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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN oh well, sucks to be a yank!

So you down-talk the increased surveillance efforts, and then go on about how you love living in Australia and how it sucks to live in the US. Care to elaborate on the reasons why? Surely not because there are increased surveillance efforts in the US, since you don't think they are a big deal

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Originally posted by donnybrasco Nowhere in that article is it stated that they want to insert RFID chips in to anyone. Nor is this system a MANDATORY system that they are forcing everyone to take part in. Nor is it said that they wish to arbitrarily track everyone and their every movement throughout the country, for no reason other than because they can. It's simply a database of existing forms of I.D. (garnered mostly from criminals), so they can track them easier. They may wish to do eye scans of criminals in the future, but so what? They have been doing finger-printing for nearly 100 years now, which is the same thing in terms of individual I.D. This article is overly-sensationalized for the purpose of selling more ad space.

I was quoting somebody in this thread

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I am become Hoover, sucker of worlds.
R.I.P English..

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Originally posted by SkyHigh I was quoting somebody in this thread

I thought you might be. I just decided to address your RFID post because I happened to be on that page, lol.

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Originally posted by Elec So you down-talk the increased surveillance efforts, and then go on about how you love living in Australia and how it sucks to live in the US. Care to elaborate on the reasons why? Surely not because there are increased surveillance efforts in the US, since you don't think they are a big deal

if i WERE an american no, it wouldn't worry me in the slightest. surveillance isnt anything to worry about. what exactly can they do to you if they're watching you all the time?

as donny notes, this is why we have the judiciary. if you dont have any faith in your system of government then that is where the worry lies, not in a database that essentially already exists, albeit of a lesser sort.

watch out for the boogieman!

edit: oh, and i love living in australia because even if we had all the stupid american laws, we have a much better system of government so i dont need to fear it.

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Originally posted by donnybrasco Why is it that people think George Bush is omnipotent?

Why can't people read?

I never said anything like "George Bush is omnipotent." I said that his lawyers argued that he had pretty much absolute legal authority. He would probably have a good deal of trouble abusing his power much than he has, but the fact remains that the legal justification is out there.

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We have a judicial branch in this country, separate from the legislative branch (and it even has the power to look in to the "executive" branch, even when that branch invokes "executive powers").

Read some history. The judicial branch has historically been reticent to limit executive power, especially during wartime. In some instances they have specifically neglected to deal with what they consider political questions in areas like international relations and how to prosecute wars.

Last edited by MrJiveBoJingles on Feb-07-2008 at 01:31

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Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Read some history. The judicial branch has historically been reticent to limit executive power, especially during wartime. In some instances they have specifically neglected to deal with what they consider "political questions," things like international relations and how to prosecute wars.

why did the judiciary shut down the illegal wire tapping then?

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN why did the judiciary shut down the illegal wire tapping then?

What case are you talking about?

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Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles What case are you talking about?

i dont know "cases", but wasnt the mass data-mining of telephone calls as well as emails shut down by judicial ruling? and the prospect of lawsuits against telecommunication companies raised?

perhaps im just a confused australian

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In ACLU vs. NSA the District Court judge ruled in 2006 that the wiretap program was unconstitutional. But in 2007 the Court of Appeals overturned the ruling of the District Court, saying that the plaintiffs in the case had no standing to bring the suit against the NSA.

Maybe you're thinking of something else.

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN i dont know "cases", but wasnt the mass data-mining of telephone calls as well as emails shut down by judicial ruling? and the prospect of lawsuits against telecommunication companies raised? perhaps im just a confused australian

Australian's are normally confused. Like how the hell do I get out of this god forsaken hole...

Anyhow, we make sure we don't have bad guys going to attack us in our backyard even if it means hearing about Aunt Helen's hernia operation.


[[[smoke]]]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon

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quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles In ACLU vs. NSA the District Court judge ruled in 2006 that the wiretap program was unconstitutional. But in 2007 the Court of Appeals overturned the ruling of the District Court, saying that the plaintiffs in the case had no standing to bring the suit against the NSA. Maybe you're thinking of something else.

ok, but the wiretapping program ceased did it not? Bush now has to go through the FISA (sorry If it’s the wrong acronym, I forget) courts within 48ish hours of beginning a wiretap, in accordance with the law?

i could be completely confused mind you.

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