What Else Are They Up To?

by digby

TPM Muckraker connects the dots and comes up with who might have blown the whistle to Peter Hoekstra — and what it probably was about:

I’m not the only person to note that five days before Hoekstra wrote his now-famous letter, NSA whistleblower Russ Tice — James “State of War” Risen’s source for his NYT domestic wiretapping story — told inside-the-beltway pub Congress Daily he was planning to tell congressional staffers “unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens.”

Space based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens. I’m sure these satellites are only tracking terrorists.

Clearly, this isn’t warrantless listening on phone conversations or reading emails. That’s covered by the other secret, illegal NSA spying program. So what the hell else are they doing? Is this some sort of tracking system?

Keep in mind that they are funnelling huge wads of cash to local and state police agencies for “homeland security” as well. How many of these domestic spy programs do you suppose they need?

I’m beginning to think the only way we’ll ever get to the bottom of this is if we start a rumor that they are tracking gun owners. That’s the only thing that worries Republicans enough that the congress will do something about it. If spy satellites are illegally monitoring people’s homes or offices in some way, they believe Americans should be happy to comply. You have to be willing to give up some of your civil liberties so that the government can keep you safe — except from gunfire, for which you should take personal responsibility by being heavily armed and prepared to kill in self-defense. The government has no business messing with the second amendment. The rest, however, are up for grabs.

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