Land of the Surveilled & Home of the Afraid?
All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.
George Orwell
By J.M. Hamilton 6-23-13
Osama Bin Laden (OBL), if what we have been told by our government is true, slumbers beneath the depths. As Americans, we can only hope he suffers a wet dirt nap in hell for all eternity, for OBL enjoyed tremendous success during his time on this earth, in eroding America, her freedoms and her economy. It is said that OBL learned at the hand of the CIA in Afghanistan, when America funded and armed an indigenous rebellion against Soviet occupiers, during the1980's. OBL must have picked up from that experience that war very much has an economic component, as the U.S. with the help of the Afghanistan Mujahideen (today's Taliban), effectively bankrupted the Soviet Union.
When OBL subsequently turned on America, his goal was to launch a war of attrition against the United States, not unlike the war fought against the Soviets. His stated goal was to bankrupt the U.S. financially, and arguably - through the use of terror and fear, he placed a sizable dent in our nation's collective will and U.S. world standing as the embodiment of freedom. For OBL not only made a shambles of the U.S. federal budget (the Federal Reserve presently prints a trillion dollars annually to support our national debt, our global war on terror, our military and surveillance industrial complex, and in order to support a continued back door bailout of the Wall Street cartel), but worse yet, he instilled such a fear in ordinary Americans that many are willing to forgo the very freedoms and civil liberties that this nation was founded upon, and that many of our ancestors fought and died to preserve. Or perhaps we have just grown apathetic?
We learned in the last several weeks, courtesy of Mr. Snowden, that the U.S. has a vast intelligence apparatus that allows it to tap into U.S. telecommunications, internet, and computer software and hardware monopolies. This was all being done surreptitiously, globally, and with little oversight or review, except by the executive branch. That the efficacy of this venture has been called into question by two U.S. Senators, et al., seems lost on many Americans who seem to believe that the government's surveillance program is just another price we must pay for safety. If the program's effectiveness is dubious at best, what would drive such an enterprise? Many have read that the NSA, and much of the defense and surveillance apparatus, is staffed by the nation's defense contractors, including Booz Allen - owned by private equity's Carlyle Group.
Per Bloomberg, about 70% of U.S. Intelligence is subcontracted out. Booz Allen, Mr. Snowden's former employer, obtains 99% of its 5.76 billion in annual revenue from the government, with a quarter of that figure coming from intelligence agencies. Your tax dollars, and our national debt, at work. So like almost every other DOD program, replete with redundant systems, cost over-runs, obsolete hardware and weapons systems (much of it already hacked by the Chinese government) designed for yesterday's wars - now that Al Qaeda has been effectively eliminated, we see MIC defense contractors crowding into cyber systems and surveillance. In short, follow the Benjamin’s once again to learn why you're being spied upon, your meta data harvested and mined, with limited results. It's not just MIC contractors who are making out like bandits, but undoubtedly, the monopolies like our friends at Apple, Microsoft, and the major players in Silicon Valley, are getting in on the surveillance action. Why Facebook must be nothing less than a treasure trove for Big Brother. If what Bloomberg recently reported is true, most major corporations are swapping intel with our government.
Please check out the link describing a police state, or surveillance state, and ask yourselves are we not well on our way?
That this is probably an assault on our personal freedoms carried out by a constitutional law professor is mindboggling. Then again, I've read of a state judge,who also teaches constitutional law, who has destroyed a child's and a family'scivil rights, so perhaps this is government by lawyer fiat. Either way, NRA and second amendment proponents are often fond of talking about a slippery slope in regards gun rules and regs... but if there ever was a slippery slope, Americans are staring down the barrel of a slow and steady erosion of their civil liberties for the foreseeable future. Our government has the ability to track your activities, movement, expenditures and nearly every personal detail of your life 24- 7- 365. Our government may not be reading my emails, but the NSA probably has the capability to know in real time, and statistically, should they so desire, what I wrote on my computer, what I googled, when I log off, where I drove to, and what I bought on my ATM card. For all we know there's a computer dossier on each and everyone of us; and if it's not already compiled, it certainly would not be hard to assemble.
All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.
