blog.arithm

Now that the Senate has decided to grant retroactive immunity to the telecoms (video), it probably won’t be long before the Bush Administration starts routinely tracking your search habits, mining your email, and monitoring your phone calls.  This kind of automated profiling will allow the NSA to determine, among other things, your propensity for terror.  Yes, soon the Bush Administration will be protecting us all from ourselves.

But I say, why wait?! I want the Bush Administration to protect me from myself right now!  Am I a subversive?  Could I be a terrorist?  I need to know!  And I’m sure you do as well.

That’s why I have started automatically carbon copying all of my email to George W. Bush.  Okay, well, technically I’m carbon copying them all to Dick Cheney because it would appear that Cheney reads Bush’s email for him.  But I have every confidence that Mr. Cheney will keep the president abreast of my goings on.

If you’re a Microsoft Outlook user, here’s how you too can automatically carbon copy all of your email to the White House.

1. In Mail, on the Tools menu, click Rules and Alerts.
2. On the E-mail Rules tab, click New Rule.
   
3. In the Rules Wizard dialog box, under Start from a blank rule, click Check messages after sending, and then click Next.
4. Click Next.
5. A confirmation will appear, notifying you that this rule will apply to every message that you send. Click Yes.
6. Under Step 1: Select action(s), select the Cc the message to people or distribution list check box.
   
7. Under Step 2: Edit the rule description (click an underlined value), click people or distribution list.
8. In the Rule Address dialog box, click a name or distribution list, and then click To. Repeat this step until all names or distribution lists you want to add are included in the To box.
9. Click OK.
10. In the Rules Wizard dialog box, click Next.
11. Click Next.
12. Under Step 1: Specify a name for this rule, enter a name that you will recognize for this rule.
    
13. Click Finish.

That’s it!  Now all of your email will be automatically carbon copied to Dick Cheney at the White House, who will update President George W. Bush, who will work with the NSA to figure out if you are a terrorist or not.  Because, let’s face it, who knows what you’re capable of?  Act now before it’s too late!

There’s a lot of concern about the FISA bill, being voted on today.  It’s been blocked a number of times until now.

The bill amends FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act from the Nixon administration, to give the telecoms retroactive immunity against warrantless wiretapping of American citizens — as ordered by the Bush administration.  In a greater sense, the bill gives the executive branch, the president, the right to spy on American citizens without cause.

In a very real sense, FISA is the end of the American right to privacy, a kind of nullification of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  As Ron Paul points out in The Revolution, this is exactly what the framers of the Constitution warned us against.  He quotes from Thomas Jefferson:

“The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”

For more information, Tim Ferriss has an excellent article on FISA and an interview with Daniel Ellsberg.  In particular, note Ellsberg’s discussion regarding how Obama has weakened his stance on the FISA issue.

Likewise, see Olbermann’s message to Obama.

(Bright spot from Olbermann’s message:  While FISA “immunizes” telecoms and others from civil suits, it may not block criminal prosecution.  If true, this will get very, very ugly.)

What can be done today?  Make an 11th hour call to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  From Democracy for America:

Call Senator Reid right now and demand he pull the FISA “compromise” bill which will lead to retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies who spied on Americans.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Washington DC: 202-224-3542

If the DC number is busy – Try reaching his district offices:
Reno Office: 775-686-5750
Vegas Office: 702-388-5020

Additional resources are on Tim’s site, and elsewhere via Google, however the above will probably have the most impact on this important day.