Bush: Laws don't apply to me

My buddy Scott mentioned this to me several weeks ago, and I couldn't believe it was true. Sadly, it is: President Bush has signed over 750 "statements" during his presidency that essentially say certain laws don't apply to him if following the law would impinge national security. And we keep slouching toward dictatorship...

AT&T won't even bother with privacy now

Thanks to our friends at Reason for pointing out this story: AT&T has changed its privacy policy. Customer information now belongs to them, not to you.

Who needs a warrant when you've got a housing inspector?

The police in Buffalo have found a way around getting search warrants: bring along a housing inspector.

Joining the lawsuits

My buddy Trent out in Texas clued me in recently to the idea of signing on to the class-action lawsuit that has been filed against the phone companies for violating customer privacy. The lawsuit was filed by New Jersey public interest lawyers Carl Mayer and Bruce Afran. Mayer maintains a blog that gives instructions for how anyone can join the lawsuit as a plaintiff.

House committee demands NSA share information

A small victory yesterday: the U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed a resolution demanding that the NSA share records of their requests for customer calling information from the big phone companies. The resolution will go to the full House for approval.

Meanwhile, the government is scrambling to try to help the phone companies by requesting that all the class-action lawsuits filed by customers upset over privacy violations be consolidated into one case.

Rhode Island police: citizens have too much privacy

A bill working its way through the Rhode Island legislature points to just how slippery the slope of civil liberties abuse is going to get. Details here.

Some comic relief

Thanks to my friend the Spaniard, some comic relief on the NSA spying scandal.

Freedom and the Flag

It's a sad fact that we have to keep fighting efforts to protect the core liberties enshrined in the Constitution. Senate leaders, in another election-year ploy, are trying once again to pass an amendment banning flag burning. The irony, of course, is that while they will do this in the name of patriotism, they will be curtailing freedom of speech: the same freedom that protects my right to write these words and your right to read them. Please sign this petition lobbying the Senate to once again defeat this un-American proposal.

More from the PSC: We "cannot act"

I finally got a response to my e-mail messages from the Kentucky Public Services Commission yesterday. Andrew Melnykovych, communications director for the PSC, wrote:

"As this is a federal matter, the Kentucky Public Service Commission has no jurisdiction and therefore cannot act on your request. As you may know, the Federal Communications Commission has reviewed this matter and stated that it will not pursue an investigation."

I replied that since it was the phone company in Kentucky allegedly sharing private information of a Kentucky customer who was calling from Kentucky to other places in Kentucky, it sure seems like a local matter to me. I am awaiting clarification.

Liberty deferred...for now

According to the Washington Post, the judge hearing the ACLU's challenge to the Bush domestic spying program has deferred a decision pending another hearing on July 10. It's not clear from the story why.

ACLU v. Bush

A judge in Detroit heard testimony today from a group of plaintiffs represented by the ACLU that the government's warrantless wire tapping program is unconstitutional. "The government's arguments that the president, alone, can decide to spy on Americans without a warrant are fundamentally un-American and contradict the vision of the founders of our democracy," argued ACLU attorney Ann Beeson. The government replied that the plaintiff's views of civil liberties and the Constitution are "extreme." Details here.

How to be a half-decent Democrat

I've written here before about the potential appeal of the Democractic Party to libertarians. Reason's Jesse Walker writes about how this might work. He acknowledges that there won't be any Democratic front-runners who come out wearing the "libertarian" label, but they ought to at least be half-decent at being a Democrat.

Public Service Commission: "That's not our job"

I talked with Matt Brody, a complaint investigator for the Kentucky Public Services Commission on the phone today. No one seems to know who reads the e-mails sent to the generic PSC e-mail address, but Mr. Brody was very willing to take my call and discuss my concerns about the phone companies participating in illegal government spying on American citizens. Then he explained that the PSC has no jurisdiction over such matters, but can only focus on telephone rates and customer service issues ("Like if your phone is out of service."). The "feds" are the ones who are responsible for my concern. I explained that the "feds" had already made a statement that they had no intention to investigate. Mr. Brody suggested I talk to the Kentucky Attorney General. I think I'll do that...

Meanwhile, we're learning more about Sen. Arlen Specter's compromise with the White House over the NSA spying program. According to the Washington Post, the new bill Sen. Specter is introducing will grant blanket amnesty to anyone who authorized the warrantless wiring-tapping, just in case it is decided that this is, in fact, illegal. A strange decision since everyone keeps insisting that there was nothing illegal going on.

I called Sen. Specter's office today and talked to a perky woman on the phone about my concerns and let her know that I wanted the Senator to make sure his bill forced the government to get a FISA warrant to spy on any American. She said she'd pass along the info. I'm looking online for the text of Specter's new bill, but it's not posted yet.

Specter sells out

Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, was the only Republican leader in Congress to make much of a stink over the NSA spying scandal. He's even suggested legislation requiring the Bush administration to get approval of the spying program from the super-secret courts set up for such purposes under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). But yesterday Sen. Specter sold out, agreeing to a compromise with the White House brokered by Sen. Orrin Hatch. The deal allows a challenge to the spying program in a FISA court, but only from someone the government deems a plaintiff with legal standing (someone who can prove he or she has suffered damage as a result). Since the administration can simply say, "We can't share any information about this program because of national security," it may be virtually impossible for anyone to establish themselves as having legal standing.