George Orwell
By J.M. Hamilton 6-23-13
Osama Bin Laden (OBL), if what we have been told by our government is true, slumbers beneath the depths. As Americans, we can only hope he suffers a wet dirt nap in hell for all eternity, for OBL enjoyed tremendous success during his time on this earth, in eroding America, her freedoms and her economy. It is said that OBL learned at the hand of the CIA in Afghanistan, when America funded and armed an indigenous rebellion against Soviet occupiers, during the1980's. OBL must have picked up from that experience that war very much has an economic component, as the U.S. with the help of the Afghanistan Mujahideen (today's Taliban), effectively bankrupted the Soviet Union.
When OBL subsequently turned on America, his goal was to launch a war of attrition against the United States, not unlike the war fought against the Soviets. His stated goal was to bankrupt the U.S. financially, and arguably - through the use of terror and fear, he placed a sizable dent in our nation's collective will and U.S. world standing as the embodiment of freedom. For OBL not only made a shambles of the U.S. federal budget (the Federal Reserve presently prints a trillion dollars annually to support our national debt, our global war on terror, our military and surveillance industrial complex, and in order to support a continued back door bailout of the Wall Street cartel), but worse yet, he instilled such a fear in ordinary Americans that many are willing to forgo the very freedoms and civil liberties that this nation was founded upon, and that many of our ancestors fought and died to preserve. Or perhaps we have just grown apathetic?
We learned in the last several weeks, courtesy of Mr. Snowden, that the U.S. has a vast intelligence apparatus that allows it to tap into U.S. telecommunications, internet, and computer software and hardware monopolies. This was all being done surreptitiously, globally, and with little oversight or review, except by the executive branch. That the efficacy of this venture has been called into question by two U.S. Senators, et al., seems lost on many Americans who seem to believe that the government's surveillance program is just another price we must pay for safety. If the program's effectiveness is dubious at best, what would drive such an enterprise? Many have read that the NSA, and much of the defense and surveillance apparatus, is staffed by the nation's defense contractors, including Booz Allen - owned by private equity's Carlyle Group.
Per Bloomberg, about 70% of U.S. Intelligence is subcontracted out. Booz Allen, Mr. Snowden's former employer, obtains 99% of its 5.76 billion in annual revenue from the government, with a quarter of that figure coming from intelligence agencies. Your tax dollars, and our national debt, at work. So like almost every other DOD program, replete with redundant systems, cost over-runs, obsolete hardware and weapons systems (much of it already hacked by the Chinese government) designed for yesterday's wars - now that Al Qaeda has been effectively eliminated, we see MIC defense contractors crowding into cyber systems and surveillance. In short, follow the Benjamin’s once again to learn why you're being spied upon, your meta data harvested and mined, with limited results. It's not just MIC contractors who are making out like bandits, but undoubtedly, the monopolies like our friends at Apple, Microsoft, and the major players in Silicon Valley, are getting in on the surveillance action. Why Facebook must be nothing less than a treasure trove for Big Brother. If what Bloomberg recently reported is true, most major corporations are swapping intel with our government.
Please check out the link describing a police state, or surveillance state, and ask yourselves are we not well on our way?
That this is probably an assault on our personal freedoms carried out by a constitutional law professor is mindboggling. Then again, I've read of a state judge,who also teaches constitutional law, who has destroyed a child's and a family'scivil rights, so perhaps this is government by lawyer fiat. Either way, NRA and second amendment proponents are often fond of talking about a slippery slope in regards gun rules and regs... but if there ever was a slippery slope, Americans are staring down the barrel of a slow and steady erosion of their civil liberties for the foreseeable future. Our government has the ability to track your activities, movement, expenditures and nearly every personal detail of your life 24- 7- 365. Our government may not be reading my emails, but the NSA probably has the capability to know in real time, and statistically, should they so desire, what I wrote on my computer, what I googled, when I log off, where I drove to, and what I bought on my ATM card. For all we know there's a computer dossier on each and everyone of us; and if it's not already compiled, it certainly would not be hard to assemble.
Magnify
this capability across an entire nation, and ponder how it will ultimately
impact how people think, talk, act, and conduct their personal lives.
