CISPA passed the House of Representatives, on Thursday, April 26th.

CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act) or HR 3523:

To provide for the sharing of certain cyber threat intelligence and cyber threat information between the intelligence community and cybersecurity entities, and for other purposes. – H.R. 3523

My 4th District Congressman Tom McClintock weighs in:

Mr McClintock said, on April 27th, in his allotted minute on the floor:

Mr. Speaker:

Under the Fourth Amendment, if the Government wants to snoop through a person’s email, it must first convince a judge that there is probable cause to believe that person has committed a crime and it must specify the documents it believes are relevant to that charge.

Yesterday the House passed a measure that makes a mockery of this cherished protection.

Under the guise of cyber security it allows the government to pressure and cajole internet providers to turn over their subscribers’ data and for the government then to use that data — without the consent or even knowledge of the individuals affected — for a wide variety of vague purposes unrelated to cyber security. All without warrant.

This is a truly Orwellian measure that our Bill of Rights was specifically written to prevent. I hope the House will have second thoughts as it reflects on the ramifications of this act.

Passed the House. Next to the Senate. The bulk of Republicans voted for it. They’re wrong.

In my opinion — as with Mr McClintock’s — this needs to die. HR 3523 opens up a door we need not open. Because, once opened, it cannot be closed.

And my e-mails will be read. And yours. And if you dissent with the current government?

What of that?

BZ

PS:
In my state:

And buried — ONCE AGAIN — by the American DEM/MSM!

From ABC News:

Rocker Ted Nugent may have emerged unscathed from a Secret Service investigation, but his verbal attack of President Obama is now affecting his musical career.

Commanders at the Fort Knox Army base in Kentucky cut Nugent from their annual summer concert after the controversial rocker told the National Rifle Association he will “either be dead or in jail by this time next year” if Obama is re-elected and blasted members of the administration, saying conservatives should “chop their heads off.”

“After learning of opening act Ted Nugent’s recent public comments about the president of the United States, Fort Knox leadership decided to cancel his performance on the installation,” Army officials posted on the base’s Facebook page.

Nugent said the concert cancellation was an “insult” and maintained that he was merely exercising his First Amendment rights when he toldthe NRA convention that Obama was running a “vile, evil, America-hating administration.”

“To think that there’s a bureaucrat in the United States Army that would consider the use or abuse of First Amendment rights in determining who is going to perform at an Army base is an insult and defiles the sacrifices of those heroes who fought for the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights,” Nugent told the Associated Press.

So here is what actually occurred:

You can bet that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Army General Martin Dempsey, received a “message” from the White House, via a direct phone call, e-mail or text.

From there, the Chairman’s office sent another “message” to the Army Chief of Staff (Ft Knox is under US Army control) General Raymond T. Odierno.

More phone calls or e-mails down the food chain.

And from there Ted Nugent was severed from the annual summer concert by US Army administrative decree.

And this in turn reveals more than you would care to know. To wit:

There clearly isn’t anyone, now, in major military administrative positions, who will willingly stand against the PC world we now inhabit. Instead — and no shock here — our senior military administrators would much rather fellate civilian cock for a paycheck and benefits than even remotely upset their own personally-secure retirement boat. Their careers supported or demolished by Barack HUSSEIN Obama. No balls. No testosterone. Only estrogen.

And so I say to Mr Nugent: apparently you’re doing something right, because of these results.

Keep on keeping on, sir.

You are Right, and they are wrong.

BZ

P.S.

That said, one thing you may not know is this:

After the 1986 reorganization of the military undertaken by the Goldwater-Nichols Act, the Joint Chiefs of Staff does not have operational command of U.S. military forces.

Responsibility for conducting military operations goes from the President to the Secretary of Defense directly to the commanders of the Unified Combatant Commands and thus bypasses the Joint Chiefs of Staff completely.

From 60 Minutes Sunday interview:

Lesley Stahl: You had no qualms? We used to consider some of them war crimes.

