I used to laugh at the jokes, "In Soviet Russia, Radio Listens To You!" and "In Soviet Russia, TV Watches You!" Today, I'm not laughing so much any more. In fact, I'm horrified. I have one question to ask, though.
Who did I campaign for?
I thought it was for this guy:
1-minute YouTube video
I thought it was for this guy:
2-minute YouTube video
Does anybody else remember him, or is it just me?
I never thought that it was for this guy:
1-minute YouTube video
Let's get down to business after the Kospaghetti.
Even the NYTimes Editorial Board is saying "The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue." The issue being that of Constitutional protections being in place to ensure that the US government is not spying illegally on its own citizens.
This same man is telling us that the NSA spying programs are "modest encroachments on privacy". This would be just like Bush telling us that the Iraq War was a "modest camping trip". Nothing to see here, citizen. Just move along.
He actually spoke these words:
"You can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience," Obama said. "We're going to have to make some choices as a society. ... There are trade-offs involved."
Well, Mr. President, that's a trade-off I'm not willing to make for you or for ANY president - be they a Democrat or a Republican. You've pushed me too far now. I never demanded nor did I even mildly request "100% security". I will demand 100% privacy unless or until you can convince a judge that there is a damn good reason to collect ANY info on my phone calls or the websites that I visit. If anybody is to be inconvenienced, it will have to be the government - not me, or
OPOL, or
Jesselyn Radack, or
Dartagnan, or
poligirl, or
Steve Masover, or even
YOU dear reader.
For there is no longer any question that this entire domestic spying program - both the phone calls and the data-mining - be UNCONSTITUTIONAL bullshit. And I hold you personally accountable and responsible for this, Mr. Obama.
Lest we forget, nobody liked this under Bush. Nobody trusted this under Cheney. We all wanted it stopped back then - when it was in its infancy. Well now it has grown up a bit and it has become a Teenage Mutant Government Monster and we can not permit it to become an ADULT Mutant Government Monster. This IS the "thin edge of the wedge" folks. This IS the top of the "slippery slope" we have all been warned about. And of this program and others like it I say, "Kill it! Kill it with flames!" Let nothing of these programs survive. Not one bit of software. Not one piece of illegally-gotten data. Not a single tracking, listening, monitoring, or snooping device. Not one bill, law, legal justification, or weaksauce excuse for it. None of it.
DISMANTLE IT ALL!
Start over, and put crushing oversight upon it such that no American need be in peril of their Constitutional Right to Privacy without a warrant signed by a judge in a not-secret court. The FISA court is obviously broken, so it goes out with the rest of it.
How is this done? You have to get in the face of your CongressCritter and both of your Senators. Don't write a sternly-worded letter. Don't convenience yourself with a telephone call. Gather yourselves together and go to their offices - there is one near you. Scare the livin' shit out of the people working there that you and those with you are pissed and will campaign against their boss if they don't get these programs ended. THAT makes an impact on elected officials. Nothing less will do. Take a day off work and get some like-minded friends together and go down there so that you, your kids, other people's children, and generations to come will not have to live under this illegal and unconstitutional filth. Nothing less will do!
A few more VERY pointed and important links for you:
The Washington Post says that the NSA has no oversight.
The AP chronicles the government's denials that this was happening.
The Guardian exposes a "Hit List" for overseas cyber attacks AND it backs this up with the leaked document to prove it.
Finally, and probably the most important link of this entire diary is this one:
The PBS "FRONTLINE" documentary of the explosive growth of the Us intelligence-gathering system since 9/11/01.
See if you can watch THAT without looking over your shoulder once or twice before the end. Ask the people who used to live in East Germany if any of this seems familiar to them.