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Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

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Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#121
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Muslim here. I never understood both sides and their actions. I mean I find both Islamic fundamentalism and American actions all round globe both equally dumb. I don't think OBL ever had it as an explicit aim to pull down US militarily or culturally transform US into a Islamic state. That is impossible, and I assume somebody like him already understood that. I guess his aim was to drag US into a war and then reduce t…

Its actually surprising that US fell for it. Yep. Bush would have been a hero if he hadn't fallen for it. Compassionate conservatism, expressed in Medicare Part C. Tax cuts combined with modest military expansion would have held the deficit in check. But remember the pundits saying, "this one calles for boots on the ground"? Even Jon Stewart showed a clip of Bush or someone making a compassionate statement, and comme…

What the hell are you talking about man? They bombed the crap out of Iraq during Clinton's term.. 93, 96, 98 And almost continuously from 99-01.

Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#122
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bin Laden's aim was to push the US into a war that would bankrupt them. I'd call that mission accomplished.

Importantly, to remove their presence out of the middle east and change their foreign policy. This is not happening though so not accomplished.

According to the document referenced on the al-qaeda wikipedia page (which, you know, may or may not be accurate), their goals stretched all the way out to 2020. They didn't intend for the US to change its policies or willingly withdraw, they intended for it to slowly destroy its own economy to the point of collapsing entirely (like the USSR).

Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#123
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think that the ultimate goal of Bin Laden was to increase surveillance in the US and to annoy travelers at airports?

This and the other comments refer to "battles" in the war on terror, if you will. I'm not sure it's how OBL planned but it does kind of look like he might have been happy with our trajectory.

Only if you buy into "because they hate our freedom". In reality OBL couldn't care less about US domestic civil rights and liberties. He cared about US presence in the middle east and support for Israel.

The "the terrorists have won"-notion is based on the viewpoint that terrorists are just evil and want "bad things" to happen to their enemies. So whatever unpleasant consequence for you means that the terrorists have won. In reality, terrorists have specific agendas and goals. None of OBL's goals have been achieved, so he didn't win. If anybody won it was the NSA, DHS etc.

Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#124
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And drive 30 minutes from your home, and use a proxy server to connect to the internet I'd love to hear some details of what you are proposing here. Because right now it doesn't sound like you know what you are talking about. If it makes you feel any better, facebook has a similar level of information about you and they haven't done much harm with it. Um. No they don't.

On your second point, here's incomplete list of data that facebook stores about its users. Note that they keep all wall posts, messages, tags, and photos even after the user deletes it from his profile http://europe-v-facebook.org/EN/Data_Pool/data_pool.html Of course, they won't have any of your data if you don't have an account, which might be what you're trying to get at.

> Of course, they won't have any of your data if you don't have an account

Facebook can indeed. Your name even without an account can be tagged into photos and status updates by other users. Those photos contain location data. And of course the accounts of other users in the same photo as you contain a wealth of data about their locations and interests and one-degree-further friends, statistically speaking much of which will also apply to you.

Whether Facebook has the ability to automatically aggregate such sparse data into something useful is an open question, but the data does exist. Unless you somehow never let yourself get photographed or mentioned by anybody else who does use Facebook.

Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#125
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about 1500+ experts including Registered Architects, Structural Engineers, Scientists, etc who are willing to go on camera and agree that there is no way the official story 9/11 is possible. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCu_pvhnzQ

OK, I haven't personally checked into every one these guys, but every time I've seen a list like this, when anyone has bothered to actually check credentials on the people listed, it's turned out that they were either specialists in totally unrelated fields with little knowledge of building construction and collapse, or they were "professors" at Devry Institute or University of Phoenix, or they were total quacks, or…

Here is a list of all of Architects/Engineers. They each include credentials, license numbers, etc. The list if overwhelming. Graduates (and professors) from top schools in the country are included. http://www2.ae911truth.org/signpetition.php

I am not an expert and I have no idea what actually happened on 9/11. It is up to each of us to form an opinion using the evidence that we have available.

Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#126
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This and the other comments refer to "battles" in the war on terror, if you will. I'm not sure it's how OBL planned but it does kind of look like he might have been happy with our trajectory.

Only if you buy into "because they hate our freedom". In reality OBL couldn't care less about US domestic civil rights and liberties. He cared about US presence in the middle east and support for Israel. The "the terrorists have won"-notion is based on the viewpoint that terrorists are just evil and want "bad things" to happen to their enemies. So whatever unpleasant consequence for you means that the terrorists have…

If you believe that the US spending isn't infinite, then spending on this helps aid his cause. Eventually, the spending shuts off and the US pulls out, right? We're talking about healthcare spending vs. military spending at some point. Other than shipping lanes and some oil supplies, all other middle east presence seems optional.

