It’s Fine to Spy on the Little People…

… just not the People in Power.

The Politicians are ANGRY!

How DARE the NSA Spy on THEM!

But… wait… what?

Are You Little People confused?

Of course you are… or at least, you should be.

Your confusion stems from our wandering so very far away from our Founders intent.

The reason for this confusion is we were founded in such a way where the Individual is always supreme over the Government.  And the Government is not only LIMITED in it’s power, it’s powers are intentionally Separated.  Limit and Conflict were BUILT INTO THE SYSTEM to PROTECT THE INDIVIDUAL.  It’s quite simple really.

Which brings us to the fact that The Newly Found Political Fury over Sweeping Mass Collection of data by Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies should be directed at the Intrusion upon, and Violation of, Individual Rights of ALL Citizens… Not Politicians specifically.

Frankly, I have less of an issue with Politicians spying on each other than I do Force (Government) spying on the Citizenry.

Let me make this as Clear as possible…

The U.S. Government can and should be Spying on other Countries.  It’s their Job.

Other Countries will be attempting to Spy on us, the U.S.  – It’s not a matter of being ‘OK’ with it, it’s their job… as it is ours to deny them that ability.

What is Not ‘OK’?

The U.S. Government Spying on Individual Citizens without a specifically crafted warrant to do so.  (The only argument worth having here; “Are Politicians considered Individual Citizens?”  It could also be useful to remind the NSA that their Love interests also fit into the ‘Citizen’ category… and some of the things they are doing is considered stalking at a minimum.)

Of course they are…

But the current framing of the ‘Offended’ is that they are ‘special’.  And while I might agree that they are special, I would offer that they are most often the kind of special that requires a helmet when walking outside.

In the end, the reason you should be more concerned about the U.S. Government Spying on you and not China, Korea, Israel or Google, is because none of the latter have yet found a way to show up at your door and throw you in jail.  (Although Google is probably working on it.)

The Politicians should be reminded of their place in society… which was always intended to be servants to those who are not in power.

This will be interesting to watch as most genuine Conservatives do not like being Spied upon, and most Democrats have spent huge amounts of time and money convincing their Useful Voters that they too believe in a Right to Privacy.

Can anyone spell Dissonance?

 

 

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Either President Obama is Telling us we are All Number One…

…or His Middle Finger is stuck in the Upright Position.

In the Doubling Down on Totalitarian Ideas file; President Obama is moving Forward! by expanding the NSA Domestic Spying Program.

(This is the Lead on Drudge… but it’s big enough to demand as much repetition as possible.)

The Folks at Zero Hedge has summed it up.  Link here.

But here’s an Executive Summary:

“Screw You.” – President Barack Obama addressing the American Citizens who do not want the National Security Agency reading, listening and archiving our personal information.

End of Summary.

Considering the Presidents feigned concern regarding this egregious infringement on your right to Privacy…

I’ve decided there should be a reboot of the 80’s Classic “Say Anything“.  It should star Barack Obama (If you like your plan you can keep it.), Kathleen Sibelius (I don’t know where that 7 million Obama Care enrollment number came from!), Hillary Clinton (What does it matter anyway why the Ambassador died?), Lois Lerner (There was no IRS targeting, but I plead the fifth.), Susan Rice (The Murders in Benghazi were a result of an internet video.), Harry Reid (All the Obama Care Horror stories are False.)and Nancy Pelosi (We have to pass it to see what’s in it.).

It’s a story about learning to say whatever it takes to get people who trust you to leave you alone so you can do whatever you want.

…Kind of a Socialist Love Story.

I’m sure it will be a hit on the coasts.

Google Can’t Shoot You

… and claim the Patriot Act was on Their side.

So stop trying to justify the NSA’s collection of Citizen’s Personal Data because Google, and others, do it.

Did the Democrats buy information from Google for President Obama’s Election and re-election Campaigns?  Yes, they did.  But it’s not their fault the Republicans were too stupid to make the same investment.  Data Mining is something that should aggravate you when conducted by private companies… like Google, Bing, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, etc…

But it should incense you to the point of demanding jail time for those responsible when Data Mining is conducted by the Federal Government using, unconstitutionally obtained, innocent civilian personal information.  Not only that, the fact that the government is storing every communication prior to a crime being committed should make you want to vomit.

Private companies can do whatever they want… so long as it’s legal… and they are willing to face the public. In other words, the fine folks at Google can be put in jail, or watch their share prices drop at a minimum.

We enjoy NO SUCH RECOURSE when dealing with the government. You cannot sue the Government.  The Government Employees never go to jail.  You can’t put the Government out of business.  The best we ever get is a hearing or two with the promise that “steps have been taken to make sure (whatever you’re complaining about) will not happen again”.  Frankly, We consider ourselves lucky to get an “I’m Sorry.”.

There is a VAST difference between PRIVATE and GOVERNMENT.

We were not founded as a Nation that was supposed to “Trust the Government”.  In fact, our founding documents were specifically designed to limit Government power exactly because Government was not to be trusted… ever.  Never.

Another Argument is; “We’ve been doing this for a long time… almost a decade.  And we haven’t seen a problem…” -Charles Krauthammer.

SO WHAT!?  The U.S. Government has been wasting our money for far longer than they have been Spying on the Entire Nation… so it’s OK?!  Unbelievable.

