Marvin Peters – 3/6/06

This page was last updated on March 7, 2006.

Worry about other stuff, too; Marvin Peters; Beaver County Times; March 6, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“If The Times is worried about American’s Constitutional rights being trampled (‘The right way,’ Tuesday), why only worry about so called illegal wiretaps?

“My Social Security card still says ‘not to be used for identification purposes.’ That is, however what it is precisely being used for - insurance, banking, driver’s license, gun permits to name a few.

“How about the way that TIVO infringes on American’s privacy without a lot of them even aware of it. Why doesn’t The Times editorialize against this corporate giant’s cable invasion?”

[RWC] If you don’t like how TiVo operates, don’t use it. According to the TiVo website, “Absent your consent, TiVo does not keep track of what shows you - as an individual or household - have watched, recorded, or rated with ‘Thumbs Up’ or ‘Thumbs Down.’” Mr. Peters may be the victim of an urban legend.

We also need to remember the Constitution is about rights relative to the government. Many things illegal for the government to do are perfectly legal for private citizens, including businesses.

“Under The Times supported proposal by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, the administration would give out more information to the handful of lawmakers of which one or more of them leaked this whole story anyway.”

[RWC] I would not be surprised to learn someone in Congress leaked this information, but the investigation hasn’t concluded. The leakers could have been from Congress, the NSA, or the White House.

That said, congressmen have a history of leaking national security information for their own political gain.

· In 1987, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was bounced off the Senate Intelligence Committee – by Democrats no less – for leaking classified material to a reporter.

· In 2005, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) disclosed the name of a covert CIA officer during the John Bolton confirmation hearings.

· In 2004, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) leaked information about a classified CIA satellite program.

Though the above list contains only Democrats, I’m sure some Republicans have leaked when they felt it was to their benefit.

“I wish The Times could define all the broad powers (or any) this administration claims to have, and that other administrations have not claimed.”

[RWC] This is a point I’ve made in my own critiques.

“I would not put much stock into anything the ‘single bullet theorist’ Specter has to say. I hope The Times will investigate more thoroughly the outdated F.I.S.A. After all, did the Times condemn Kennedy, Carter and Clinton for the same offenses as Bush? (Oh, yeah, those were domestic to domestic in time of peace wiretaps, not foreign to domestic in times of war wiretaps.)”

[RWC] What does Mr. Specter’s position regarding the JFK assassination have to do with his NSA terrorist surveillance proposal?

“Don’t let the facts blind you, though.”