On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:39:05 -0400, in alt.politics.republicans Jeff
<dont_bug_me@all.uk>, wrote

FACE wrote:

<snip>

If anything George W Bush has had more to do with invoking executive
privilege over ECHELON.

If anything, it was a Clinton project..........

Started before Clinton, but W is the only one I know of who claimed
executive privilege on it. In 2002 or 2001 I think. This is not a US
only project.

Small potatoes compared to the abuses of Alberto Gonzales and TSP.
Nobody really know what is going on there but we are expected to trust
"Fredo" to properly administer it. That is currently the crux of
updating FISA which has been modified some 50+ since it's 70's inception.


Jeff

I first heard about ECHELON in about '95, but I just came across this as a
quick hit...........

" It is widely assumed that the U.S. government is working with security
agencies in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada in running
Echelon. But when Smart Computing contacted the U.S. government agency, we
were told that the NSA (and Central Security Service [CSS]) doesn't "confirm
or deny that Echelon exists."

....

Another early indication that Echelon exists, as far as the general public is
concerned, appeared in the first few months of 1997, when a newsletter called
CovertAction Quarterly included an article called "Hager on ECHELON" that gave
supposed details on what Echelon does. The piece claimed that Echelon started
out as a joint project between the United States and the United Kingdom around
the time of World War II and was formed to gather intelligence on the Soviet
Union. In the ensuing decades, the NSA (of the United States) and the
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ; of the United Kingdom) were
joined by three other intelligence agencies in this project: the
Communications Security Establishment (Canada), the Defence Signals
Directorate (DSD; Australia), and the Government Communications Security
Bureau (New Zealand). "

That article,
http://www.smartcomputing.com/Editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/g0804/22g04/22g04.asp&guid=
is from 2000 and it looks like ECHELON was still in the "we think"
stage..........

Somewhere after that time, I heard it was solidified as being real, but I
don't recall executive orders on it..........

FACE

FACE wrote:

On Fri, 3 Aug 2007 07:27:44 -0700, in alt.politics.republicans "Lamont
Cranston" <Lamont.Cranston@NeoConEvilFighter.com>, wrote

"FACE" <AFaceInTheCrowd@today.net> wrote in message
news:b7g4b35j52uuqcchu053tvcvjrajb33g7p@4ax.com...

On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:34:37 -0700, in alt.politics.republicans
mordacpreventor@hotmail.com, wrote

On Aug 2, 12:28 pm, FACE <AFaceInTheCr...@today.net> wrote:

On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 08:42:42 -0700, in alt.politics.republicans
mordacpreven...@hotmail.com, wrote

Bush doesn't have to worry about this since he stacked the courts
with
his sycophants.

*****.

You sure are one stupid rightard *****.

You disprove your obscenity with your own backup.

Nearly one-third of the public - 31 percent - thinks the court is
too
far to the right,

In other words, a clear majority of 69 % DON"T THINK the court is
too far to
the right.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The number of people who think that the court is too far to the right
has increased 63% in the last two years and it continues to increase
every day.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But it's still 31%
A 63% increase *TO* 31% is 12% of 100%. (Percentages rounded off to the
nearest 1% but be sure to make a big deal out of the 3 or so hundredths of 1%
which is on my side anyway.........

57% view the court favorably, that leaves 43% who view it otherwise.
That is quite a fall from historic levels and is just another indication
of how institutions that americans have traditionally trusted, are slipping.