"massive electronic databases ... contain records of phone calls and e-mail messages of millions

[L. Coyote]

HELLO! Is this an admission that the government HAS all phone calls and e-mails in a massive database.

Check out this important line near the end of the Gonzales article:

"The New York Times, citing anonymous government officials it declined to name, reported Sunday that the 2004 dispute was over computer searches through massive electronic databases, which contain records of phone calls and e-mail messages of millions of Americans."

"If the dispute chiefly involved data mining rather than eavesdropping, that raised the question as to whether Gonzales might be technically correct, ..."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20037192/

===========================

IT RAISES A FEW OTHER, MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES TOO!!!!

===========================
MORE: Campaign 2004: Were Bush / Cheney / NSA illegal wiretaps spying on Dems?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x925247

DIA SPYING: NGIA collecting data, 133 U.S. cities, ID everyone, nationality, political affiliations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x983282

[Botany]

1. And all of us were talking to al Qaeda?

This is a crime ... impeach 'em.

[L. Coyote]

4. Is this the bigger cover-up?

Do they have everything stored?



I was told the communication lines were all routed through other countries, so even this was done "legally." HOW? By doing it in another country where is is not illegal to capture all American communications electronically.

[L. Coyote]

14. Right. That's why they spied n the Senate Judiciary Dems too.

MORE on that angle here:

SO, how many secret domestic spy programs are there anyway, and are they legal?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1481897

[TomClash]

2. No one should be surprised

if the US Government has extensive and exhaustive databases on all of us.

[rocktivity]

3. It involved DOING IT WITHOUT A WARRANT!!!

And it STILL doesn't justify Gonzalez's attempted end run around Comey!

:headbang:
rocknation

[AndyTiedye]

5. That's Why Congress Always Backs Down — BLACKMAIL!

Congress forbade the regime to implement TIA, but they did it anyway.
So the NSA can now listen to EVERYTHING

and pass it all on to Karl Rove for blackmail purposes.

[BrotherBuzz]

10. Your theory is gaining traction, even with the fence sitters

Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey ...

[L. Coyote]

11. NAME one time Congress has "backed down" and you say "always" WHAT A CROCK

of despair and malaise you are in.

The new Dem majority is working like never before with their long-overdue oversight responsibility. You are insulting them, and, at best, likelier to deter them than not. Is that what you wish?

[AndyTiedye]

12. They Backed Down on Each of Their Attempts to End the War

That would be more than one time, but I think it qualifies as a valid response to your request.

I don't think I ever suggested that they are only blackmailing Democrats.
They are likely to be blackmailing their fellow Repiglicans even more. That's how they maintain party discipline if their ability to control the handing out of campaign funds isn't enough.
They are blackmailing Repigs more because the Repigs are much more likely to be engaged in behavior that leaves them open to blackmail.
They'd have to make stuff up for a lot of the Democrats.

If they blackmailed almost all of the Repiglickins and just a few Democrats, it would produce approximately the behavior we are seeing.

[L. Coyote]

13. They lacked the votes. Big difference.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over even though the outcome is known to fail every time. Would you prefer insane representation?

Can we return to the topic of the OP, please? There are plenty of other fora on the web to bash Dems.

[AndyTiedye]

15. I Thought Databases of emails and phonecalls and their possible abuse WAS the topic of the OP

My theory is that some of this material is being used for blackmail purposes.
Whether or not you agree with that theory, it is on-topic.
I think the "backing down" behavior that many have commented on here may be connected to this.

It is not "bashing Dems" either. As I said, I think most of it is being directed by Repiglickins at Repiglickins.
Repigs like Arlen Specter who occasionally waxes critical of the Bush** regime, but always comes home when the votes are being counted.
I think blackmail may be the only way they can keep the Repiglickin rank and file backing such unpopular policies.
The same could be true for a Democrat or two.

[The2ndWheel]

6. Holy crap! The government has access to computers too!

I thought they were just for we the people to play with?

I'd say get used to it. Not only get used to data mining, but be prepared to have even more data mined as we go, whether you want it done or not, whether it's done legally or illegally, and whether it's done by the government or corporations(if there is still a difference). It's called the Information Age for a good reason.

[L. Coyote]

8. But, what is being done with the information?

Yes, it is the information age. I know the IP of every computer that accesses my web domain. It works both ways, in that I can spy too now and determine who visits my web pages from which computer on the planet.

What is of concern is not knowledge, but rather, what is being done with the knowledge. For example, why were the Republicans spying on the Senate Judiciary members? Was it because they had committed spying crimes and feared oversight? It is just like Watergate all over again, spying, getting caught spying, and spying because of getting caught spying .... Makes one wonder where the cycle began, and if it ever ended!!

[fed-up]

7. does this mean they can track down the "accidentally erased" emails? nt

[L. Coyote]

9. OR, how much worse than the Nixon tapes is this for the political criminals??

Can investigators of the Republicans political crimes now use the product of the crime, the electronic surveillance, to investigate the Republican corruption crimes? I'd call that "instant karma" or just way stupid.

[sarcasmo]

16. My wife gets mad because I end everyone of my phone calls with

Al-CIA-DUH, out.