MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
US global spy dragnet and PRISM confirmed in narrow vote at the Lower House
The US House of Representatives has narrowly voted to continue collecting data on US phone calls, in the first legislative move on the program. In a 205-217 vote, lawmakers rejected an effort to restrict the National Security Agency's (NSA) ability to collect electronic information. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rules“NSA director Gen Keith Alexander held separate, closed-door sessions with Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday to lobby them against the bill.”
Jul 26th, 2013 - 09:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0That's how they got the result! I can imagine how that went........“We have been watching you for sometime Mr Anderson”
Everyone has something they would not like to be made public........especially with all the data that has been collected.......
.......“Your daughter seems to have a great fondness for..............”
.......“Your wife really shouldn't say things like that, it could be construed as.........”
“the survey found that 67% of Americans opposed the government's collection of phone records, but 52% said it was necessary to counter terrorism.”
The vote hardly seems representative of Public opinion and it should unless.....
NSA now probably have enough info on most of their politicians to control politics for the next decade.......or at least until a new breed that haven't been so careless with what they view...... and what they say....... and how they conduct their lives.
.......The Land of the Free........
@2A_Voice:
Jul 26th, 2013 - 09:51 am - Link - Report abuse 0Like the Matrix reference - made me giggle. The rest is amusing to contemplate but highly unlikely and, I believe, unnecessary. Anyway, applying your logic, they could have just as much on Alexander - rendering his leverage useless.
@2 Heisenbergcontext
Jul 26th, 2013 - 10:37 am - Link - Report abuse 0Well you may be right........I probably do watch too many Hollywood movies, but still I do wonder what kind of pressure is applied behind closed doors.
I would love to be a fly on the wall.......a little robotic one with live streaming.
I thought it was only God that listened to everything I say!
@4A_Voice:
Jul 26th, 2013 - 11:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0Easily solved - just get a job with the N.S.A!
Well, perhaps the US Constitutin needs bringing in line with today's NSA reality.
Jul 26th, 2013 - 12:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“We the people devolve all rights to do whatever is necessary to protect this country from foreign influence at home and abroad to the agencies of the state created to protect our freedoms.”
In this way the legality of any 'excesses' by the NSA comes within the US Constitution.
The politicians believe this is right,
most US citizens (or at least 52%) believe this is right,
and, most importantly ...
the NSA believes this is right.
“the survey found that 67% of Americans opposed the government's collection of phone records, but 52% said it was necessary to counter terrorism.”
Jul 26th, 2013 - 02:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Did anyone notice the arithmetic?
67% + 52% =............
Must be why the US don't realise they have so much debt.....they have invented a new division of Arithmetic!
That was funny.......lol. Bravo....clever too.
Jul 26th, 2013 - 03:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But no wonder Argentina has stat problems if your equation was formulated by those two numbers. I believe you are smart enough to no mix the results of two questions in one mathematical equation.....or are you? But it was funny none the less, stand and bend over, oops, sorry for being insensitive, take a bow.
What's that sign n Indec's wall:
Figures do not lie, but liars figure? How long did it take you to figure that equation?
“Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, not usually noted for her support of President Obama, also backed the administration's stance. ”Let us not deal in false narratives,“ she said. 'Let's deal in facts that will keep Americans safe.'”
Jul 26th, 2013 - 04:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Let us not consider the U.S. Constitution, safety is more important.
@8 Do not forget that, according to Mujica, “sometimes politics are more important than rules”. Isn't that what he said? Reality comes before idealism. Corrupt, criminal, genocidal latam needs to be destroyed. Then the world can get on with destroying other threats to peace. Iran, North Korea, PRC, Syria, possibly Pakistan. Can anybody suggest any positive contribution these states make to the world?
Jul 26th, 2013 - 06:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The American people seem to be frightened of every little scenario their 'government' makes that threatens 'their safety'.
Jul 26th, 2013 - 06:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But I suspect that the charlatans at the NSA (an oxymoron if ever there was one) are just ensuring their cushy, well paid, jobs continue.
It's neither cushy nor high paying unless you are at senior management level. Don't get confused with the contractors who are being dropped and eliminated.
Jul 26th, 2013 - 06:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Come on you US guys! .... doesn't your Constitution mean ANYTHING to you?
Jul 26th, 2013 - 08:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It does.....however, as the SA you are and you change your as one wipes one's ass, what does the word CONSTITUTION actually mean you you? Considering you are a foreigner and you are so concerned of lost rights to Americans......tell me in your words what does a constitution mean to you?
Jul 26th, 2013 - 08:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I can tell you this......a constitution is meaningless if the rights it upholds ignites a nuke or dirty bomb in Times Square, Kenmore Square or somewhere populated. Besides......we are your enemy so you should be pleased our rights are repressed.
Can anyone tell me what country does not sift metadata?
Jul 26th, 2013 - 11:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Hi Pops.
Jul 27th, 2013 - 08:27 am - Link - Report abuse 0I have grown up without a constitution.
The Brits have centuries of things like the Magna Carta to set the tone, then centuries of laws, case-law, and checks and balances to evolve the optimum working model for a developed, mature democratic society.
Only when somebody like Tony Blair comes along and rides a coach and horses through the British system - at the behest of the USA president Bush - do we get the breakdown of the centuries of society's evolved structures.
