The Winkler County News (Kermit, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 15, 2013 Page: 4 of 14
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Page 4
The Winkler County News
Thursday, August 15,2013
Editorial
Double talk
from the spymasters
By Andrew P. Napolitano
How is it that the government can charge Edward Snowden with
espionage for telling a journalist that the feds have been spying on all
Americans and many of our allies, but the National Security Agency
itself, in a public-relations campaign intended to win support for
its lawlessness, can reveal secrets and do so with impunity? That
question goes to the heart of the rule of law in a free society.
Since Mr. Snowden’s June 6 revelations about massive NSA
spying, we have learned that all Americans who communicate via
telephone or the Internet (and who doesn’t?) have had all of their
communications swept up by the federal government for two-plus
years. The government initially claimed that the NSA has gathered
only telephone numbers and billing data. Now we know that the
NSA has captured and stored the content of trillions of telephone
conversations, texts and emails, and can access that content at the
press of a few computer keys. All of this happened in the dark, with
the permission of President Obama, with the knowledge and consent
of fewer than 20 members of Congress who were forbidden from
doing anything about it by the laws they themselves had written, and
based on secret legal arguments accepted by a secret court that keeps
its records secret even from the judges who sit on the court.
This massive spying — metadata gathering, as the NSA calls
it — was also done notwithstanding statements NSA officials made
in public under oath and in secret classified briefings to Congress,
which effectively denied it. The denials were in one case admitted
to — “least untruthful,” as the director of national intelligence later
called his own testimony. Then, when even members of Congress
who usually support a muscular national security apparatus realized
that they, too, had been lied to by the NSA, the NSA responded with
its own leaks.
It has leaked, for example, that as a consequence of its spying,
it has prevented at least 50 foreign-originated plots from harming
Americans. It eventually backed off that number and declined to
reveal with specificity what it independently learned and how that
knowledge foiled the plots. We do know, though, that its colleagues
in the FBI were participants in many of those plots, which means
they weren’t real plots at all — just government stings going after
dopes and dupes.
Last week, the NSA leaked that it captured actionable intelligence
of grave and imminent danger to our embassies in the Middle
East. The implication it wants you to draw here is that because it
caught al Qaeda operatives talking in code in Yemen about deadly
deeds they plan to perpetrate in the Arabian Peninsula, somehow
the NSA’s spying on more than 300 million innocent Americans
is constitutional, lawful, effective and, therefore, worth the loss of
freedom.
Earlier this week, we learned that other federal agencies — the
Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the
Department of Defense, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the
Internal Revenue Service, the CIA, the FBI — all want access to
the NSA’s database, and it has shared some of it with most of them.
Also this week, former Drug Enforcement Administration agents
acknowledged the agency regularly receives raw data from the NSA
and uses that data to commence criminal investigations, and claimed
this has been going on for at least a decade,
Down the slippery slope we go.
The whole NSA spying apparatus was sold to Congress as a
limited mechanism for combating foreign terrorists. How putting
the intimate thoughts of all Americans who use telephones and the
Internet under the federal microscope helps to fight foreign terrorists
has never been explained in a public court — only in a secret one.
Using this extra-constitutional means to fight crime brings us closer
to a Soviet-style and values-free police state.
The Constitution intentionally has placed values in the path
of law enforcement and national security so as to maintain our
natural rights. Those values are generally articulated throughout the
Constitution and specifically addressed in the Fourth Amendment.
The linchpin of those values is the natural right to be left alone. All
persons — even bad guys — have that inalienable right, and the
government may only invade that right when it can identify a bad
guy and articulate the probable cause it has to think he is committing
criminal acts. The rest of us — those for whom there is no probable
cause of criminal acts — retain that right, and it cannot be taken
away from us by the supine acquiescence of Congress or an unnamed
judge in a secret court. That constitutional requirement — and that
requirement alone — has kept Americans free from Soviet-style
persecutions.
Now comes Mr. Obama, who is quarterbacking the most massive
end run around the Constitution in modern times. He is invading
(See DOUBLE, page 5)
MEMBER
2013
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
The Winkler County News
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believe that the primary role of government is the preservation and protection
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TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Capital Highlights
By Ed Sterling
\b PEAJP AND
Al
Road-funding legislation
finally passes
AUSTIN — A third called
session of the Texas Legislature
began July 30 and ended Aug.
5 with the task completed:
passage of legislation to
create a new funding path
for transportation projects.
Given the contentiousness of
the two previous called sessions
that each lasted a full 30 days,
lawmakers plowed their way to
comparatively quick votes to
give Gov. Rick Perry what he
wanted. It’s a two-part solution.
First, Senate Joint Resolution
1 by Sen. Robert Nichols,
R-Jacksonville, is a proposed
constitutional amendment that
voters will see on the November
2014 ballot. SJR 1, should
voters approve it, would take
50 percent of the state’s oil
and gas severance taxes that
normally are deposited in the
state Economic Stabilization
(“Rainy Day”) Fund and
instead put that revenue
into the state highway fund.
