Monthly Archives: July 2008

Quote of the Day:
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:::HEDRICK SMITH: A more fundamental question confronts all of us. The 4th Amendment protects us against unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause. So does the strategy of (terrorist) prevention collide with the Constitution? When the government is doing this kind of data mining, has it moved from individualized suspicion, getting an individual warrant, to generalized suspicion, to check everybody to find out who are the bad guys?
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:::PETER SWIRE (White House Privacy Counsel, 1999-01): Yeah. Check everybody. Everybody’s a suspect. Everybody’s phone records, everybody’s email is subject to government scrutiny. And if you’re good, we won’t bother you, and if you look a little strange, then you might get on a watch list.
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:::HEDRICK SMITH: Isn’t that a huge change in Anglo-Saxon law? I mean, Anglo-Saxon law is based on “Get a warrant.” The 4th Amendment is based on individual suspicion.
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:::PETER SWIRE: Right. General warrants was part of the reason for the American Revolution. It was that the king’s agent could go in and search a house everywhere, search a whole neighborhood with one warrant. And the Boston people said, “We don’t like that. We’ll have a tea party. We’ll fight you.” We said no.
:::– from FRONTLINE
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:::Subject: Dangerous votes pending
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:::Two dangerous votes are pending this week. You know about the “FISA Amendments Act.” We’ve been hammering on it for weeks now, and you’ve been hammering Congress. The other dangerous pending vote is a resolution that’s a virtual declaration of war on Iran.
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:::House Concurrent Resolution 362 urges the President to blockade Iran, stopping all sea traffic in and out of the country. It has 220 co-sponsors. The Senate version is Senate Resolution 580. It has 32 co-sponsors.

Quote of the Day:
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:::”The government already has “the authority to collect the intelligence it needs to protect the American people.” That authority is called FISA, which already allows the Government extremely broad authority to spy on any suspected terrorists. The current law results in virtually no denials of any spying requests. So how can Obama — echoing the Bush administration — claim a new law is needed to provide “the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people” when the current FISA law already provides that?”
:::– Glenn Greenwald
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:::Subject: Obama’s response
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:::Will Senators Feingold and Dodd really filibuster the “FISA Amendments Act?” What will Senator Obama do? We’re about to find out.
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:::Senator Obama has been hammered, not just by us, but also by his own supporters. He has had to issue a response to his critics. Those of you who sent him a message probably received this response. It was very disappointing. It could have been written by any hack politician. Much of it could have been written by a neo-conservative.
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:::But Senator Obama’s response isn’t necessarily the end of the story. The revolt among his supporters continues. His justifications and excuses for supporting the “FISA Amendments Act” are being picked apart on the web. Senator Obama may yet be forced to oppose the “FISA Amendments Act.”
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:::Meanwhile, what Senators Feingold and Dodd do will depend on whether they have enough votes in the Senate to sustain a filibuster. This question will likely be decided this week, so you’re running out of time to persuade your Senators to support a filibuster and to oppose the “FISA Amendments Act.” Please send another message now, using our old campaign against the “Protect America Act.”

Two economists, Milton Friedman and Murray Rothbard, agreed that many of the steps Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt took to end the Great Depression only made it worse. Also, that their expanded Presidential powers, new bureaucracies, and curbs on economic freedom had long-term disastrous consequences both morally and economically. Both Friedman and Rothbard promoted the downsize DC message for several decades, and remain admired by many for their work.::::::But the funny thing is, they disagreed about what actually caused the Great Depression in the first place. Friedman thought the Federal Reserve was too deflationary; Rothbard thought it was too inflationary and that the Fed itself should be abolished.::::::They disagreed about the causes, but agreed that FDR’s :::”cure” was worse than the disease.::::::Likewise, we don’t have to agree on everything in order to agree that DC must be downsized. We often get mail from supporters of the 9/11 Truth Movement disputing some of our assumptions, such as that we were attacked by Islamic terrorists on 9/11.::::::We do believe a new investigation of 9/11 should take place, because the federal government already had the tools it needed to prevent the attacks and that those who failed should be held accountable. And if an investigation reveals criminal conduct rather than mere incompetence, the guilty persons should be prosecuted.::::::But here’s a question for 9/11 Truthers: what if there was nothing fishy about the attacks? What if it was indeed true that Islamic terrorists planned and executed the whole thing?::::::Would the War on Terror then be justified?

