… 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.
makeaneffort 