The last, and latest, argument to try to make you feel okay is; “Judges have signed off on these seizures of data.”  The fact the Eric Holder had to go “judge shopping” until he could find one to sign off on whatever he wanted, particularly the seizing of data from 100 AP reporters, should illustrate what a farce the FISA courts are.  It is not beyond a very simple imagination to think those courts could be stacked with exactly those types of judges.  It is worth noting that reportedly, of the 34,000 requests currently sent to FISA courts only 11 (eleven) have been refused.  Eleven… eleven… holy crap.

I find the reaction, and offered defenses, of what is going on to be astounding, and frightening all at the same time.  As should you.

Grab a pen, and start keeping track of those Politicians, Advisors, Talking Heads and Government Employees who defend such behavior.

You’ll need that list come election time.  You’ll also need a bottle of Bourbon… no glass, it’ll just get in the way.

Dangerously Close to Connecting the Dots.

The American Public is getting Dangerously Close to Connecting the Dots.

The American Press is doing their best to prevent this from happening… but the confluence of scandals is making it difficult.

The Latest argument being floated to defend the NSA’s Domestic Spying Scandal is basically “Trust the Government”. The defenders are out claiming they must have all of your personal records and digital communications in order to fight “terrorists”. They are almost to the point of yelling “the government would never use that information against you” unless they decide you are a terrorist.

Here’s the problem…

The Government up-armed Mexican Drug Cartels in order to attack the 2nd Amendment and open sale of firearms to citizen in the United States.

The Government fabricated a profoundly ridiculous story about a video to cover-up the truth about Al Qaeda Assassinating our Diplomat in Libya.

The Government used the power of the IRS to intimidate and destroy its political opposition.

The Government seized 100 AP reporters phone and e-mail records… intimidating their sources as well as the reporters directly through the knowledge they gained.

The Government seized 110 million Verizon customers phone records… and that’s just what we know so far.

The Government has a program with the ability to store every bit of information from every human being living in the United States… forever.

The Government has a program that utilizes Super-Computers to scan every e-mail, every phone call, every thing it can… and detects “patterns” that might indicate whatever they consider to be terroristic or subversive.

In totality… this is frightening.

And, this is just what we know to be true.

Until very recently, anyone who believed any one of these things was dismissed as a crazy conspiracy theorist donning an aluminum chapeau.

If the Press isn’t careful, the public might learn something and they’ll lose control.

If the Government isn’t careful, the public might unify in its opposition to it and these behaviors.

If the Socialists in both parties aren’t careful, the public might subscribe to the ideology this country was founded on.

“Mr. President, Are There Computers Listening to, in other words Scanning, our Phone Calls?”

Somebody, PLEASE change the question.

Make him, Clapper, Holder, Napolitano… someone, lie.

Or,
At the very least ask… “Mr. President, Do American’s have a Right to Privacy?”
Then have the Cojones to follow up with any one of the 1000 logical questions when he say’s “Yes.”

Like… “What, Mr. President, do you believe that includes?”

Weasels they are…

J. Edgar’s Wet Dream

Privacy is Dead!

Who needs to play dress up with Tolson when you could sit in front of a FBI computer?

Imagine being able to hit a few keys, such as entering in a person’s name, and within the blink of an eye being presented with every byte of information that has ever been associated with them?

This would include, but not limited to; Names, Alias’, Family, Friends, Associates, Friends of Friends, Associates of Associates, Phone Records, Phone Conversations, Phone Sex chats… with your spouse or otherwise, Voice Analysis, E-mail, Texts, Tweets, Credit Card Purchases, Medical Records, Social Media Posts, Pictures, Pet Names, Bank Accounts, IP Addresses enabling the access to your computers real-time, access to your phone… real-time, enabling the direct listening to of conversations while using the towers and GPS in your phone to see where you are…, Your porn habit, purse habit, shoe habit, online drug habit, gambling habit…

And then, with just a little more tapping of the keys be presented will all the same information on that person’s Son, Daughter, Mother, Father, Pastor, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier… but nary a Spy.

We are not talking about those we have declared Terrorists… even if anyone could actually pin down a definition from our Government as to what that means.

We are talking about you… you and your kids… and your kid’s kids.

What J. Edgar wanted was a database with EVERYBODIES information in it… just in case he “needed it”… at some point… for some reason.

His only problem was he was limited by sheets of paper and file cabinets kept in locked rooms.

Well. times have changed.

And this is no longer science fiction fantasy… of the Villainous kind.

Now we have a Government entity with the capability of storing every bit of information about every single one of us… forever.

With that information they are then able to perform the act of “Data Mining”… which is exactly what I outlined above.

They will know what books you read, people you interact with, food you eat, beer you drink, music you listen to, on and on and on.

Immediately when they want it.  For any reason they choose.

The Computers will not consider the legality, morality or Constitutionality of the request.  Nor will the computer consider who the person is that is requesting the information.  Nor… will that information ever go away once it is gathered and consolidated by those who can legally employ force.

If you are not concerned, or are beginning to listen to those on both sides of the aisle who think this is “Good”… or the latest argument that “it has been going on for over seven years“, so it’s okay… please use this moment to reconsider.

What this represents is not only the death of Liberty and Freedom.  It harbinger of unlimited power… in the hands of those who we have given the guns, jails, with legal authority to kill and incarcerate.

It is Oppression waiting to happen… or rather, happening as we stand watching.

And as it grows… it will know no party, or remember who was loyal.  It never has.

J. Edgar would be Envious!

He probably would have grown hair on his fingertips.