Compromised: How the National Security State Blackmails the Gov.

[midnight]

&feature=player_embedded

[JDPriestly]

1. Thanks. I wish more people would watch this.

Snowden's revelations makes Tice's claims all the more believable.

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. This is not new!

The Praetorian Guard of Rome and the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire are just two examples of the same phenomena. Anyone that thinks that the awesome powers of the NSA and security state will not someday be used for the personal and political goals of those that wield them is simply ignoring history at their peril.

[leveymg]

3. Eliot Spitzer is another example of the wiretapping and compromise of targeted public officials.

But, this is only the latest incarnation of a very old practice of political spying in America.

Hoover had his Private Files, many, many file cabinets full of juicy dirt gathered on politicians, industrialists and movie stars he started collecting in the 1920s. He used that information for his own personal pleasure and political advantage until he keeled over in the middle of the Watergate scandal. No reason to think this ever stopped just because he died.

Starting under General Van Deman during World War One, Military Intelligence Division (MID) has been spying on and ratf-cking Leftists and progressives. When he died in the late 1960s, Van Deman and his Rightwing friends at Western Research (a prototype for privatized intelligence contractors) had a whole warehouse of files in California. No reason that stopped, either.

All this is on the public record, but up until now, it was easy to dismiss as or "conspiracy theory." Glad people are finally waking up, and it seems, many are refusing to shut up and go back to sleep. Snowden has done a tremendous national service in that regard.

[midnight]

8. I forgot about Eliot Spitzer.

[Plucketeer]

4. In trying to wrap my head around all this...

... I start to wonder WHO directed these intrusions and WHAT was their aim in doing so. Heh - as unlikely as it seems - what about the famous moment during the Obama/Romney debates where Mitt stuck his foot in his mouth regarding the labelling of Benghazi as a terrorist event? Maybe the whole thing was staged! Maybe it was scripted that Obama would eventually overcome and serve a second term. What if the current stalemate in congress is JUST an act to sway attentions from Obama's fostering the TPP to fruition. Gotta make it look like Boehner's gang and McConnell's group are dead set against letting this president do much of anything.

Buh - buh - buh - but what 'bout Obamacare? Yeah....... health insurance companies have to be just LIVID over being subsidized with taxpayer money.

But wha' 'bout all the civil rights victories for the LGBT community? Important they are! And I seek not to diminsh ONE iota of what these mean to those of that community. I have a son that is gay. But really - this was bound to come along eventually. And outside of wedding planners and providers of peripherals, I can't see much influence on the economy. Gotta make the military's recruiting efforts easier!

All of that tho - just a purposed distraction. What's really going on here is the transformation - indeed, the DE-gradation of our once prominent place at the head of the economic pack. Tho I haven't espoused it ardently here - my contention for some years now was/is that once the American workforce was thoroughly disheartened - once they were rendered desperate enough to take ANY wages, the ruling elite would triumphantly bring jobs back from overseas and bask in the patriotic glory of it all.

Black hats - white hats - it's all just gray anymore. I don't believe the likes of Warren and Grayson will ever become prevalent in our government. Folks with that sort of brains and integrity are smart enough not to expose themselves to the torment of public service. The spying? It's just to make sure they're all on the same page of the script.

[janlyn]

5. +1,000,000

[leveymg]

6. That's about 98% of it. Factor in competing elites, and you've got it -

How's the view up there? Kinda scary, but stimulating, isn't it?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

9. "health insurance companies have to be just LIVID over being subsidized with taxpayer money" - Yes!

[midnight]

10. I agree-Being distracted and why is really important to keep in mind...

[Plucketeer]

12. If I may.....

Our congressional hopeful sang promises inflated
Told us our incumbent was sorely overrated
Pumped full of high ideals, he looked like he could fly
Enough so that the voters voted him to try

But when he got to Washington, the ugly truth set in
The ignorance of innocence would prove to be a sin
His morals and his principals that seemed so darned profound?
They vented uncontrollably and made a farting sound

He’s now just one more cog for the lobbyists to grease
He only seems to worry that his campaign funds might cease
The folks back home all wonder: what happened to “their guy”
What was it that denied him the chance to rise and fly

by me.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. oh my.....

I hate it when that happens.

[nolabels]

7. The problem with being anal is that eventually a bowel movement or death renders the effort useless

Maybe some of these folks out there should watch one of those hoarder infotainment shows to see how the gas gets let out

[DhhD]

11. Gathering for the purposes of blackmail instead of terrorism.

[midnight]

13. Who would of thought?

[NoMoreWarNow]

14. kick!!!