The U.S. government has dropped its gag order prohibiting a Connecticut library group from saying that it received a secret FBI order demanding that it turn over patron records and e-mail messages, The New York Times reported. The librarians had gone to court, claiming the order violated their free speech rights. The government apparently relented for two reasons: The new version of the USA Patriot Act allows some discretion in letting groups identify themselves as targets of investigation, and the public already knew that this particular library was investigated, because government accidentally disclosed it in court records, which was widely reported in the press.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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9 Comments
This scares the hell out of me. The FBI obtaining records of who checked out what library books? Repeat after me: Gestapo.
With the ultra right-wing Christian Taliban movement and now all this wire-tapping and library book spying going on, the Republicans are really close to losing me as a supporter. What ever happened to the party of small government??????? It’s not the democrats OR republicans anymore…
Yes, reminds me of Hillary sorting through FBI files and Bills buddy stuffing his socks with classified documents from the National Archives.I guess you have to declare your victories where you get them. How this is a victory I can’t imagine though.
Gee, do you think it’s possible the FBI might have wanted to know what suspected Al-Queda Achmed and Mohammed were doing on the library computer? No, the ultra-right wing Christian-Taliban-dominated American Gestapo just wanted to see if they were checking out “Catcher in the Rye” or maybe Madonna’s “Sex”.
The glaring flaw in your argument is the word “suspected.”Place that word in front of anything and you’ll begin to understand why the constitution has a fourth amendment, which demands a judge issue a warrant requiring probable cause.
Much easier to make peace with the Arabs and better for us, than to try to satisfy Israeli greed.
A little off topic, but…
Updated: 06:13 AM EDTWhistle-Blower Says AT&T Gave NSA Access to NetworkBy DAVID KRAVETS, APSAN FRANCISCO (April 14) – AT&T Inc. and an Internet advocacy group are waging in federal court a privacy battle that could expose the reach of the Bush administration’s secretive domestic wiretapping program.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation said it obtained documents from a former AT&T technician showing that the National Security Agency is capable of monitoring all communications on AT&T’s network.
(Long article, so I’ll post the link for anyone who wants to read more.)
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwisehttp://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060413232409990001&_ccc=6&cid=842
You’ll be soory–
Dude, the Sandy Berger smear was debunked years ago. But this is a good example of how right-wing lies can live on forever.
“An evil rumor goes around the world four times while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” Mark Twain
From MediaMatters–
This much is known: Berger and his lawyer, Lanny Breuer, have said for the record that: 1) Berger inadvertently put several copies of classified documents into a leather portfolio he was carrying; and 2) that Berger put handwritten notes, which he had made while reviewing the documents, in his jacket and in his pants pockets.
But rumors and confusion abound in media coverage:
Media confuses originals and copies. As the story unfolded between July 20 and July 22, conservative pundits have run with speculation that Berger removed original classified documents, rather than copies, from the archive and then destroyed them as part of a cover-up. But there is no evidence to support this accusation; in fact, according to The Washington Post, “The documents removed were copies; the National Archives retained the originals.”
Media propounds rumor that Berger placed documents in his socks and pants. It was reported — notably by CNN — that Berger put the classified documents into his pants and/or his socks — allegations that Breuer has said are “false” and “ridiculous” and for which there is no on-the-record substantiation. This reportage was then amplified by MSNBC hosts Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, and Pat Buchanan; by the New York Daily News and the New York Post; by Ann Coulter and Kellyanne Conway; by a slew of right-wing columnists like Linda Chavez and Cal Thomas; and by right-wing radio show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage. Worse still, some of these same media outlets and media personalities falsely attributed to Berger and his lawyer the claim that Berger had put the classified documents into his pants and/or socks — even after Berger and his lawyer said Berger had not done sohttp://mediamatters.org/items/200407230001
Don’t you love how BushCo wants to illegally spy on you, but not even let you know when you’ve been illegally spied upon.
Makes things easier for them, doesn’t it.
Oh that’s good RD. The dumbass copped the plea. There’s nothing to debunk.
MEDIA MATTERS! Hahhahaha!
RD you’re a gem. Thanks, that made me smile.
Bill O’Reilly hates MediaMatters too. They nail him on all the BS he spews.