Where’s the DHS?

…or, Suspiciously Absent.

So here’s an interesting question;  Where is the Department of Homeland Security in this NSA Domestic Spying debacle?

The FBI is gleaning information from Innocent Citizens records courtesy of the NSA.  It goes without saying that the NSA is enjoying information from Innocent Americans records, it’s their program.

But where is DHS on this?

You must believe the agency supposedly tasked with the internal safety and security (formerly a FBI responsibility…) might be mildly interested in the type of data mined from your credit card purchases and phone records, not to mention your e-mail.

Yet, no word about their involvement.

Are they not involved?  Or, would that be the last straw as it would be extremely difficult to spin a tale the internal (read domestic) security service has legal, and constitutional, legitimacy to know everything about you… all the time… forever?

I have no information to say they are involved. None.

But it is the eerie silence… a complete absence of mention.  At the very least I would expect someone from DHS to slip out a quiet press release saying they have nothing to do with the bounty being harvested over at the NSA, unless…

We’ll see.

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What is Fascism in a Nutshell?

Boiled down to its basic form, Fascism is simply a lazy man’s Socialism.  (Some might argue a “Smart” man’s Socialism as it recognizes the inability of Labor to effectively run business.)

It is everything Socialism is, except the private ownership of Industry “is allowed” or tolerated…

So long as the Industry in question cooperates with the Government.
If said Industry fails to cooperate with the Government, the Government will step in and control that Industry.

Control comes in a number of forms.

There is the outright seizing of that Industry or Company. (The Classic Socialist paradigm.  As demonstrated with General Motor’s.)

There is the implementation of new regulations placed upon that Industry or Company with penalties ranging from fiscal to penal.

There is Banning of Industry, or Industry practices effectively putting that entity out of business. (There are also trade policies which can be manipulated in ways designed to harm the business model of the offending Company or Industry.)

That’s it folks. That’s the only difference. (The Socialists in 30’s Germany added a “Nationalization” component… but paired it with Global Expansionism, and Divine Right, thus making it meaningless in modifying the definition of Fascism and rendering it a difference without a distinction between it and Socialism.

I bring this up, because the cooperation between the Phone Companies and Government fits the description.

The Government demanded the records from the phone companies and in return gave them immunity from your suits.  The Scheme is an old one.  Some thugs come into your bar and trash it… the next day a guy shows up and says he’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again, as long as you pay him a monthly fee.  The Mob has operated this way for years.

There are many examples, but the collection of Innocent American Citizen’s phone records, e-mail, etc. is happening right now…

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.