a Verizon switchboard.

Connect the dots.

Former director of the CIA. In his son's ear during W's tenure as President.

Let the data mining begin.

[blackspade]

42. +1000

[ReRe]

44. You tell 'em, Alan Grayson!

K&R

You speak for all of us!!! We want our privacy back!

[blkmusclmachine]

45. We're all Germans now.

[idwiyo]

49. K&R Thank you, Alan!

[cantbeserious]

50. Spying On Grandma Is Not A Recipe For Surveillance Success

eom

[beemer27]

52. K&R

He said it better than I could.

[Dorn]

58. It is not ok with me either!

Rep Grayson is right and one more important thing, the data being collected is not metadata.

This is an example of metadata: date,time,string,string, number.

This not an example of metadata: 6/17/2013,2:15am,Joe's Strip Club, (Credit Card number hidden), $515.27

[libodem]

61. .

[Harmony Blue]

63. Grayson is consistent

that is what I like about him.

[DLevine]

66. K&R. nt

[avaistheone1]

70. REC #200

k&r

[snagglepuss]

72. Bkmrk k & R