Worse than the "compromise," however, it that the deal paves the way for legislation by Sen. Mike DeWine that will essentially attempt to legalize the whole NSA program. I'm not sure how you can legalize something that is so secret you can't describe the details. Also not sure such a law would be Constitutional anyway, but these jokers don't seem to give a rip about the Constitution.

Adding insult to injury, the Judiciary Committee met yesterday to question the government about its decision to investigate journalists who report on the government's "classified" efforts to violate Americans' civil liberties. Seems that the Bush administration's response to these allegations is to consider prosecuting reporters under old espionage laws. The guy they sent up to the Hill to answer questions basically wouldn't answer any. The senators threw a big fit...and then went home....

Boycott Bellsouth!

This week’s Knoxville Voice has a detailed story by Dane Baker on BellSouth and accusations of cooperation in NSA spying. This is great new local publication with a great design too. Check it out here.

Oh, and we’ll be dropping our land line and all business with BellSouth if the FCC will not investigate, including my DSL account. I urge others to do the same. Unfortunately, in order to avoid companies that have caved to the NSA we may have to use tin cans and string. Too bad Qwest isn’t a provider in my area. Anyone in their service area should sign up and tell them it’s because they have the balls to defend customer privacy.

And Gary: you should take your formal FCC complaint and rock out, my brother! We’re with you. The Constitution is with you. Do it!

FCC commissioners should investigate or resign

I filed a formal complaint with the FCC today regarding the allegations of telephone company collaboration with the NSA's spying programs. Of course, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said last week that the commission would not be investigating anything. So, I decided that if the commissioners can't do their jobs, they should resign. I e-mailed Mr. Martin and the other commissioners and said, in part:

As the chief regulatory agency for the telephone companies, I want to ask that the FCC immediately launch an investigation of telephone companies to ascertain the scope and nature of their cooperation with this government surveillance. The FCC should investigate what information was shared, how it was shared, and by what means it was shared. While the investigation takes place, the FCC should issue an immediate cease and desist order to stop the telephone companies from taking any further actions of this nature.

Now, I know that last week you said the FCC would do no such thing, that the FCC did not have the power to subpoena NSA officials to testify and share information. But if the FCC has no such power, then who does? The FCC is the only logical agency for determining what happened. If indeed you are constrained in launching an investigation, then I would ask that you resign in protest immediately.

I am a proud American and an ardent supporter of the Fourth Amendment. I do not believe that we have to choose between national security and individual privacy. The U.S. Congress has established procedures by which intelligence agencies may legally engaged in surveillance of suspected criminals under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. I expect that all agencies of the U.S. government would respect this law, and that the FCC would enforce it.

Please respond to this message by e-mail or phone to let me know what actions the FCC intends to take as a result of these revelations. I appreciate your attention and your service to the American people.

You can e-mail the commissioners too:

Chairman Kevin Martin: KJMWEB@fcc.gov
Michael Copps: Michael.Copps@fcc.gov
Jonathan Adelstein: Jonathan.Adelstein@fcc.gov
Deborah Taylor Tate: dtaylortateweb@fcc.gov
Robert McDowell: robert.mcdowell@fcc.gov

June is bustin’ out all over…

It’s springtime: the season when a man’s fancy turns to blogging. Looks like Gary and I have been burning up the keyboard of late. Here’s my email to our conservative anti-Iraq respresentative Jimmy Duncan:

I agree with you that the Iraq War has been a national folly that disctracts us from the real war on terror and has run up a record national debt.

I would urge you to work with Congressman Murtha and develop legislation to get us out. You have written, “The so-called neo-con architects of this unnecessary war have led people down a primrose path in the opposite direction of and very much against every traditional conservative position. ”

Former Marine Jack Murtha said over a year ago that “The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction.”

Murtha describes a plan that involves what he calls the “‘three R’s;’ to redeploy to the periphery of Iraq, to reallocate funding from the war to our unmet homeland security needs and to re-engage with other countries to put pressure on Afghanistan and fight a more effective war on true terrorism.”

As our representative it seems clear to me that you can make a stand in a public way against Bush’s policies in Iraq. Forging an alliance with like-minded Democrats on the war would show willingness to set aside divisive politics for a larger and historic goal:

Bringing the national folly of the Iraq War to an end.

The spirit of George W (not the one you're thinking)

Daniel Schorr, NPR's emeritus political commentator, on how little acts of dishonesty on the part of our President shouldn't sit well with Americans. From yesterday's "All Things Considered."

BellSouth would "absolutely" cooperate with investigators

I had a great conversation yesterday with Joan Duncan, who works in the Kentucky legislative and regulatory office of BellSouth. She left me three messages on Tuesday to call her. Like Jeff Battcher, the VP for corporate communications, Ms. Duncan stepped away from the prepared BellSouth script and categorically denied that BellSouth had shared any information with any government agency. She said the company was "devastated" by these accusations, as they have built their corporate success on their reputation and customer goodwill. I told her I was sincerely impressed by the outpouring of response I'd received from BellSouth and that I was pleased that they were speaking in broader terms than the original public statement.

"It sounds like what needs to happen now is a broad investigation by the Public Services Commission to verify what you're saying," I said. "I'm sure BellSouth would want to cooperate with such an investigation in order to clear your name?"

"Absolutely," Ms. Duncan said. "We work with those folks on a regular basis and we'd welcome the chance to confirm our version of what happened."