[deleted]
Why don't you try contributing something "of much higher quality", then?
[deleted]
U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
91–100 of 241 posts
Re: U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Judith Miller was jailed for refusing to out Bush administration sources who outed Valerie Plame's status as a covert operative as political retribution.
The CIA assumed in the first half of the '90s that Aldrich Ames burned her covert status, so she was withdraw from that role long before any of this happened. Just another desk bound "operative" in McLean, Virginia, where there's a highway turnoff sign to the HQ.
I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. Outing a covert agent also risks outing other resources in the area, or sources and methods. In any case, it was clearly not a good idea for Scooter Libby to reveal her identity to Bob Novak.
Re: U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's always "complex" when it's our (the US) government involved. When it's the actions of others, especially official enemies, it's usually regarded in pretty straight forward right/wrong terms. For example, for those old to remember, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 80's was recognized for what it was, pure aggression. Our military actions abroad? Well, it's complex, nobody's perfect, we all make mistakes,…
So, the Iranian revolution was right? The installation of countless dictators was right? Guantanamo is right? Torture is right? The US's moral compass was thrown overboard decades ago.
The moral compass that led us to slavery, the genocide of the Native Americans, and Japanese internment camps? The idea that the USA was formerly moral but has given it up lately isn't really supported by history.
Re: U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
#94Second amendment's been gone for a while. Fifth and fourteenth haven't been seen in a minute, either. Peaceable assembly's overrated anyway. (RNC '04) How much of the first needs to be gone until it's enough to recognize that the USA is no longer a free society? How many whistleblowers, security researchers, and cryptographers need to be thrown in prison on bullshit trumped-up charges? How many hunger-striking politi…
If people emigrated when the government was literally killing striking union organizers (e.g. the "Wobblies"), holding Nisei captive, holding blacks in bondage, locking up political dissidents (e.g. Lincoln), infecting the poor with syphilis, or ruining the lives of countless suspected Communists with the full authority of the state... just imagine how far worse off we'd be. Leaving is always your choice, but the U.S…
I emigrated because there was no hope in my lifetime of the United States extending marriage rights to everyone (specifically, immigration-related.) I had no real choice other than to find someone else to fall in love with.
It's a fucking shitty situation, but I'm making the best of it, and I don't really miss my former country. Just some of the people in it.
Re: U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
#95I am from Brazil, and I must ask: Why the US citizens and government propaganda insists that US is about freedom, when US ignores its own constitution, takes away freedom from its citizens, and most important to me, takes away freedom from citizens of other countries while claiming to do the exact opposite? I am from Brazil, and many people here remember the US backed (and enforced sometimes) rightwing government tha…
Now, you can hardly judge a country on one or two acts of unrelated political activism abroad... :P More seriously, it's complex--painting it in the simplest broad strokes of "The US only cares about corporations" is unfair. The US is not the US; it's a combination of local, state, and federal governments and bureaucracies. There's almost certainly near no magical evil council sitting atop it all scheming about how t…
I don't disagree with you that the U.S. is a very complex system with millions of variables, and like any complex bureaucratic system is extremely difficult to change. I also don't disagree that there almost certainly isn't an evil council scheming to make corporations more powerful (I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, and this particular conspiracy sounds especially absurd -- I'm not even sure that the corporations are getting more powerful in the first place).
However, while "it's complex" is the right answer, it's almost certainly never a good answer. I run a company with a team of eleven, and "it's complex" often comes up as an answer to difficult challenges. Well, it is complex and it isn't. Difficult issues are difficult by definition, but doing nothing is almost never the right answer. There is sufficient body of evidence to at least establish a pattern of civil rights being eroded in the U.S., granted for very complex and often perfectly valid reasons. That's what leadership is about -- cutting through complexity to guide the overarching system in the right direction. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that from our government.
EDIT: I also agree that the original argument smells unnecessarily of conspiracy theories and drastically oversimplifies the issues.
Re: U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
#96I am from Brazil, and I must ask: Why the US citizens and government propaganda insists that US is about freedom, when US ignores its own constitution, takes away freedom from its citizens, and most important to me, takes away freedom from citizens of other countries while claiming to do the exact opposite? I am from Brazil, and many people here remember the US backed (and enforced sometimes) rightwing government tha…
Chile is an interesting example because it is one of very few areas where US action saved a large number of people from death. In case it matters, I'm against interventionism and I'm Canadian, but I've visited both Cuba and Chile and even the nicest parts of Cuba are worse than the sketchy port city of Chile. If I were Chilean I wouldn't be outraged. And many of the Chileans that I talked to were not. I think there a…
> If I were Chilean I wouldn't be outraged.
I did some light reading on this topic. How exactly were a large number of people saved from death? Did you misspeak? Because from what I've read, the overthrow of Chile's elected government actually resulted in a large number of people dying/being tortured/'disappearing'. I'm guessing the Chileans who you spoke to weren't from that group.
Re: U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
#97[deleted]
What value does your comment have? If you don't agree, tell us why. Otherwise, why comment in the first place? To tell us we suck? Have you ever seen the comments on CNN, Yahoo, etc?
I find the quality of discourse on HN WRT politics is excellent, especially politics that have technological implications. HN arguably has the least partisan approach, and those that disagree tend to do so politely.
Re: U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
#98I am from Brazil, and I must ask: Why the US citizens and government propaganda insists that US is about freedom, when US ignores its own constitution, takes away freedom from its citizens, and most important to me, takes away freedom from citizens of other countries while claiming to do the exact opposite? I am from Brazil, and many people here remember the US backed (and enforced sometimes) rightwing government tha…
the United States federal government often does shitty things in the name of national security. the U.S. foreign policy has been pretty nasty over the years as well. HOW-FUCKING-EVER...you really ought to be careful to make a distinction between those specific policies and practices and the rest of the United States as a whole. We have 300+ million people and we don't all agree with this stuff in lockstep with the fa…
Well, you voted in the elections, didn't you?
Re: U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
The CIA assumed in the first half of the '90s that Aldrich Ames burned her covert status, so she was withdraw from that role long before any of this happened. Just another desk bound "operative" in McLean, Virginia, where there's a highway turnoff sign to the HQ.
I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. Outing a covert agent also risks outing other resources in the area, or sources and methods. In any case, it was clearly not a good idea for Scooter Libby to reveal her identity to Bob Novak.
First:
"In any case, it was clearly not a good idea for Richard Armitage to reveal her identity to Bob Novak."
Let's keep the established facts straight.
Otherwise, since you're ignoring my statement that she was no longer a covert agent when this happened, I'm not sure what's the point of your reply.
Re: U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records
#100I am from Brazil, and I must ask: Why the US citizens and government propaganda insists that US is about freedom, when US ignores its own constitution, takes away freedom from its citizens, and most important to me, takes away freedom from citizens of other countries while claiming to do the exact opposite? I am from Brazil, and many people here remember the US backed (and enforced sometimes) rightwing government tha…
Chile is an interesting example because it is one of very few areas where US action saved a large number of people from death. In case it matters, I'm against interventionism and I'm Canadian, but I've visited both Cuba and Chile and even the nicest parts of Cuba are worse than the sketchy port city of Chile. If I were Chilean I wouldn't be outraged. And many of the Chileans that I talked to were not. I think there a…
Intervention in Chile was wrong,
but it can also be used by neocons