From the ACLU to CATO to the Indy-media, many have been reporting and sounding the alarm for several years now on this illegal, unconstitutional wiretapping by our own government on all of us, we Americans here in our own country. We have read of the Patriot Act violations and the
Matrix and
TIPS, but the audacity with which Bush casually authenticates his power to do this has taken our breath. Suddenly, we actually sat up and noticed. This wiretapping has spread like a wildfire through all aspects of our lives and the Bush administration has even charged the bill to us for the means to spread it.
From all political persuasions across this country, the alarm has been tripped. The libertarian CATO institute fellow, Gene Healy, referred to this domestic wiretapping use of citizens as "Volunteer Voyeurs." Dr. Block, a sex educator, viewed the nonconsensual wiretaps as a voyeuristic "Peeping Tom in the Bush."
Nonconsensual Voyeurism and the NSA
There's an eerie sexual aspect to Dubya's illegal domestic spying program, and that is nonconsensual voyeurism. The man in our White House is a man who likes to listen in on people's private conversations and won't even ask permission, even though permission is ridiculously easy to get. The man is a Peeping Tom. We impeached one president over a botched blow-job. But being a Peeping Tom is worse. For one thing, it's not consensual.
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Some of my sex therapy clients are Peeping Toms, many of them professional, church-going family men. They like to Sneak a Peek into the windows of their neighbors, spy on them when they're taking a shower, getting dressed, having sex, masturbating, watching TV, playing with their dog, paying their bills, whatever. I try to help them to stop expressing their voyeuristic desires in this way; it's illegal, invasive, nonconsensual and wrong.
I usually suggest that they try to enjoy some form of consensual voyeurism, like watching their wives undress or go to strip clubs to look at women doing * nasty * things or look at all the willing exhibitionists on the web. Almost to a Tom, they're not interested. They sneer at my suggestions as if I'm offering candy when what they want is cocaine. What they want is the thrill of doing something they're not supposed to be doing. The thrill of watching someone who doesn't know they're being watched, or doesn't want to be watched. The thrill of doing something illicit, illegal. The thrill of putting one over on someone. The thrill of the Peeping Tom.
There's a Peeping Tom in the Bush. And we just caught him with his pants down. When trapped, he started squawking about how when he's peeping, he's really protecting us. Peeping Toms, caught in the act, often claim that they were really "protecting" or "watching over" the person they're spying on. Let's not fall for that crap. This Peeping Tom Bush is spying for his own personal and political purposes, his own illicit desire to eavesdrop on certain people, many of whom have never communicated with a terrorist but may have been opposed to his policies. Like more aggressive criminal voyeurs, he's a slippery one; he confesses but doesn't apologize, then tries to blame the whistle-blowers, desperately attempting to divert the American public's attention from the fact we caught him spying on us.
Neighborhood Watch Guy takes on a whole new meaning. US Planning to Recruit One in 24 Americans as Citizen Spies
The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups.
The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report "suspicious activity".
Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.
As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called war against terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project.
Emerging "Surveillance-Industrial Complex" Is Turbo-Charging Government Monitoring, ACLU Warns in New Report
The government is rapidly increasing its ability to monitor average Americans by tapping into the growing amount of consumer data being collected by the private sector, according to a major report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.
"The U.S. security establishment is reaching deeper and deeper into our private lives by forcing the corporate sector to inform on the activities of individuals," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU... today that recruitment is being computerized, automated, and used against innocent individuals on a massive scale that is unprecedented in the history of our nation."
...The report makes the case that, across a broad variety of areas, the same dynamic of the "privatization of surveillance" is underway...
As part of the public awareness component of its Surveillance Campaign, the ACLU recently released an online video to dramatize how new technologies and weak privacy laws may over time be used to strip us of our privacy. In the video, a pizza parlor uses its access to a wide variety of sensitive information to guide its treatment of a customer calling to order dinner. To view the video, go here.
It is time we put a big STOP SIGN out that says, "We have had enough."