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Wow. Just wow. Not only do we have a star chamber, but we can't even be allowed to see what laws they have concluded are Unconstitutional. Any facade of a f

Wow. Just wow. Not only do we have a star chamber, but we can't even be allowed to see what laws they have concluded are Unconstitutional. Any facade of a functioning democracy, or of a commitment to transparency by this government, is swept away. It also gets to something Scalia said in oral argument in Clapper v. Amnesty International, namely that we should trust the FISC to address 4th Amendment issues. It makes me wonder if he knew about the decision before the case reached the court. But without such access to case law determining what is Unconstitutional, how can we know what the law is? Where is due notice in this?

derleth 13y ago
> Any facade of a functioning democracy, or of a commitment to transparency by this government, is swept away. The same was true of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
- jivatmanx 13y ago
  But, this time we have no Thomas Jefferson.
- einhverfr 13y ago
  Not really. These were repealed right around the time of Marbury v. Madison so we never got a chance to see them in court.
rdtsc 13y ago
One wonders why there is a "culture of leaks" http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/303957-feinstein-bemoans-culture-of-leaks http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/303957-fein... This is just the start. Some of people I suspect who become a cog in the now large system don't get their original patriotism and respect for Constitution sucked out of them. A few will see the ridiculousness of this and do a very risky and dangerous thing and leak the information. There is a loss of trust that is building up and that will be devastating. Maybe the trust is disappearing because things really did get worse or it is disappearing because the Internet is there and people get more access to alternative channels of communications ( I haven't decided which is which ).
- rhizome 13y ago
  Leaking is the most effective form of protest today. A leaker can do more than 1,000,000 marchers with picket signs can. This is why they're cracking down on it so hard, like they do anything that allows mundane citizens to affect the status quo.
SagelyGuru 13y ago
Kafka never even imagined anything like this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial
thangalin 13y ago
Keep in mind North America does not have a true democracy. It more closely resembles a democratic dictatorship that has many checks in place to ensure our elected Leaders do not abuse their authority. There are other forms of democracy that bring authoritative decision-making much closer to the people. See: https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Related%20Links https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Related%20... I have developed a set of mock-ups that show how such a system might work. See: https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/ https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/ Critiques and other contributions are most welcome.

derleth 13y ago

> Any facade of a functioning democracy, or of a commitment to transparency by this government, is swept away. The same was true of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

jivatmanx 13y ago
But, this time we have no Thomas Jefferson.
einhverfr 13y ago
Not really. These were repealed right around the time of Marbury v. Madison so we never got a chance to see them in court.

rdtsc 13y ago

One wonders why there is a "culture of leaks" http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/303957-feinstein-bemoans-culture-of-leaks http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/303957-fein... This is just the start. Some of people I suspect who become a cog in the now large system don't get their original patriotism and respect for Constitution sucked out of them. A few will see the ridiculousness of this and do a very risky and dangerous thing and leak the information. There is a loss of trust that is building up and that will be devastating. Maybe the trust is disappearing because things really did get worse or it is disappearing because the Internet is there and people get more access to alternative channels of communications ( I haven't decided which is which ).

rhizome 13y ago
Leaking is the most effective form of protest today. A leaker can do more than 1,000,000 marchers with picket signs can. This is why they're cracking down on it so hard, like they do anything that allows mundane citizens to affect the status quo.

SagelyGuru 13y ago

Kafka never even imagined anything like this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial

thangalin 13y ago

Keep in mind North America does not have a true democracy. It more closely resembles a democratic dictatorship that has many checks in place to ensure our elected Leaders do not abuse their authority. There are other forms of democracy that bring authoritative decision-making much closer to the people. See: https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Related%20Links https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Related%20... I have developed a set of mock-ups that show how such a system might work. See: https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/ https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/ Critiques and other contributions are most welcome.