BOOKING FIRST AND FOURTH AMENDMENT "FIFTH COLUMNISTS"

Written by Kurt Nimmo
[Copyright (c) 2006 in the U.S.A. and
Internationally by Another Day in
the Empire (kurtnimmo.com),
and/or Kurt Nimmo.
All rights reserved.]

In the near future—maybe next week—it may be a good idea to stay away from John Young's Cryptome website. Young's site often posts articles on surveillance, cryptography, and information on the military and intelligence community. It appears Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, along with Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, are pushing legislation to prosecute anyone who “intentionally discloses information identifying or describing” the NSA snoop program or any other snoop program conducted under a 1978 surveillance law, according to the Associated Press.

Under “boosted penalties,” those found guilty could face fines of up to $1 million, 15 years in jail or both. In fact, according to Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, the language of the proposed legislation does not specify that the information has to be harmful to national security or classified. Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the Associated Press the legislation would allow the government to prosecute even “if you read a story in the paper and pass it along to your brother-in-law…. As a practical matter, would they use this to try to punish any newspaper or any broadcast? It essentially makes coverage of any of these surveillance programs illegal… I'm sorry, that's just not constitutional.”

No kidding.

But then the Bush regime is the Constitution hating regime. Remember, according to George, the Constitution is just a g.d. piece paper.

Finally, it is interesting to see Lindsey Graham's name of this legislation. He's the guy who has a hankering to go after “fifth columnists,” or people who exercise their constitutional rights. It appears Lindsey may have a tool very soon to go after “fifth columnists” who complain about Bush's violation(s) of the Fourth Amendment.