Quote:
Quote:
Just like worrying about people listening to you covertly through your cell phone. Not saying it's impossible, but really, who gives a shit?



Me, for one.

It is not about my worrying that something I (or someone in my vicinity) might say could be used to my detriment. It is about one more of my rapidly diminishing rights (in this case, the right to privacy) being stripped away under the pretext of security.

I remember a time, not all that long ago, when things like habeus corpus still applied in this country, a time when men in dark suits wearing earpieces couldn't come into your office and haul you away, keeping you incommunicado for as long as they wanted.

I remember when government emissaries couldn't enter and search your home without a search warrant.

I remember when... never mind. It makes me sick to think about it. It looks like Orwell missed it by 17 years.

George W. Bush and his sycophants have done more damage, and far more lasting and irreparable damage, to this country in the last six years than Osama Bin Laden could have accomplished in his wildest dreams. And when we sit by and say, "Oh, it doesn't matter if we let the government spy on us whenever they want with no checks and balances in place" we just reinforce the old saying that "People get the government they deserve."

Well, this is not my government, I sincerely doubt that there is a single person in elected office, from dog catcher to President, that I ever voted for. And this present government is in no small part responsible for my decision to leave the country.

tanstaafl.


I don't disagree, really, with much of anything you said. My attitude stems more from a place of "Oh, wow... so now they're being open about it?" than from a place of "Hey, I don't see this as a problem". And I would seriously ask you:

- When have the earpiece-wearing men in the long dark suits been unable to whisk you away at will?
- When have the government emissaries not been able to enter your house without a search warrant?

These threats have always been there. It's just that the Shrub doesn't feel the need to hide it anymore.
_________________________
Dave