"Trust us!"

FBI Found to Misuse Security Letters
2003-06 Audit Cites Probes of Citizens
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 14, 2008
The FBI has increasingly used administrative orders to obtain the personal records of U.S. citizens rather than foreigners implicated in terrorism or counterintelligence investigations, and at least once it relied on such orders to obtain records that a special intelligence-gathering court had deemed protected by the First Amendment, according to two government audits released yesterday.

Why is PAA a bad idea? Why is the so-called Patriot Act a bad idea? Why in the world should we trust an unlimited Executive to act in our best interest?

Every time the bright light of day shines on our Govt's secret activities we are shone nothing but abuse of power. This should come as no surprise. I've said it before: unlimited Executive power will be abused. It's not W, or Cheney, or the Republicans,... it's the nature of power!

It's one reason the Framer's gave us

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

When we allow the Executive to regard the Constitution as a quaint, historical document we lose our country!

But wait! There's more!

NSA's Domestic Spying Arm Extends
Mon Mar 10, 2008
The Nation -- Today, the WSJ reports that NSA--once confined to foreign surveillance--has built a domestic surveillance program that can sift through individuals' phone records, email subject lines and destinations, financial transactions, Internet searches and sites visited. All without judicial warrants.

It's like the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness program (eliminated in 2003 over concerns it was too intrusive), except with even less privacy protection.

Do you feel safer?

When I was in high school the history curriculum included lots of stuff about the evil Soviet Union. Among the cited evil practices of the Commies was pervasive domestic surveillance.

There's a name for a country that spies on its own citizens:

Police State

Stop the madness!