LAND Commentary

"In the United States, we are supposed to have a government that is limited with its parameters established by our Constitution. This notion that the federal government can monitor everyone’s phone data is a major departure from how Americans have traditionally viewed the role of government. If this is acceptable practice, as the White House and many in both parties now say it is, then there are literally no constitutional protections that can be guaranteed anymore to citizens." (06/12/13)

"Lately I have been thinking a lot about breasts. Well, not exactly breasts, but about two of the handful of genes that influence whether breasts develop cancer. These genes are called BRCA1 and BRCA2, and among the reasons I’ve been mulling them is that, in addition to determining the fates of many people I know and love, they are about to determine the outcome of one of the more provocative debates now raging in the overlapping fields of medicine, biotechnology, and law: Can genes be patented?" [editor's note: Even without the killer title, this article is quite thought-provoking - SAT] (06/12/13)

"Although the Supreme Court is expected to wrap up its term at the end of the month, on Monday the Court declined to hand down any of the blockbuster civil-rights rulings still pending. It did, however, rule in Peugh v. United States, an important opinion that protected a vital democratic value: the prohibition against retroactive punishments. The key question in Peugh involves the application of Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, which mandates that 'No ... ex post facto Law shall be passed.' This prohibition reflects longstanding common-law principles central to the rule of law." (06/11/13)

"Let us take Edward Snowden at his word. For a moment, assume he disclosed publicly the National Security Agency’s broad, sweeping surveillance of all telephone, Internet, and email communications everywhere -- not to hurt people or undermine security but to stop an unconstitutionally intrusive program. Did he do the right thing? Should we be thanking Snowden, or throwing the book at him? That may boil down to whether the American people want to know about the type of program he is describing." [editor's note: And which color jersey the team in power is wearing at the time? - SAT] (06/11/13)

"During the 'Red Scare' that swept the United States in the wake of Russia’s 1917 Bolshevik revolution, the Justice Department launched a cycle of raids against radicals and leftists. The U.S. attorney general, a once-celebrated Progressive leader named A. Mitchell Palmer, gave his name to this unfolding series of attacks against civil liberities. Though initially supported by Congress, the courts and the press, the 1919 Palmer raids revealed a darker side of the American psyche. They eventually provoked a national backlash." (06/11/13)

"Here is someone who gave up a comfortable life in Hawaii as a highly-paid government contractor and now risks jail -- 'I do not expect to see home again' -- and eternal exile. Why did he do it? To give the American people the information they need to decide whether they want to live in a society where government spying on citizens is ubiquitous. His greatest fear? It’s not imprisonment, but the fear that his act will change nothing. It’s up to us to make sure his heroic act is not in vain." (06/10/13)

"The recent revelations about the court order issued to Verizon asking them to hand over data about the calls made by millions of customers were chilling not so much for the specific information the government was asking for, but for what the order likely portended. Given its massive scope, the potential for spying into electronic communications made much more disturbing revelations inevitable. It didn't take long for the other shoe to drop." [editor's note: Ya know, it's nice to see some "progressive" pundits nailing Obomya to the wall on this stuff; just wish it hadn't taken five years and a re-election to bring it about - SAT] (06/07/13)

"We conservatives like to needle liberals (those some, not all) who hold Barack Obama to an easier standard than they held for George W. Bush on such areas as civil liberties and the War on Terror. At Friday’s event in San Jose the president made the same dig toward Republicans who after revelations as stories about surveillance in his administration surface have become newborn civil libertarians. ... Actually, I understand why liberals were kinder to Obama. They trusted him. They thought he was less likely to abuse exceptional power.... [T]hat trust may have been misplaced." (06/09/13)

"All day Thursday, officials from across the political spectrum scrambled to explain reports in the Guardian and Washington Post of unprecedented government collection of phone and Internet records. James R. Clapper, director of National Intelligence, issued a rare public statement confirming the existence of a classified phone program but said it did not involve the surveillance of American citizens." [editor's note: And if you believe that, I've got a bridge ... - SAT] (06/07/13)

"Courtroom action is adjourned until next Monday June 10th, giving us a chance to pause and take a good look at what this court-martial is really all about: the leaks themselves. Too often, the content of the leaks (thousands of stories of individual lives destroyed or damaged by war) gets subsumed in the drama surrounding the leaks: Manning, Assange, Wikileaks and their travails. Michael Arria at Vice Motherboard has an excellent analysis of this tendency to overlook the leaks' content, including a good brisk run-down of some of the major leaks, lest we forget." 906/60/13)

"For Americans across the country, the recent IRS scandal -- complete with its tales of ideological targeting, disclosures of confidential information, and highly intrusive questioning -- represents nothing short of a nightmare: a highly partisan, powerful, and unaccountable IRS using its immense reach to reward its friends and punish its enemies is antithetical to our democracy. More importantly, it’s antithetical to our Constitution." (05/29/13)