Saturday, July 26, 2008
Gee but it's great to live in a police state...
We need to admit that what makes America special is getting less and less.
We’ve seen the erosion of traditional historic rights since the administration has figured out an end run around habeas corpus. The “preemptive war” against Iraq, as well as the continued occupation, violated America ideals, even if the record does show some wars and invasions with very dubious justifications. Torture and indefinite imprisonment without trial are now at the discretion of the commander-in-chief. Increased restrictions have applied to Americans traveling out of the country. The military is increasingly involved in domestic police activities—in fact the only way to tell the difference between cops and soldiers, often, is by the color of the uniforms.
And, on top of that, come revelations that, yeah, we have an enormous secret police presence. Millions and millions of names are on a database known as "Main Core"—and that’s in addition to the infamous “Do Not Fly” lists. Secret police, yeah: people snooping into the lives of American citizens whether or not those citizens have ever been arrested or charged with crimes. They might be thinking about overthrowing the government appears to be the justification for this snooping. It goes with “preemptive war,” doesn’t it? Preventive detention, preventive spying through the keyholes, preventive wiretaps and intercepts...just in case.
It’s fucking crazy. Fucking paranoid crazy. None of us have any idea nor do we have any way to find out if we’re in any of these databases. If we are, well, too bad. But national security trumps civil and legal rights.
Know how to get into one off these databases? Just like in the old McCarthy times: have a few people tip off the FBI or the NSA or even your local cops that you might be a subversive or a terrorist or something like that. “...that you might be” is the kicker. No evidence is needed, thank you. Classic.
You know, the way the Nazis, the Gestapo, managed to be so effective at spreading terror was because people were encouraged to inform on their neighbors. Have a grudge against the old guy across the street? Report you heard him talking about making pipe bombs, or expressing support for the Taliban. That’ll do it. Hell, tell the cops you saw him making eyes at little kids. The important thing is to turn people in. It’s patriotic.
Here’s a link to an article from Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/23/new_churchcomm/print.html
It’ll send you to the bottle of anti-anxiety meds...
We’ve seen the erosion of traditional historic rights since the administration has figured out an end run around habeas corpus. The “preemptive war” against Iraq, as well as the continued occupation, violated America ideals, even if the record does show some wars and invasions with very dubious justifications. Torture and indefinite imprisonment without trial are now at the discretion of the commander-in-chief. Increased restrictions have applied to Americans traveling out of the country. The military is increasingly involved in domestic police activities—in fact the only way to tell the difference between cops and soldiers, often, is by the color of the uniforms.
And, on top of that, come revelations that, yeah, we have an enormous secret police presence. Millions and millions of names are on a database known as "Main Core"—and that’s in addition to the infamous “Do Not Fly” lists. Secret police, yeah: people snooping into the lives of American citizens whether or not those citizens have ever been arrested or charged with crimes. They might be thinking about overthrowing the government appears to be the justification for this snooping. It goes with “preemptive war,” doesn’t it? Preventive detention, preventive spying through the keyholes, preventive wiretaps and intercepts...just in case.
It’s fucking crazy. Fucking paranoid crazy. None of us have any idea nor do we have any way to find out if we’re in any of these databases. If we are, well, too bad. But national security trumps civil and legal rights.
Know how to get into one off these databases? Just like in the old McCarthy times: have a few people tip off the FBI or the NSA or even your local cops that you might be a subversive or a terrorist or something like that. “...that you might be” is the kicker. No evidence is needed, thank you. Classic.
You know, the way the Nazis, the Gestapo, managed to be so effective at spreading terror was because people were encouraged to inform on their neighbors. Have a grudge against the old guy across the street? Report you heard him talking about making pipe bombs, or expressing support for the Taliban. That’ll do it. Hell, tell the cops you saw him making eyes at little kids. The important thing is to turn people in. It’s patriotic.
Here’s a link to an article from Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/23/new_churchcomm/print.html
It’ll send you to the bottle of anti-anxiety meds...