This NSA database has to cost a lot and a) they aren't supposed to admit it to the American people and b) they aren't supposed to even use it. Under what circumstances does it become useful?

Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I am registering with "local" govenment FFS that is even worse at least at the national level there is some oversight and Journalists holding teh executive to account.

I have a pretty dim outlook on the state of civil rights in this country but I think you're going too far. States which ask for this information do so in order to give you your party's ballot during primary elections. I think you're reading too much into this one. The fact that not every state asks should also point to a lack of any grand conspiriacy here.

Statistically speaking, you give up your right to vote anonymously by registering your political party with the state in return for the convenience of getting one of two ballots instead of both.

"There are two ballots here which one am I interested in again? Better ask the State which one I registered for.." Seems like a stretch.

Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#128
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Muslim here. I never understood both sides and their actions. I mean I find both Islamic fundamentalism and American actions all round globe both equally dumb. I don't think OBL ever had it as an explicit aim to pull down US militarily or culturally transform US into a Islamic state. That is impossible, and I assume somebody like him already understood that. I guess his aim was to drag US into a war and then reduce t…

Its actually surprising that US fell for it. Yep. Bush would have been a hero if he hadn't fallen for it. Compassionate conservatism, expressed in Medicare Part C. Tax cuts combined with modest military expansion would have held the deficit in check. But remember the pundits saying, "this one calles for boots on the ground"? Even Jon Stewart showed a clip of Bush or someone making a compassionate statement, and comme…

Really? Are you talking about the Clinton whose sanctions killed half million Iraqi infants from 1991 to 1996 alone and his the secretary of state though the cost of sanctions was worth it? The Clinton who in 1998 knowingly bombed an aspirin factory in Sudan that supplied cheap medicines to millions of Africans?

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1084/

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.

--60 Minutes (5/12/96)

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2...

But a British engineer, Thomas Carnaffin, who worked as a technical manager during the plant's construction between 1992 and 1996, emerged to tell reporters there was nothing secret or heavily guarded about the plant at all, and that he never saw any evidence of the production of an ingredient needed for nerve gas. The group that monitors compliance with the treaty banning chemical weapons announced that Empta did have legitimate commercial purposes in the manufacture of fungicides and antibiotics. The owner of the Shifa factory gave interviews in which he emphatically denied that the plant was used for anything other than pharmaceuticals, and there was never persuasive evidence to contradict his assertion. At the same time, members of the administration retreated from claims they made earlier that Osama bin Laden had what [Defense Secretary William] Cohen called "a financial interest in contributing to this particular facility." It turned out that no direct financial relationship between bin Laden and the plant could be established.

Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#129
post #6

Sure, they have all data about someone. But, what is the use? It is like searching a needle in a haystack.

Ever play "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon"? Doubtless that they are building a comprehensive social/activity/location/finance graph of as many people as possible so that when someone pisses off the wrong people they can be dealt with completely.

Re: Whistleblower Binney says the NSA has dossiers on nearly every US citizen

#130
post #80
post #27

If this is true doesn't it mean that Bin Laden won the war on terror? Every time I go to the airport I think this. Those full body scanners? Thanks to Bin Laden, now you practically get strip searched for every flight. You have to take off your shoes. You cannot take drinks on a plane. You then have everyone on edge no matter where you go. You and a friend play CounterStrike. You get on the bus and start talking abou…

Muslim here. I never understood both sides and their actions. I mean I find both Islamic fundamentalism and American actions all round globe both equally dumb. I don't think OBL ever had it as an explicit aim to pull down US militarily or culturally transform US into a Islamic state. That is impossible, and I assume somebody like him already understood that. I guess his aim was to drag US into a war and then reduce t…

Its actually surprising that US fell for it.

The US didn't fall for anything - 9/11 was an opportunity to advance military goals in the Middle East. We planned to invade Afghanistan before the event[1]. About three weeks afterward this plan was expanded to include seven countries in ten years ("Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran")[2]. Some of those were accomplished by the "Arab Spring", but the State Department wasn't uninvolved in that and asked twitter to reschedule maintenance so that it would be "an effective communications tool" during the 2009 Iranian election[3].

The only confusing actor is Bin Laden, who attacked a superpower that had already expressed a desire to invade his people.

[1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm]

[2 http://www.salon.com/2007/10/12/wesley_clark/]

[3 http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/06/16/us-iran-election-t...]

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