Quotes of the Day:
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:::”And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
:::- concluding sentence of the Declaration of Independence, 1776
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:::”We must hang together, gentlemen…else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.”
:::- Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence
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:::Subject: The Spirit of ’76
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:::For weeks now we’ve been fighting, as hard as anyone, to stop the “FISA Amendments Act.”
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:::If this fight is lost, it will be because some folks forgot a unique and important thing about American history. On July 4, 1776, 56 men stood up and agreed to pay the price for our liberty.
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:::They had spirit.
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:::The politicians who walk the halls of Capitol Hill are home in their districts now. They’ll ride in parades and give speeches in front of flags. But the symbolism is distracting. These men and women are NOT what America is all about. They are not leaders. They are not special. Frankly, they don’t deserve the attention they’ll get, because unlike the 56 men who birthed our country, they’re not willing to pay a price for liberty.
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:::They lack spirit. They are either fear-peddlers or just plain afraid.
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:::Some have profited, politically, from a campaign of fear. They’ve expanded their power and the powers of their partisan allies through a sustained campaign of intimidation, both of their opponents and their constituents. This deceitful campaign is called, “The War on Terror.”
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:::Others have cowered, politically, appeasing the fear mongers, in order to gain re-election. 
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:::Well, I am not like these politicians, because I am not afraid.

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::Quote of the Day:
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:::”A fondness for power is implanted in most men, and it is natural to abuse it when acquired.”
:::- Alexander Hamilton (Source: “The Farmer Refuted,” February 23, 1775)
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:::Subject: Push the lever
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:::To do a lot with a little, find a lever and push it. In the fight to defeat warrantless spying, the mind of Barack Obama is that lever. We need to push on his mind, a lot, before Congress returns to work early next week.
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:::We’re not alone in thinking so. Barack Obama’s volunteers think so too, and many of them have organized specifically for the purpose of pressuring their candidate to oppose warrantless spying and telecom immunity.
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::: This new protest group inside Obama’s campaign launched last week with the title “Senator Obama Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity – Get FISA Right.” By Sunday it was the largest group of its kind on the Internet.
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:::Barack Obama is facing a revolt among his own supporters over this issue. We need to pour fuel on this growing fire.

Quote of the Day:
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:::”Man is not free unless government is limited. As government expands, liberty contracts.”
:::– Ronald Reagan
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:::Subject: A comment on Keith Olbermann’s “Special Comment”
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:::DC Downsizers bombarded MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann with more than 1,700 messages yesterday. These messages urged Olbermann to hold his favored president candidate, Barack Obama, to the same standards he has applied to President Bush. Your messages may have had an impact.
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:::But before getting to that, I’d like to update you on our final numbers for June . . .
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:::* We recruited 729 new Downsizers
:::* We sent 70,533 messages pressuring Congress (and Keith Olbermann)
:::* And we also made budget — THANK YOU
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:::This is the first time we’ve sent more than 70,000 messages in a single month. We shattered our old record by more than 19,000. Thank you to everyone who participated to make June such a successful month. Your efforts do have an impact.
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:::They may have had an impact on Keith Olbermann. It seemed to us that his “Special Comment” seemed slightly softer that what it had been advertised to be. And others observing Olbermann have similarly opined. Moreover, Olbermann said some good things . . .
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:::* He accused the Democrats of caving-in to fear-mongering in regard to warrantless spying and telecom immunity
:::* He quoted George Washington on the dangers of political parties
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:::We like both of these things. However,