Second, House Bill 1 by
Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso,
establishes a select committee
expenditures and finance.
Committee membership would
be made up of five House
members and five Senate
members to be appointed by
the presiding officers of their
respective chambers. The select
committee will set a minimum
balance each fiscal biennium
for the Rainy Day Fund.
Whatever the panel suggests
as an amount then would need
final approval by majority vote
of both House and Senate.
HB 1 also requires the Texas
Department of Transportation to
find a way to save at least $100
million in funds appropriated
to the agency for 2014-15 and
that money would be used to
pay down the agency’s debt.
Gov. Perry on Aug. 5 said the
Legislature’s action “moves our
state closer to securing a strong
economy well into the future
by providing more resources
for building and maintaining a
transportation system that will
keep our economy growing
and our population moving.”
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said,
on transportation funding,
Letter to Editor
Recently I read in USA
Today about cameras scanning
license plates of passing cars on
freeways.
This information goes into a
data base. Why? Supposedly it’s
to connect law enforcement with
possible criminals.
The article states it can
capture the image of 1,800
plates per minute, across four
lanes of traffic and at vehicle
speeds of 150pmh. Impressive!
In a Sacramento shopping
mall, they scanned 3 million
plates in27 months and found
5tr stolen vehicles. However,
curiously enough, nowhere in
the article did it say what they
did with the other 2,999,949
plates they “captured”. Were
they deleted? Were they added
to the database? And for what
purpose? No one is daring to ask
these questions. Odessa has the
ones that supposedly catch you
if you are speeding under the
light. What else are they doing?
Everyone in Odessa seems to
be complaining primarily about
the cost and the laziness on the
part of the police officers. Wake
up people, money is the least of
your worries.
Back in the 60’s, I
remember all the then so-
called liberals screaming about
privacy because it rumored J.
Edgar Hoover kept files on all
Americans. They screamed,
they protested, they screamed
some more. They did not want
anyone to know everything
about Americans at that time.
Boy, what would J. Edgar
do with today’s technology?
Exactly what is being done.
The National Security Agency
in Utah has everything there
is to know about us. How to
get to our house, what we are
doing in our house (yes, just
like in the movies), everything
there is to know about our
jobs, our families, personal
medical records (whatever
happened to doctor - patient
confidentiality?), any and all our
personal financial information.
For what purpose? Again, no
one is asking these questions. If
nothing else, imagine this. Have
we never had a computer hacker
yet, that has found a system he
can’t hack into? Remember, the
Titanic was unsinkable!
Recently, I heard a
presentation of an application
you can get for your smart
phone. My phone is a stupid
phone; all it does is receive and
make calls. This app enables
you to take a picture of someone
doing something illegal, and
send it directly to the local
police department, with location
information and the police
would take it from there. In
my birth country, such people
were called chivatos. In this
country, I believe they’re called
“snitches”. Remember the “See
something, say something”?,
well it sounded good at the time,
but like everything else, it has
progressed. This is so-o-o-o
living in a police state. Most of
you are thinking, “Man this lady
has lost her alleged mind.” Well,
all I know is I’ve smelled this
skunk before.
Please stay informed; if you
have questions, ask. If you are
not sure of the answer you got..
DIG! With today’s technology,
anyone can do what I do...
research! Just like you can when
you’re shopping, the internet
can take you to sites where your
questions can be answered.
Don’t wait until it gets to the
point where you go to sleep one
night to one life, and awaken the
next day to something totally
different. Like I did in January,
1959. Trust me, you won’t like
what you find.
Sincerely,
Hope Fernandez Williams
1 12 Jackson
Kermit, TX
432-208-7923
“This plan enables us to relieve
congestion on Texas roadways
while protecting our state’s
‘AAA’ bond rating with a healthy
balance in the Rainy Day Fund.
To protect our Rainy Day fund, I
am recommending a floor of $6 to
$7 billion for the next two years.”
During debate action on Aug.
5, lawmakers in both chambers
expressed concern over the
condition of rural roads in
their districts that are heavily
traversed by oil and gas
industry vehicles. They said the
repair and restoration of those
roads should be high priority.
Tax revenue increases
Texas Comptroller Susan
Combs on Aug. 7 announced
that state sales tax revenue in
July was $2.2 billion, up 7.3
percent compared to July 2012.
“Texas sales tax revenue has
increased for 40 consecutive
months,” Combs said. “The
retail trade sector bolstered
the latest growth in monthly
revenue, and collections
from the construction and the
oil and natural gas sectors
continued to show strength.”
Combs said her agency would
send cities, counties, transit
systems and special purpose
taxing districts their August local
sales tax allocations totaling
$671 million, up 6.2 percent
compared to August 2012.
