:(

A blog post by somebody supposedly named Daniel Cloud who we know nothing about.

A blog post that contains not one single link to back up what this person is supposedly saying himself but possibly just copied and pasted from somewhere we do not know.

A good blog has an "About Me" section for the bloggers. So the readers can know who is doing the blogging.

A blog post that contains not one single link is not a blog post.

I want to hear from the leaders of the Libertarian Party here. I want to know the opinions of the leaders of the Libertarian Party here.

Where is Michael Dixon? What does Michael Dixon think? Let's get with the program here people.

Wiretaps are only one aspect of a much bigger problem called the Patriot Act. I just sincerely hope those sections that are set to expire on the Patriot Act aren't renewed.

News from the AP, listed on FOX News

Wiretap Use Jumps in 2004
Thursday, April 28, 2005

STORIES
•Report: Most Forms of Wiretapping Dropped in 2002
WASHINGTON — The number of court-authorized wiretaps jumped 19 percent last year as investigators pursued drug and other cases against increasingly tech-savvy suspects. Every surveillance request made by authorities was granted.

Federal and state judges approved 1,710 applications for wiretaps of wire, oral or electronic communications last year, and four states -- New York, California, New Jersey and Florida -- accounted for three of every four surveillance orders, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (search). That agency is required to collect the figures and report them to Congress.

The numbers, released Thursday, do not include court orders for terror-related investigations under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (search), known as FISA, which reached a record 1,754 warrants last year, according to the Justice Department.

In non-terrorist criminal investigations, federally approved wiretaps increased 26 percent in a year, to 730 applications, while state judges approved 980 wiretaps, an increase of 13 percent.

Department of Justice spokesman Kevin Madden said the numbers reflect "an increase in the resources geared toward targeting very serious federal and state offenses for which electronic surveillance is often the most, and sometimes the only, effective investigative method."

Mr. Kenline is 100% correct. I can click a link to see who he is. Blathering info like this without giving sources or the reasons that we should trust the writer only damages the party's image.

QUOTE: "A blog post by somebody supposedly named Daniel Cloud who we know nothing about."

What the [expletive deleted] are you talking about? He's Daniel Cloud, Libertarian Party News Editor.

http://www.lp.org/organization/hq.shtml

Do some research, and you'll know something about him.

QUOTE: "A good blog has an 'About Me' section for the bloggers. So the readers can know who is doing the blogging."

Who is the "me" running the blog? It's the Libertarian Party. This whole site is an 'about me' page. We don't need to have pointless trivia about party members posted.

QUOTE: "A blog post that contains not one single link is not a blog post."

Thanks for your OPINION. Glad to know someone died and left you in charge of determining what is and is not a blog post.

QUOTE: "I want to hear from the leaders of the Libertarian Party here. I want to know the opinions of the leaders of the Libertarian Party here.

"Where is Michael Dixon? What does Michael Dixon think? Let's get with the program here people."

A) The LP News Editor doesn't count as a leader?
B) Stop with the Michael Dixon fetish, please!
C) Stop ordering people around. You've got your own blog, and if you want to act like an all-knowing-dictator, you can do it there. Just, please, stop the whining here, and debate the content of Mr. Cloud's article.

QUOTE: "I agree with Mr.Kenline, I want to hear from the leaders of the Party; not some guy doing copy/paste jobs."

Leonard, Mr. Cloud didn't copy/paste this from anywhere. A simple google-search would turn up multiple results if this had been posted elsewhere, but as you can see here, it wasn't:

http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22The+use+of+court-authorized+secret+wiretaps%22

http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22Looking+only+at+the+non-terror-related+wiretaps%22

http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22Is+it+reasonable+to+believe+that+every+single+one+of%22

http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22the+wiretaps+are+necessary%2C+legitimate+and+appropriate%22

Thank you April Whoeveryouare.

I didn't know that Mr. Cloud was the Libertarian Party News Editor. Thank you for pointing that out to us.

http://www.lp.org/organization/hq.shtml

I am a little thick headed sometimes. I apologize.

And I am sure that I am not the only reader of this blog who did not know this.

Daniel, please consider making a link in your post to the article that your are referring to and commenting on.

Also, in the byline of your post it would be nice to make a link out of your name which would take the reader to more information about yourself.

But this is good. This is progress in my opinion. We now have one of the leaders of the party blogging here at the blog.

Now I would like to hear from Joe Seehusen, Samuel New, Jessica Neno Wilson, Robert Kraus, Michael Dixon, R. Lee Wrights, Bob Sullentrop, and all of the others at least once per day.

I would like to see them all have their own individual blogs all listed in a blogroll in the left hand column of this blog.

Also I would like to see a daily treasury report from Mark Nelson. Better yet would be a Mark Nelson blog where Mark Nelson would make daily commentary about the budget of the party and answer questions about the budget of the party.

Thank you Libertarian Party leadership for this blog. It is definitely a step in the right direction. Continuous improvement is the key. Keep up the good work.

I would like to know Daniel Cloud's sources for the information in his blog entry.

You can thank that Neo-Con, corporate hack dictator King George Bush Jr. He has proven to be the true Y2K virus. If the people of America weren't so short-sighted, they would throw that tyrant and his administration as well as the Neo-Cons out on their a#$es.

Well, a source has been cited, and others have been noted, so I don't think that asking for sources is totally relevant...

I have only a few questions, to which I hope someone will be glad to furnish answers:

Under what legal auspices were these taps issued?

