Some essential points about PRISM

Some essential points about PRISM 

Leaders of the intelligence committees in Congress defended the program Sunday.

• Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it helped lead to convictions in two cases:
• -- Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-born Colorado man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to bomb targets in New York.
• -- David Headley, who pleaded guilty to conducting advance surveillance for the Pakistani jihadists who attacked hotels and other targets in                        Mumbai, India, in 2008, killing 164 people.

• "These programs are within the law," Feinstein, D-California, told ABC's "This Week." And Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC, "The inflammatory nature of the comments does not fit with what Dianne and I know this program really does."

• "The instances where this has produced good -- has disrupted plots, prevented terrorist attacks -- is all classified," said Rogers, R-Michigan. "That's what's so hard about this."

James Clapper, director of the Office of National Intelligence says programs were authorized by Congress

• "In a rush to publish, media outlets have not given the full context -- including the extent to which these programs are overseen by all three branches of government," Clapper said. Clapper's office declassified some details of the programs, which it said were "conducted under authorities widely known and discussed, and fully debated and authorized by Congress."

• Phone-call data isn't looked at unless investigators sense a tie to terrorism, and only then on the authority of a judge. Officials say analysts are forbidden from collecting the Internet activity of American citizens or residents, even when they travel overseas. 

• Clapper's office said PRISM was created in 2008, targets "foreign targets located outside the United States" and gets reviewed by the administration, Congress and judges. And Rogers told reporters Sunday that "there is not a target on Americans." "There has to be a non-U.S. person believed to be on foreign soil. That is a huge difference than what is being portrayed in the media," said Rogers, R-Michigan.

photo credit: jef safi \ 'Parker Mojo Flying via photopin cc

Look how far our nation has come.

I don't have any wonderful anecdotes to share, nor do I have a particular family in mind for why I am blogging. I know so many loving LGBT families, it would be hard to choose. However, I wanted to lend my support to the 8th annual "It's Blogging for LGBT Families Day." 

I luckily grew up knowing and loving people from all walks of life. As a child, I didn't learn to put labels on people, or look for differences in them.  My parents sponsored Allied officers from other countries including Japan and Cambodia; so we were able to learn so much about other cultures. My mom's twin brother was gay and in a long term relationship from as early as I can remember, so I never learned anything other than we all love who we love. Perhaps that is why unorthodox families were not a big deal to me. I didn't realize until I was out on my own how different the world viewed things.  

I have three daughters who have grown up in a whole different world. This world is made up of young, vocal, tolerant children. That's fantastic. Yes, I know there is still way too much hatred and prejudice around us, but we really have come so far in a relatively short time.  It's hard to believe it was only in 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from their list of mental illnesses.  

I found a wonderful timeline of the gay rights movement.  I look forward to seeing how far we'll come as a nation in the next thirty years.  

Timeline . Stonewall Uprising . American Experience . WGBH | PBS