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Am I speaking of the Santa Clause of the US Constitution? Maybe...
For a party that has traditionally represented those who seek the highest degree of individuality and freedom, especially freedom from interference by the government, this Republicans currently in the White House seem remarkably into spying on it's own citizens. In fact, not since the bad old days of Hoover and McCarthy has the level of surveillance on the American public been as great.
First it comes out that the NSA has been spying on US phone calls and Internet usage, then that they have been using cookies to track those who access their website. Next, we hear today that the White House web site has been using both cookies and "web bugs", invisible graphics that allow the access of pages to be tracked. So what do you want to bet that all this data is not being combined by the NSA to get a great profile on every one who accesses US government we sites? How many other US Government websites have "accidentally" turned on features such as cookies and web bugs to add to this tracking system. How many major companies have given the US government access to similar information, just like Westjet just happened to give the government complete demographics of all of their passengers as "sample data" for the government to use?
I am sure that Mr. Hover, in his pink Freudian slip, would have loved what the Bush government is doing. He also used the "Santa Clause" to perform highly invasive surveillance of law abiding citizens of the United States.
What is the "Santa Clause" of the US Constitution?
It's not one that was written down ever, but it is the "out" that many people in power feel they have because they see themselves as being better than others, and to defend their country, they have a been given permission to break any law in pursuit of defending their country.
We have seen this before, it was called the "Rise of the Nazi Party" in Germany. A guy named Hitler, and a group of people who were sure they knew better than the general public how to save their country from the moral and social cesspool it was wallowing in took over the country, and used very much the same techniques that are being employed today by the Bush Government.
Then, as now, it was the use of foreigners as scapegoats that helped push along the "reforms". Then it was Jews and Gypsies, now it's Mexican and Arabs. Then it was Total Information Awareness by use of the Gestapo, the violation of all people's civil rights, and a concentration camps; now it is the use of the NSA to violate civil rights and camps in foreign countries where the government won't complain too much about the treatment of the prisoners.
But the Nazis were not the first or the last to use these techniques...in fact, the template for turning a Republic into a Totalitarian Regime is a well plotted course.
First you need a dreadful outside threat who might have collaborators in your republic. Sometimes this is a real threat, sometimes it is a "straw man". Next you start saying that to defend against this threat, you have to "temporarily suspend" some of the civil rights of your citizenry to help round up the collaborators and fight the outside threat. Finally, once you have total information awareness through the now missing civil rights of your citizens, you then declare yourself the protector of said rights, and the republic, and do your nasty.
This technique is what I call the "Santa Clause", for by claiming to be the good Santa, you can get away with the worst possible atrocities against the civil rights because all you are doing is seeing who is naughty and who is nice...and those who are nice have nothing to fear, right? Right? RIGHT?!
ttyl
For a party that has traditionally represented those who seek the highest degree of individuality and freedom, especially freedom from interference by the government, this Republicans currently in the White House seem remarkably into spying on it's own citizens. In fact, not since the bad old days of Hoover and McCarthy has the level of surveillance on the American public been as great.
First it comes out that the NSA has been spying on US phone calls and Internet usage, then that they have been using cookies to track those who access their website. Next, we hear today that the White House web site has been using both cookies and "web bugs", invisible graphics that allow the access of pages to be tracked. So what do you want to bet that all this data is not being combined by the NSA to get a great profile on every one who accesses US government we sites? How many other US Government websites have "accidentally" turned on features such as cookies and web bugs to add to this tracking system. How many major companies have given the US government access to similar information, just like Westjet just happened to give the government complete demographics of all of their passengers as "sample data" for the government to use?
I am sure that Mr. Hover, in his pink Freudian slip, would have loved what the Bush government is doing. He also used the "Santa Clause" to perform highly invasive surveillance of law abiding citizens of the United States.
What is the "Santa Clause" of the US Constitution?
It's not one that was written down ever, but it is the "out" that many people in power feel they have because they see themselves as being better than others, and to defend their country, they have a been given permission to break any law in pursuit of defending their country.
We have seen this before, it was called the "Rise of the Nazi Party" in Germany. A guy named Hitler, and a group of people who were sure they knew better than the general public how to save their country from the moral and social cesspool it was wallowing in took over the country, and used very much the same techniques that are being employed today by the Bush Government.
Then, as now, it was the use of foreigners as scapegoats that helped push along the "reforms". Then it was Jews and Gypsies, now it's Mexican and Arabs. Then it was Total Information Awareness by use of the Gestapo, the violation of all people's civil rights, and a concentration camps; now it is the use of the NSA to violate civil rights and camps in foreign countries where the government won't complain too much about the treatment of the prisoners.
But the Nazis were not the first or the last to use these techniques...in fact, the template for turning a Republic into a Totalitarian Regime is a well plotted course.
First you need a dreadful outside threat who might have collaborators in your republic. Sometimes this is a real threat, sometimes it is a "straw man". Next you start saying that to defend against this threat, you have to "temporarily suspend" some of the civil rights of your citizenry to help round up the collaborators and fight the outside threat. Finally, once you have total information awareness through the now missing civil rights of your citizens, you then declare yourself the protector of said rights, and the republic, and do your nasty.
This technique is what I call the "Santa Clause", for by claiming to be the good Santa, you can get away with the worst possible atrocities against the civil rights because all you are doing is seeing who is naughty and who is nice...and those who are nice have nothing to fear, right? Right? RIGHT?!
ttyl
