I admit, I was wrong.

[DC_DEEP]

Some time back, I started a thread in which I voiced my suspicions that the FBI was up to something shady. I was wrong. I should have known that they are always on the up and up, always honest, never do anything illegal.

Audit shows FBI snooping underreported - CNN.com

 

[Onslow]

Some time back, I started a thread in which I voiced my suspicions that the FBI was up to something shady. I was wrong. I should have known that they are always on the up and up, always honest, never do anything illegal.

Exactly.

 

[Lex]

Just because we're paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get us.


Bastards.

 

[Onslow]

Just because we're paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get us.


Bastards.

Would you mind leaning towards your right and saying that again into the daffodil?

 

[Lex]

Daffodill? That's a TULIP!

 

[madame_zora]

And smile, pretty please, at the camera in the flowerpot.

The opportunity for misuse is astounding. Hold on to your hats, kiddies. The government usually won't give these powers up once we give them to them. The Patriot Act may very well prove to be the worst thing this adminsitration has done to our survival as a free nation.

 

[B_JQblonde]

our survival as a free nation???

Ummm, ya think maybe that's a tad overexaggerated, maybe?

The US has survived quite a bit worse than this.

do internment camps ring a bell?

 

[madame_zora]

our survival as a free nation???

Ummm, ya think maybe that's a tad overexaggerated, maybe?

The US has survived quite a bit worse than this.

do internment camps ring a bell?

I'm an alarmist, it's my job.

Still, it could prove to be eerily correct, despite how silly it sounds now. I knew it would elicit responses when I said it, like all the predictions I made back in 2002 and 2003 did- still they turned out to be true as well. Every day we flip on the news, another abuse of power from this administration is revealed, now that we have a democratic congress, but still people want to pretend we're not having a national crisis. Oh well, at least I'll get to say "I told ya so!".

 

[Heather LouAnna]

Would you mind leaning towards your right and saying that again into the daffodil?

hahahahaha

 

[D_Harry_Crax]

Well, thank heavens that "The audit said there were no indications that the FBI's use of the letters 'constituted criminal misconduct.'" Violation of constitutional rights, sure, but no violations of criminal law, so it must be OK......

 

[Hatched69]

Onslow - Nice pic. of Jack Elam (avatar). He was a fine actor. Especially funny in "Cannonbal Run". :smile:
Anyway, apologies for interrupting the thread...:wink: :redface:

 

[DC_DEEP]

Well, thank heavens that "The audit said there were no indications that the FBI's use of the letters 'constituted criminal misconduct.'" Violation of constitutional rights, sure, but no violations of criminal law, so it must be OK......

Swede82 wins the prize, he found the loophole! Oops, well, I forgot one minor little thing, hardly worth mentioning... the FBI director did tell a couple of tiny little lies in reporting to the Congress, but... well... oh, and the OIG-FBI, too. But we won't worry about that. The FBI tells us that they didn't really do anything SERIOUSLY wrong...

 

[SpeedoGuy]

Swede82 wins the prize, he found the loophole! Oops, well, I forgot one minor little thing, hardly worth mentioning... the FBI director did tell a couple of tiny little lies in reporting to the Congress, but... well... oh, and the OIG-FBI, too. But we won't worry about that. The FBI tells us that they didn't really do anything SERIOUSLY wrong...

Silly DC. Only lies about blow jobs are worth prosecuting.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Silly DC. Only lies about blow jobs are worth prosecuting.

SpeedoGuy, we have lots and lots of ammunition that is fresh and undiscussed. Let's dig on the FBI and the DoJ for a while. The DoJ is refusing to investigate/prosecute federal agency heads when they blatantly violate federal law; the Offices of Inspectors General are siding with the law-breakers and threatening whistle-blowers. The FBI and CIA are illegally blending their missions; the FBI is violating numerous federal privacy laws and citizen protection laws. Oh, you're from the Pacific Northwest? You'll be happy to know that (in violation of federal law,) the EPA, for the last 6 years, has been required to submit their Semi-annual Report to the Congress to the white house before the congress, and make ordered changes before it is submitted to the Congress. So all the environmental findings of the EPA have been "doctored" for favorable spin, before presentation to Congress (and therefore, before Congress can consider regulation and funding legislation.)

 

[dolf250]

I'm an alarmist, it's my job...
Every day we flip on the news, another abuse of power from this administration is revealed, now that we have a democratic congress, but still people want to pretend we're not having a national crisis.

You may be an alarmist, but I am a cynic.
I worry that it is not just this administration, but that the next will be every bit as bad (republican or democrat.) I honestly believe that the few elite at the top are pretty much the same no matter which say the lean.

 

[DC_DEEP]

You may be an alarmist, but I am a cynic.
I worry that it is not just this administration, but that the next will be every bit as bad (republican or democrat.) I honestly believe that the few elite at the top are pretty much the same no matter which say the lean.

I could not possibly agree more, dolf. I just posted, in another thread, my disgust with the new Democratic majority leadership. For a couple of years, they were "outraged" at the influence peddling of the committee chairmen, offering large chunks of their time to anyone who makes large enough contributions to the party. Now that they are the ones in the majority, and have their own as the committee chairs, they have announced that they will continue the practice; that exact same practice they denounced in their rivals, just last year. For those of you who got angry with me for voicing my opinion that Pelosi would be no different than her predecessor (despite her claims to clean things up) here is my "told-ya-so." Not that I take any pleasure at all in saying it, but there you have it. She and her colleagues have no intention of discontinuing any of the policies they denounced when they were garnering support. As citizens, we need to let them all know that their lies are no longer welcome nor tolerated. Partisan loyalties need to be put aside, and the ethics issues dealt with.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

The symptoms are the FBI, the Justice Department and Abu Gonzalez. The real problemi continues to be, of course, the embarrassment in the White House.

Someone in Germany sees the problem correctly:

Statue of Liberty and W

 

[HazelGod]

If you beleive things are any better on the other side of the pond, you're sorely mistaken. (More links here.)

This being said, it's a damnable shame that Sen. Russ Feingold isn't running for the presidency. I find it a sad remark on our nation's state of affairs that the current front-runners are a fenceriding, carpetbagging blowhard most notable for being the spouse of a former president, and a complete unknown junior legislator from the midwest....while the lone US Senator who had both the vision to see the USA PATRIOT act for the unconstitutional sham that it is AND the guts to vote against its passage, isn't even in the picture.

 

[dolf250]

I have noticed that the opposition party usually is “outraged” at many of the perks that the governing party has. They yell and beat drums and state that they would change everything. They proceed to campaign on promises of change and reform realizing that there are huge numbers of people who recognize that what they have been saying is the truth. They get voted in and suddenly the laws work for them instead of against them and within a month they are silent on the issue. I am positive that they know that the population has no other choice- it is not as though the other party was any better and they have a few years to rule as they see fit. Everybody knows that a broken campaign promise is not going to be remembered years later at election time- people do not have that kind of a memory for politics so they throw a few billion back at the voters and decide to leave the system as is. And you wonder why I am bitter and cynical?

Somehow I am sorry to see you having to say “I told you so” so soon after the election.

 

[DC_DEEP]

<...>
Somehow I am sorry to see you having to say “I told you so” so soon after the election.

I want to say "you have no idea how I hate to say that" but I think you do understand. The ONLY reason I say "I told you so" is to encourage, hopefully, my compatriots to watch things a little more closely. Sadly, I am realistic enough to realize that the collective attention span is 2 months, at most.