The radicalised muslim flare-back which now necessitates the excesses of the NSA marks its genesis to Blair and Bush riding roughshod through your Constitution and the British unwritten protections.
The British have just as much as those from the USA to cause them to hang their head in shame.
As for the Brasilian constitution and laws ... (!) ... law is coming out of the ears of the Brasilian system - but bad law, disregard, immunity, and impunity make a joke of the Brasilian Constitution.
And many countries in the Americas operate even worse legal systems, law, and observations of their laws and legal processes.
No, nobody has a perfect - or even good - record, but the US Constitution is held up worldwide as THE model and inviolate in its operation.
If you believe this should be so, then it should be defended ... especially by the peoples of the USA (see wry #5).
The constitution of the USA was not made for the world, though some in the USA would argue otherwise, I am not one of them. Nor since my tour in the military , am I one to believe we need to be the world police. Thpough Elaine would put us in the de facto police role. That's getting old for me to here and many Americans as well.. I can see you believe the government has ignored the constitution, Bill of Rights it you will. I understand Guayans like you and Chris like to call us frightened but I think the is hardly the case.
Jul 27th, 2013 - 11:46 am - Link - Report abuse 0I would have to think you are concerned for American citizens rights being violeted over the 4th amendment and the metadata mining? The fallout of that is still perculating. You must think perhaps that we Americans must take to the streets, riot and protest the SA way as a means of showing disapproval, but discontention tends to work as a gathering stormin the USA. Polls over Snowden, the NSA and data collections are all over the place in the USA. I think something will happen after the summer recess....what....I have no idea. Like the other Paraguayan Chris.......some Americans are afraid, usually the ones that have no reason to be. 9/11 changed the USA and not necessarily for the best in some respects. But the attacks and attempts continued after 9/11and the USA's actions are not an individual nation at work in the realm.
Keep in mind geoff, brighter minds interprete the USA Constituition than the posters here on MP. Yes and I know that vast majority of the posters here consider themselves a bright and shining star when it comes to......everything they discuss. They are world class economists, world class philosphers, world known philanthropists.....etc..etc. Not to mention multi-linguists if nothing else.
So in respect to defending the US Consitution to world, it will not happen from me. Keep in mind:
*during extraordinary time, habias corpus is often suspended
*WWII, letters between soilders and family were actually opened
@15
Jul 27th, 2013 - 02:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Pops is a product of the American race.......and I say race because that is what they are. They are not to be confused with Europeans......they are unique and think differently.
They have a confidence that the US Govt will always protect them, there confidence is expressed in the way they write......I can almost see them swagger.
I have had a very unique perspective on how they live and see themselves, abroad they are loud and overbearing.....yet on their home turf they are relaxed and have nothing to prove and are surprisingly more reserved.
It is always difficult to apply logic to their arguments......they are what they are!
Success is part of the American dream!
Don't marry one..... if you want to win an argument!
Too many assumptions in your statements of Americans you research and read about. 317 million people from all walks of life and you paint them all in one brush stroke.......just like a Southie.
Jul 27th, 2013 - 02:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I will agree with one thing you say, I often find when I see an American abroad.....I myself personally feel embarrassed by they arrogance. I've often joked with my wife (a Portena)....the Ugly American. But........every nationality has their ugly side.......such as the joke of how an Argentine commits suicide by climbing up their ego and jumping off........and....and.....
So A-Voice.....decide to email me for an IP trace? You know when my IP is from.....I gave you my email. Tracing it takes a mere second.
@18
Jul 27th, 2013 - 03:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Hey Pops
Why do you need to know where I'm from? I'll wait till I'm back in the States and sat on my Marcellus Shale gas, lounging in the yard, amongst my sweet chestnut and maple trees or fishing in the Creek........(for some strange reason they pronounce it Crick)....... I also keep trying to set fire to my water well, but it hasn't happened yet, then I'll respond!
Research and read about......are you kidding me......I don't need to......I see!
Keep telling yourself that, perhaps one day you will start believing it. My phone will be off for a while due to particular activities that require me to be with it. It is a shame because I really enjoy reading fiction here on MP regularly.
Jul 27th, 2013 - 03:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Creek(crick) is more a SE USA word. NE we tend to use pond.......as in Waldens Pond. But of course we know you know where that is, not far from the “Shot heard around the world”. Shall I assume you've been to the pond to contemplate and Lexington as well?
Wrong again Pops
Jul 27th, 2013 - 03:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0read the comments section......people from PA.........
http://grammarist.com/usage/crick/
I'm like George Washington.......I can't tell a lie.....;-)))))))
Your failure is not seeing I was not disputing pronounciation but merely the regions that use it Tobi. Why are you Argentine's so egocentric? Again, resorting to a web site to determine regional dialect? Does it say where they use...hoagie, poboy,grinder or sub? Or tonic, pop , soda and fizz, or chuckhole, chughole or pothole?
Jul 27th, 2013 - 10:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0BTW.......I didn't think you were ever at Walden Pond or Lexington. If you ever are though.....look me up because I'd really love to show you the the Dump, Fishtails and the Dip........the pleasure really would be mine. But, without a passport the likelihood of this happening is zero to none.
I cannot blame you for referencing one of our founding fathers considering Argentina has no one to reference pride in. But remember, you can't learn everything from the internet. Mmmmm, which one topic of my post will you zero in on and ignore the rest?
Warmer weather is on the way I hear.
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