Were any issued in bad faith?

Did any produce incriminating evidence that brought criminal cases to trial, and if so, how many?

I want principally to know if the USAPATRIOT act was involved, as I think people would be more influenced on the issue if they knew the damage it has done, not merely the damage it can do. With the former, we have a body count at least after a fashion, with the latter we're just speculating (and the more accurate those speculations, the worse) as to what may happen, and so far, gloom and doom projectors have been a little too enthusiastic with their figures. I'm not saying they're wrong, mind you.

Back to the point. I told people that wiretapping and surveillance were going to go way up. Most people that I associate with said the same thing. Where is the news here? The Patriot Act has to go. We knew that before it ever passed.

how's this for a source

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/28/increased.wiretaps.ap/index.html

it states, "By the end of the year, the surveillance had generated 4,506 arrests and 634 convictions based on wiretap evidence."

it also states, "The numbers, released Thursday, do not include court orders for terror-related investigations under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which reached a record 1,754 warrants last year, according to the Justice Department."

that's the number of so-called secret warrants. that's the number that scares me.

oh, and "Officials said most of the applications, some 1,308, were for drug investigations," for those of you who are still debating the drug war.

If the patriot act is so bad, then how did it pass the Senate 98-1?

Watch David Ray Griffin speech here...

http://www.911blogger.com/2005/04/proper-release-of-griffin-in-madison.html

It passed because of political pressure for increased "security" after 9/11. Not a single congressman really new what was in the bill before it was passed, it was rushed through congress too fast.

The Patriot Act is a trade. We give our liberty so we can have security. (refer to quote below)

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Ben Franklin

If the patriot act is so bad, then how did it pass the Senate 98-1?

Tough times make bad law. Who, as a politician who must answer to his constituents, would vote NAY to an "anti-terrorism bill" in the immediate aftermath of 9/11? ONE person, Sen. Feingold from WI.

Well, there were more NAY votes in the House. I know Dr. Paul voted against it, for example, as well as a small handful of others.

If you're tired of politicians passing legislation that they have no read, go to the following link, and please provide some support for the Read the Bills Act of 2005:

http://www.downsizedc.org/read_the_laws.shtml

This isn't necessarily the place to put this, but I don't know of any other available way:

The Lady Liberty graphic in the upper left needs to be cleaned up. Hook me up with the source files and I'll fix it for you guys.

I specialize in this sort of thing. It won't take long, and I'll do it free of charge.

I want a report from Michael Dixon.

I met Michael Cloud at the 2004 convention in fact, over a cigarette. Very nice guy and I wish I'd have had more of a chance to speak with him, as he had a lot to say and I was busy working on the Nolan campaign.

Aren't some of these comments better-suited for private email as opposed to displaying tons of public complacency?

I mean, just check out some of the other blogs in the libertarian realm like Reason.com's Hit 'n' Run -- the managing editor (or, in this case, the top brass) can't always be the poster. This is all new for the LP. Give it time and stop being so insanely particular.

What do they owe you, anyway?

"If the patriot act is so bad, then how did it pass the Senate 98-1?"

Perhaps the Senate is not comprised of trustworthy, liberty-minded individuals. If it were, I don't think there would be much of a point in having a libertarian party.

Come on LP show some life here. A blog that doesn't have at least one update per day is dead.

Hey, you people need to relax. I sometimes go on the dnc.org blog and chat with those pinkos. They really dot have any "rules" about what constitutes a "post." It is a free-flowing marketplace of ideas (however horrible those ideas may be). Daniel Cloud put an idea out there. Whodathunk the form of his post would have been more insulting than the true information contained therein. Our party has many problems but I cannot think of one that is as serious as our inability to communicate. Get it together people!!!

1. GWB has expanded the size of the government by 30% in five years.
2. He has us involved in an unjust war in the middle east.
3. The Patriot Act has abolished the 4th Amendment.
4. The US Supreme Court is about to rule that private property can be taken and given to another private party for personal profit.
5. Americans are paying about 60% of their income in taxes and regulatory expenses.
...And we are bitching about proper posting methods. Unreal.

Posted by: Doug Kenline at May 3, 2005 09:50 AM

I agree with Doug, let's get this blog started. Really, take a look at the DNC's blog. The thing is active to the tune of over 1000 messages/day. This is a great concept. Let's make it work!! I hate being a cheerleader but let's go. This party needs energy!!! This is the place to build it!

By the way, while I don't know for sure about the wiretaps, I do know that well over 5,000 people have been arrested without judicial recourse so far under the Patriot Act, with zero convictions for anything more serious than minor immigration law violations. Most are being held behind bars in this country incommunicado. This alone is cause for great concern. If the wiretaps report is also true, liberty is virtually gone in this country.

Libertarian TV, if you could please provide a citation?

I'd be very grateful, as a citation would give me an actual document to point to when I mention the numbers to USAPATRIOT act supporters.

This is a test.

Hi Brian,

Sure. My source is attorney and author David Coles whose book Enemy Aliens can be found at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=professiona07-20&creative=9325&camp=1789&link_code=ur2&path=tg/detail/-/1565849388/ref=lpr_g_1?v=glance&s=books

Mr. Coles was a speaker at an event I filmed in October 2004. You can view it on my website at http://www.libertariantv.com/minaret_of_freedom/index.asp although unfortunately part of the audio was lost when it was recorded.

Thank you very much. Sorry to respond so late.