Jose Rodriguez: We made some al Qaeda terrorists with American blood on their hands uncomfortable for a few days. But we did the right thing for the right reason. And the right reason was to protect the homeland and to protect American lives. So yes, I had no qualms.

Rodriguez spent 31 years in the CIA’s Clandestine Service where spies are revered as “fighter jocks”. He rose thru the ranks, eventually running covert operations as head of the Latin America division. When al Qaeda struck on 9/11, he’d had no experience in counterterrorism or the Middle East. But he wanted “in” on the war on terror, and went to the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, where the main objective was to stop another attack on the U.S. homeland.

Jose Rodriguez: We were flooded with intelligence about an imminent attack. That al Qaeda had an anthrax program, and that they were planning to use it against us. And that they were seeking nuclear materials to use in some type of nuclear weapon. So we were facing a ticking, time bomb situation and we were very concerned.

Lesley Stahl: So you were getting pressure from Congress and the White House to take the gloves off. Did you go to the dark side?

ose Rodriguez: Well, the dark side, that’s what we do.

Lesley Stahl: You are the dark side.

Jose Rodriguez: We are the dark side.

His first big operation came after the capture of a Palestinian, thought then to have high level al Qaeda connections, named Abu Zubaydah when he was taken prisoner in Pakistan in the spring of 2002, Abu Zubaydah was badly injured in a firefight.

Jose Rodriguez: He actually was on the verge of dying. So we brought in a surgeon from the U.S. to help him out.

Lesley Stahl: You brought in a top-rate surgeon from Johns Hopkins?

Jose Rodriguez: Yes, the best that we could find.

Lesley Stahl: You save him so you can squeeze everything out of his brain that you can?

Jose Rodriguez: So we could elicit intelligence that would allow us to keep our country safe. So we took him to a black site.

Black site. It was the first of several secret interrogation centers around the world. Abu Zubaydah was still recovering from his gunshot wounds when the interrogation began.

Lesley Stahl: When you start the interrogation, it’s both the CIA and the FBI, right?

Jose Rodriguez: Correct. This was our prisoner, our site, our show –

Lesley Stahl: Meaning the CIA?

Jose Rodriguez: The CIA, but we had invited the FBI to come along.

Now there’s a big dispute over which agency got more information and more valuable information. At first, FBI interrogators used their standard interviewing techniques with no coercion, and Abu Zubaydah cooperated, giving tips and leads but–

Jose Rodriguez: After he regains his strength he stopped talking.

Lesley Stahl: And then he just shuts down. Is that what happens?

Jose Rodriguez: He shuts down.

But the FBI’s lead interrogator said he didn’t shut down, and that they should continue with their traditional methods of questioning. Jose Rodriguez, though heard the ticking time bomb and felt a sense of urgency.

Jose Rodriguez: If there was going to be another attack against the U.S., we would have blood on our hands because we would not have been able to extract that information from him. So we started to talk about an alternative set of interrogation procedures.

Lesley Stahl: So you’re the one who went looking for something to break this guy.

Jose Rodriguez: Yes. And let me tell you something, you know, because years later the 9/11 Commission accused, or said that 9/11 was a failure of imagination. Well, there was no lack of imagination on the part of the CIA in June 2002. We were looking for different ways of doing this.

As I would EXPECT YOU WOULD.

Which is why I hold you up as a HERO of these United States of America.

BZ

Mr Obama’s father did NOT serve is WWII, and that is a direct SLAP IN THE FACE and an INSULT to all the World War II veterans who did not come back, and to those who survived, raised families, kept quiet, remained humble and served their country honorably.

Obama’s father (Barack Hussein Obama Sr., born on 6-18-36) was five years old when WWII began.

Obama’s stepfather (Lolo Soetoro, born on 1-2-35) was six years old when WWII began.

The man has NO SHAME.

He absolutely, positively, MUST GO come November.

What an absolute embarrassment — a dangerous embarrassment — to us all.

BZ

P.S.
Thanks, Chris!