Want some torture with your peanuts?

[solarbird]

Want some torture with your peanuts?

Mostly I'm posting because formal FISA action in the Senate restarts on the 8th, which for me is tomorrow still, but for most of you is probably today. There's a move to delay immunity until after the Inspector General's report, but this is met with another promised veto, so the Democratic Leadership will oppose it, I'm sure. Glenn Greenwald had a good column on the lies the political class tells to support warrantless domestic spying. I heard the bill briefly described on NPR this (Monday, July 7th) morning as law allowing the government "to spy on terrorists," a description so despicable and brain-numbingly stupid that I turned off the radio in disgust.

Tomorrow should be fun, by which I mean filled with fail. It's showtime.

ETA: ...or not. It's been delayed a day. See here.

Comments

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

The letter referenced in that first article is not only two years old, the possibility of use on passenger planes is a single offhand comment; it's pretty clear the DHS guy's primary interest in the device is for "prisoner transport" and "detainee control," specifically regarding border crossings. I think the authors of the article extrapolated a whole lot. Which isn't to say it's not a horrifying idea, I just don't think it's something being seriously pursued for the use they describe.

And of course the FISA stuff is infuriating as always. Dear NPR, you should so know better.

[solarbird]

Sure, for the next budget biennium. So it's not as stale as a 2006 information request would make it out to appear.

BTW, the FISA play got put off until tomorrow, but not for good reasons.

Bad ideas rarely get dropped

[fenton.livejournal.com]

While it may be two years out of date, my experience is that bad ideas rarely ever get discarded, just put aside for later re-examination. And even if it is not intended for standard passenger use, many of the points I make in my commentary on it (in my own journal, too long to be a response here) still apply, either in whole or in part.

It is a bad idea on so *many* levels, some of which are not immediately obvious, that I just couldn't let it pass without pointing out the most egregious problems.

However, I'll add an edit with what you pointed out, since I think it is relevant information.