National "Town Hall" Meeting (tonight)

[H2O Man]

DUers should watch C-Span1 tonight at 9 est. There is a National Town Hall Meeting, with a good panel discussion on the NSA domestic surveillance program. It features the executive director of the ACLU, John Dean, Lawrence Tribe, and others. It is being re-run from earlier today. I found it to be interesting and informative.

[babylonsister]

1. Thanks for the info, H2O Man. Kick! nt

[H2O Man]

2. I think DUers

will enjoy Mr. Dean's presentation. That alone makes it worth watching. And there is a lot more.

[babsbunny]

11. I love me some Mr. Dean!

Thanks!

[Me.]

3. Will You Be Doing A Thread On It

for those who may not be able to watch?

[H2O Man]

4. I now declare this

the official thread.

One of the point that I think many Americans, including some DUers, may not appreciate is that the domestic spying program is not limited to NSA. Perhaps the single best model for illustrating how this works would be Martin Luther King, Jr. (Malcolm X would also qualify, but fewer people are aware of what happened to Brother Malcolm.)

King was followed, surveyed, and infiltrated by people belonging to, or hired by, federal, state, and local agencies. On his final day of life, interests ranging from Army intelligence to the Memphis police had Martin in their sights.

As he traveled from city to city, various agencies collected information on him. It was a coordinated effort. It went far, far beyond just the FBI director Hoover's interest in Martin's personal life.

With Malcolm, there was coordination between everything from the NYC special intelligence agency, to the international intelligence agencies that tracked him during his trips to Africa and the Middle East.

[Lindsay]

5. I was thinking as I was watching this

that a couple of people on the panel who acted like this one NSA program is unique had no memory of J. Edgar Hoover and Richard Nixon.

Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a whole lot worse.

That said, it's well worth watching, so consider this a kick.

:kick:

[Me.]

6. Thanks

If there is edit time available, would you put the words official thread, in your subject?

[hwmnbn]

7. K&R for H2O Man official thread ...... nt

[IndyOp]

8. Sponsored by ACLU - If you aren't a card-carrying member yet:

http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FJ_donationhome

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[H2O Man]

9. Good idea ....

join the ACLU!

[Justice Is Comin]

14. I saw Tony Romero

on the Span call-in this morning. He is one sharp dude. Some guy rambled on and on with garbage. When they cut him off, Tony clobbered his points, there were actually four.

I couldn't remember half of what the guy said but Tony had them all from memory and ripped them apart one by one like a cracker jack prosecutor. Never wrote a thing down or looked at a paper.

No wonder they found Bush has a spy file on them.

[TacticalPeek]

10. The parts I heard were interesting. Here's a clip of Lawrence Tribe.

http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=16991

I take that to mean beware the Heather Wilson and neo Pat Roberts position, which seems to be to get Congress to rubberstamp presidential misbehavior.


clip posted earlier
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=472579&mesg_id=472579

[liveoaktx]

19. Yes, if you miss any, I have clips of some of this on CanOFun

Right now on this page but may drift to second soon

[Road Scholar]

12. I saw part of it this morning. DON"T MISS IT.

[bigtree]

13. sounds cool

thanks

[Me.]

15. Kicking To The Front

until the discussion starts

[H2O Man]

16. Coming up .......

[CatWoman]

17. glad I saw this

it's almost 9!!

[H2O Man]

20. Good panel ......

Did you see any of this earlier today?

[CatWoman]

22. no, I didn't

as a matter of fact, I wouldn't have known anything about it if you hadn't posted this thread.

[H2O Man]

24. Looking forward

to your thoughts on it.

[CatWoman]

28. in a nutshell

power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

John Dean is up. I love that guy!!!

[H2O Man]

29. Is a cancer

is growing on the presidency? Love it.

[CatWoman]

18. kick

:kick:

[OctOct1]

21. MUST SEE TV!! I saw part of it and it was great!!!!!!!

Missed the begining

[johnaries]

23. Thansk! Just switched over.

Still doing intros. Woo Hoo!

[Judi Lynn]

25. Thank you, H2O Man.Wouldn't have known about this without your alert.n/t

[H2O Man]

26. Anthonu Romero is good ....

I find him to be very impressive.

[Catherine Vincent]

27. I'm watching.....

[Gregorian]

30. Just the introduction, is dynomite.

Wow.
Even in a time of war, the president is to return to Congress and present his case. And even that, this president is unwilling to do.

[proud patriot]

31. Just tuning in

Randi said she wanted us to watch this

[proud patriot]

39. The ACLU guy is great

and John Dean is nailing some great points also.

[H2O Man]

41. Dean

comes on strong at the end. Romero and Dean do the best. Tribe is good, though as a constitutional attorney, I find his thoughts on "executive orders" curious.

[H2O Man]

32. It's getting good now .....

the question is, "did the president break the law?"

[CatWoman]

33. here's a link for those who missed it, or want to watch again

http://c-span.org/videoarchives.asp?CatCodePairs=,

[Me.]

42. Thanks

for the link

[H2O Man]

34. Tribe

made a great point about Bush's religious belief system compromising the balance of powers.

[CatWoman]

35. you're right about Romero

he's excellent!! :thumbsup:

[H2O Man]

36. He is.

I like this part about the government keeping files on the ACLU and Quackers, etc.

[CatWoman]

38. who is this Bush boot licker from the Cato Institute?

[H2O Man]

40. While he is annoying,

he is evidence that even conservatives are coming to oppose many of the things that the administration is doing.

The fact is that there is "domestic terrorist groups." The Southern Poverty Law Center documents their existence, and their crimes against groups such as people of color, religious minorities, gays and lesbians, etc. These groups aren't attacking large groups of these targets; instead, they attempt to find them in isolated circumstances, where a gang of cowards can attack one victim. I do wish that someone would address the Cato guy on this.

[KoKo]

37. It was a good watch...saw it earlier today. Thanks for the alert...n/t