‘Fracking’ is credited
Texas Railroad Commissioner
ChristiCraddicklastweektoldthe
American Legislative Exchange
Council about the importance of
hydraulic fracturing technology
during the lobbying group’s
annual meeting in Chicago.
Among her comments, Craddick
said “fracking” is estimated to
be used in about 80 percent of
new wells completed in Texas
today, and, “For almost 50
years, OPEC has manipulated
oil markets, holding the United
States captive to their supply-
and price-setting whims. Thanks
to fracking technology, America
is moving closer to fulfilling
its energy needs domestically.”
Driver law toughens up
Current law requires drivers to
move over and slow down for law
enforcement, fire and emergency
vehicles, but effective Sept. 1,
drivers also must move over
or slow down to 20 miles an
hour below the posted limit
when approaching Texas
Department of Transportation
workers and vehicles that are
stopped with overhead flashing
blue or amber lights, the
agency announced last week.
TxDOT Executive Director
Phil Wilson lauded the
Legislature for passing a law
that recognizes the dangers
agency employees face each day.
“We are hopeful that this new
protection for our crews wifi
lead to fewer preventable deaths
and injuries,” Wilson said.
On roadways with posted speed
limits of 25 miles per hour or less
drivers must reduce their speed
to 5 miles per hour and violators
can be fined up to $2,000.
ED STERLING
Director of Member Services
Texas Press Association
718 West Fifth Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 477-6755
edsterling@texaspress.com
The president’s
reset button
This is what President
Obama’s “reset” of relations with
Russia looks like. He abruptly
canceled plans Wednesday
to meet Russian President
Vladimir Putin in Moscow next
month when he goes to Russia
for the Group of 20 summit in
St. Petersburg. This is payback
for Russia’s grant of temporary
asylum to Edward J. Snowden,
the National Security Agency
leaker whom Mr. Obama
dismissed not long ago as an
inconsequential “29-year-old
hacker.”
The administration’s
tone has changed even more
substantially from the March
2009 happy-talk photo-op
when Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton gave Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
a red “reset” button as a token of
improved relations.
The shifting policies are of a
piece with this administration’s
revisionism, foreign and
domestic, on full display at Mr.
Obama’s sixth visit to Jay Leno’s
“Tonight Show” on Tuesday.
Asked about the temporary
shuttering of about 20 embassies
across the Middle East and
North Africa owing to terrorism
threats, Mr. Obama took credit
for “putting al Qaeda between
Afghanistan and Pakistan back
on its heels.”
This is a clever turn of
phrase, attempting to limit the
discussion of al Qaeda to its
mischief in Afghanistan and
Pakistan, excluding talk about
its far more active branches
on the Arabian Peninsula and
across North Africa. Mr. Obama
once boasted that al Qaeda was
“on the run,” but he concedes
now they’re not really going
anywhere.
State Department spokesman
Jennifer Psaki, trying to explain
all the embassy closings in the
Islamic countries, took slippery
verbal cues from her boss. It’s
inaccurate to call an evacuation
an evacuation; the evacuation in
Yemen was merely “an ordered
departure” and “a reduction in
staff.” The evacuations were
presumably ordered to prevent
“workplace violence.”
The president put
disingenuous rhetoric to work on
the domestic front as well. “The
unemployment rate has been
(See PRESIDENT’S, page 5)
Get a horse
The apt symbol of the
Obama presidency is the Chevy
Volt, stalled on the open road.
Like Barack Obama, the Volt
presented itself to the public
with the lofty promise of a better
future, but delivered a future not
as good as the past and present.
Chevy announced this week it
would cut the price of the Volt
by an additional $5,000.
The Chevy Volt (i.e., the
Obamacar) is a classic tale of
top-down thinking, the story
of subsidy, crony engineering
and rejection by the market.
Car buyers, always eager to
buy something new, expected
a peach and got a lemon. The
Volt is the president’s economic
policy on four wheels.
When General Motors
teetered on the edge of
insolvency in 2009, it had an
opportunity to go bankrupt,
allowing a renegotiation of
crippling labor contracts and
legacy costs. President Obama
didn’t want to admit his woeful
lack of economic smarts, so he
rode to the “rescue” with billions
of dollars in taxpayer money to
put the government in charge of
what was once one of America’s
iconic companies.
The administration declared
that the car to power GM’s
turnaround would be a plug-
in hybrid-electric, and the
Volt debuted as a 2010 model.
Though described as a marvel,
the Volt can travel just 35 miles
on a single charge, as reckoned
by the Environmental Protection
Agency. That’s not as far as
pioneering electric cars of the
19th century could travel on a
single charge.
The marketplace rejected
electric power as impractical
more than a century ago, but
Mr. Obama thinks he knows
better. He insists there must be
1 million electric cars on the
road by 2015. His Democratic
allies have been singing to the
(See GET, page 5)
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Parks, Phil. The Winkler County News (Kermit, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 15, 2013, newspaper, August 15, 2013; Kermit, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth790709/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Winkler County Library.