US agency (NSA) “collecting phone records“

[Donovan]

I almost gave you hippie half credit for going 'green' and recycling the joke I just used on you, but you did it so poorly I decided not to.r

I can only work with the material with which I am provided and in your case I'm afraid the quality of that material is extremely low. Strive to improve by a considerable margin and we may yet witness a general improvement of quality all round douchebag.

Now you're recycling the speech your wife gives you before sex. Bad form Cinnamon. Bad form.

[Cynical Ninja]

Now you're recycling the speech your wife gives you before sex. Bad form Cinnamon. Bad form.

^
See? This is the piddling juvenile tripe I'm supposed to somehow work wonders on! Its like that old Chinese proverb, don juan de douchebag is offering me bricks in exchange for jade.

[aussiefriend]

I think CNN is right, I think Assange may have started out well intentioned but has now become enamoured by his own celebrity and cult like following. He doesn't come across as a humble guy to me. The relationship also he has with his mother is not normal either. She is clearly his primary relationship in his life, kind of a Mummy's boy, which would suggest to me that he hasn't grown up.

[Cynical Ninja]

I think Assange is completely disingenuous and anyone that thinks he is a hero for freedom or truth is one naïve little motherfucker.

There is definitely more to him than meets the eye and Aussie is right his relationship with his mother is strange and creepy and almost Norman Bates like in its oddity. I honestly don't know if the sexual offences he is accused of are true but it wouldn't surprise me if they were.

The fact he is hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy rather than face what would be a fair trial in Sweden speaks volumes.

[Duchess]

A listening device was just discovered in that embassy.

[Cynical Ninja]

I'm surprised a listening device hasn't been found before now. When blabbermouths court the media as much as Assange has is it any wonder when everyone in the world knows exactly where he is.

[Midwest Spy]

A nice little rally was held in downtown Mpls yesterday.

Folks that are outraged over their govt spying on them decided to get together and shout 'Give us back the 4^th amendment!'

Mock members who feel the same way, have you organized an rally's, started any on-line petitions, or are you just going to sit back and TAKE IT?

[Duchess]

or are you just going to sit back and TAKE IT?

You make it sound like we have a choice, we don't. I've already said we don't have the luxury of opting out.

[Midwest Spy]

or are you just going to sit back and TAKE IT?

You make it sound like we have a choice, we don't. I've already said we don't have the luxury of opting out.

Seems like Donovan has presented options. Don't re-elect those in power, rally, organize, etc.

I'm not FOR anybody deliberately violating constitutional rights. And maybe I'm just naive in believing its only a national security issue. However, like you said, an individual citizen feels pretty powerless to do anything.

[Cynical Ninja]

Over ONE MILLION people marched en masse one saturday in London in protest against joining the US in invading Iraq.

It made no difference whatsoever.

The marches and protests in the US will make no difference whatsoever.

If you think peaceful protests will make any difference you are living in cloud cuckoo land.

If you want to make those in power take notice you have to do something pretty drastic and spectacular.

[username]

The marches and protests in the US will make no difference whatsoever.

If you think peaceful protests will make any difference you are living in cloud cuckoo land.

If you want to make those in power take notice you have to do something pretty drastic and spectacular.

Yeah and it would help if people cared a little.

I think I read that around 40% of the population (give or take) were concerned about the data gathering. Out of that, I betcha less than .05% care enough to actually get out there and protest.

We're an apathetic nation. I vote, I sign the occasional petition but despite my disagreements with certain government activities, nothing yet has compelled me to hit the streets. I have a comfy life (despite paying an absurd amount in taxes) so I don't have any burning complaints that drive me to do more than I already do.

The closest we had to major protests was Occupy Wall Street which irritated the fuck out of me. I'm glad those crazies finally found their way back to the shelters. Assholes.

[username]

BTW, I saw an image the other day...I can't find it again but it said something to the effect of:

"Government spying, nobody cares. One old lady says the n-word and the world goes crazy".

[Donovan]

As a philosopher my role is not so much to protest as to educate. I exist to point out that the elephant in the room is in fact an elephant, that the emperor has no clothes, that the rules on the barn wall have been changed so some animals are more equal than others. Chances are good that when bad times come, voices like mine will be silenced first. But until then I will speak, and speak truth. The fighting I will leave to others more suited to it. But the pen is mightier than the sword after all...and that is where I do my protesting.

[Cynical Ninja]

Bwahahahahaha!

Yeah, talking shit on a small Mock forum makes you a national hero my self deluded little lichtspittle.

Nobody in power gives a flying fuck what you say or think douchebag and never will. You will be very low on the list of targets the black helicopters are charged with taking to the FEMA camps. Wannabe internet smart arses rank somewhere alongside tramps and hobos on the threat list to the powers that be.

Your self reverence is hilarious and deeply tragic.

[Duchess]

internet smart arses rank somewhere alongside tramps and hobos on the threat list to the powers that be.

Whew.

[Cynical Ninja]

In fact I've come across rambling alcoholic derelicts that actually talk more sense than my little lichtspittle does.

[username]

If I'm walking down a dark alley at night, I'd rather have the sword, thanks.

My husband has a sword for karate (it's got a specific name but I don't know what it is). He tests for his brown belt next month! It's a three day test...I hope he passes or he's going to be a bitch to live with.

[Cynical Ninja]

Donovan douchebag would rather have the pen to bore potential attackers to death with his bullshit flowery rhetoric that has no relevance to real life.

[HairOfTheDog]

This article seems positioned to cause a negative reaction and yet more cries that our civil rights are being violated.

For me, it does not. This doesn't bother me at all; it's just smart business.

We do it on a smaller scale in regards to confidential company information; I'd be troubled if governmental agencies were more lax about it.

IMO, no need to be paranoid about "insider threats", but certainly cautious and proactive. The bad guys and terrorists aren't all living in far off places (and we stand a better chance of seeing those coming). But, a Tsarnaev, Hasan, or even a Snowden (in some people's view) can wreak a lot of havoc quickly because they have much quicker access, whether it be to large groups of targets or classified information.

ARTICLE SNIP:

Watch out for "Hema."

A security training test created by a Defense Department agency warns federal workers that they should consider the hypothetical Indian-American woman a "high threat" because she frequently visits family abroad, has money troubles and "speaks openly of unhappiness with U.S. foreign policy."

That slide, from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), is a startling demonstration of the Obama administration's obsession with leakers and other "insider threats." One goal of its broader "Insider Threat" program is to stop the next Bradley Manning or Edward Snowden from spilling classified or sensitive information.

But critics have charged that the Insider Threat program treats leakers acting in the public interest as traitors -- and may not even accomplish its goal of preventing classified leaks.

DISA's test, dubbed the "Cyber Awareness Challenge," was produced in October 2012, a month before the Obama administration finalized its Insider Threat policy. The slide about Hema is included in a section of the training about "insider threats," which are defined by an accompanying guide as "threats from people who have access to the organization's information systems and may cause loss of physical inventory, data, and other security risks."

In a statement to The Huffington Post, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Damien Pickart said, "DISA was sensitive to any civil liberty concerns that might arise from any portion of the curriculum, which is why it coordinated with 26 federal agencies to ensure the maximum amount of input was received before going live."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07...14333.html

[BlueTiki]

A security training test created by a Defense Department agency warns federal workers that they should consider the hypothetical Indian-American woman a "high threat" because she frequently visits family abroad, has money troubles and "speaks openly of unhappiness with U.S. foreign policy.

Go on! Report me, Duchess!

I'll show you some mutherfuckin' tight-assedness!