I guess we know now why our Dems in Congress have seemed neutered.

[grasswire]

Not all of them, of course, but we've been complaining about some of them for a long long time.

How many dirty tricks and/or crimes have already taken place simply because one of thousands of contract employees who may or may not have been properly vetted have used some tidbit of classified info for political purposes?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Here...by the way

Due to what I have learned in the recent past my boulder of salt went down to...just a single grain





http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/06/21/former-intelligence-analyst-obama-was-wiretapped-by-nsa-in-2004/

[On the Road]

2. You Really Believe That?

That NSA has been digging up dirt on Democratic legislators to blackmail them, and that the votes that are puzzling to you are the result of this blackmail.

This is Glen Beck territory. And it makes everyone complaining about NSA practices look like a nut.

[RobertEarl]

14. Why are you so biased?

The NSA has been digging up everything on everyone. Not just dirt, but everything.

Then an analyst looks it over. The analysts are private contractors, just hirees of the NSA. Like Snowden accessing info, the other contractors can also access the gathered info. And they can pick out anyone.

The problem is the contractors. But it is also the fact that the NSA is spying on everyone and storing that info.

Your dumb attack, calling this Beck territory, is actually something along the lines that Beck would be expected to do.

[tritsofme]

16. What does a congressman have to fear from some punk with security clearance?

If you try to blackmail a government official with classified information, you will go to jail.

It is absolutely Glen Beck nonsense to suggest that these contractors are successfully blackmailing lawmakers left and right.

[carolinayellowdog]

17. one person's speculation about NSA invalidating millions of people's disapproval of NSA

that seems like Glen Beck territory to me

[MrSlayer]

3. They aren't neutered, they're complicit.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

7. x2

[DJ13]

4. Well there has to be a real temptation to use the data for more than terrorism

Especially as we've seen that the conservatives will do anything to protect the interests of their donors.

[tridim]

5. The Dems in Congress are neutered because the Republicans filibuster EVERYTHING.

It's not hard to understand and it's not a conspiracy theory.

[tritsofme]

6. This is a stone's throw away from truther/birther territory.

Don't we have a special forum for such interesting ideas?

[Octafish]

8. Would that be the same place to send people who talk about the government spying on them?

Cause that's what it's about, isn't it? Secret government cockroaches.

[octoberlib]

9. The Dems in Congress neuter themselves because

they vote to please their wealthy donors instead of the people who elect them.

[msongs]

12. republicans filibuster because they are allowed to by senate dems. is that self neutering? nt

[Octafish]

10. Money.

Not all of them can be bought, but no one cares about them.

The others are more than enough to do what they're told.

Did you know Sen. Obama was targeted for, eh, monitoring in 2004?

Of course, the sensitive folks at MSNBC censored Tice from stating that live, on-air.

I wonder why that would be?

[Downwinder]

11. I doubt that MSNBC execs are exempt.

[G_j]

13. Lets see, HLS went after Occupy,

Hoover went after King.

[Savannahmann]

15. That they have the capability to do so is troubling enough.

Getting someone to admit that it has happened, impossible. But do I think it is possible? Certainly. Look at the history of this nation, we've been doing that for decades, probably longer. Hoover had files that allowed himself to stay as head of the FBI for years past his mandatory retirement date. But he was always given a waiver, and Congress always approved it, because who would take chances that some secret they had was not known by the FBI?

Are we expected to believe that this practice ended when Hoover died? We know it didn't, Homeland Security infiltrated Occupy. Bush sent the goons into the anti-war movement. All to gather information, and when you get enough on one person, you have an informant.

If the NSA and HLS thugs aren't doing it, then you can bet someone has at least thought about it, and gathered information to have ready in case.