In 2000, an article about
"The Secret FISA Court: Rubber Stamping Our Rights" created outrage and prompted comments like this:
This is beyond frightening. Thank you for this find.
This does not bode well for continued freedom. Franz Kafka would have judged this too wild to fictionalize. But for us - it’s real.
and this:
Any chance of Bush rolling some of this back? It sounds amazing on its face.
But today, when there's warrantless NSA surveillance that makes the FISA Court look like significant judicial oversight,
the comments are like this:
Privacy is a false argument and has been for some time. Your insurance company and the credit bureaus have more on you than the feds do and you can do nothing about it. I would rather be secure knowing that the feds were looking over my shoulder and keeping me safe. I have nothing to hide, and in times of war, these steps are necessary.
So when Clinton engages in eavesdropping (rubber stamped by the FISA Court), it's a threat to the republic, but when Bush does it (without any judicial oversight), it's no problem.
Hat tip to
Gene Healy at Cato, by way of
The Agitator.