Americans have been made so afraid by OBL, and our state, elected, and MIC leaders have used this to such great advantage (witness the probable manipulation of the Homeland Security's terror alert system during the 2004 election cycle presumably to gain political advantage, described previously by this blog), that we now have surveillance program defenders stating that if you think this is bad, wait until the next attack. Then our freedoms and civil liberties will really be stripped away, entirely. So better to accept an ounce of prevention than a pound of cure. There's just a couple of problems with this logic: one, our own government - in the name of safety - arguably has assaulted more personal freedoms and civil liberties on a much more massive scale than Al Qaeda ever achieved; and two, when did Americans become so frightened and self absorbed that they are willing to sacrifice liberty and freedom for alleged claims of greater personal safety? My guess is the "ends do not justify the means," and that the results of this surveillance are dubious at best.
As with most issues facing America today... we often suffer from fear and myopia, and often fail to ask and address the real questions and issues before us, like:
If we are all under surveillance, we the people, than who is the surveillance state really designed to protect? If we are all assumed to be guilty until proven innocent, who suspended habeas corpus and due process?
Why would denizens of the world desire to attack the U.S, could it be that the DOD, and our intelligence services, has its boot heal in almost every country in the world (often propping up dictatorship after oppressive dictatorship?)... for enlightening reading on this front, please see The Force by Jill Lepore.
Our founding fathers knew that one of the greatest tyrannies, and the father of many other tyrannies, was the standing army or what we would refer to as the DOD and the MIC. What happened to that belief? Why do not red state republicans protest the tax tyranny necessary to support the MIC, MIC welfare, and the DOD budget?
The third amendment states that citizens should not be obligated to quarter soldiers in their homes; and yet, is not the NSA, et al, quartered within our homes via the world wide web and its service and hardware providers?
President Obama said he's open to debate on this topic. Perhaps it's time to enter into that debate in earnest? But my guess is, it is a debate that the nation will never have - at least not a fair and transparent debate, as virtually nearly everything our government does is classified.
Just a few miles up the road from where I live is a State who's motto reads: "Live Free or Die." Sounds extreme. Then again, given the amount of money taxpayers shell out for this government, particularly the DOD, why would it even be necessary for the government to intrude on our privacy, if the DOD was so highly competent at protecting U.S. citizens? (The U.S. spends more money on defense than the G-20 combined, and is the number one arms merchant on the planet.) The question is rhetorical because the DOD is not about protecting U.S. citizens. Ironically, the "live free or die" ethos was the basis of our country's founding. When we allow terrorist, and DOD/Surveillance advocates and fear-mongers to prey upon ordinary Americans fears and prejudice, so that they are willing to sacrifice freedom for specious claims about enhanced safety, we let the folks like OBL and the terrorists win. So that the land of the free and the home of the brave, becomes but a former shadow of itself.
Americans have been made so afraid by OBL, and our state, elected, and MIC leaders have used this to such great advantage (witness the probable manipulation of the Homeland Security's terror alert system during the 2004 election cycle presumably to gain political advantage, described previously by this blog), that we now have surveillance program defenders stating that if you think this is bad, wait until the next attack. Then our freedoms and civil liberties will really be stripped away, entirely. So better to accept an ounce of prevention than a pound of cure. There's just a couple of problems with this logic: one, our own government - in the name of safety - arguably has assaulted more personal freedoms and civil liberties on a much more massive scale than Al Qaeda ever achieved; and two, when did Americans become so frightened and self absorbed that they are willing to sacrifice liberty and freedom for alleged claims of greater personal safety? My guess is the "ends do not justify the means," and that the results of this surveillance are dubious at best.
As with most issues facing America today... we often suffer from fear and myopia, and often fail to ask and address the real questions and issues before us, like:
If we are all under surveillance, we the people, than who is the surveillance state really designed to protect? If we are all assumed to be guilty until proven innocent, who suspended habeas corpus and due process?
Why would denizens of the world desire to attack the U.S, could it be that the DOD, and our intelligence services, has its boot heal in almost every country in the world (often propping up dictatorship after oppressive dictatorship?)... for enlightening reading on this front, please see The Force by Jill Lepore.
Our founding fathers knew that one of the greatest tyrannies, and the father of many other tyrannies, was the standing army or what we would refer to as the DOD and the MIC. What happened to that belief? Why do not red state republicans protest the tax tyranny necessary to support the MIC, MIC welfare, and the DOD budget?
The third amendment states that citizens should not be obligated to quarter soldiers in their homes; and yet, is not the NSA, et al, quartered within our homes via the world wide web and its service and hardware providers?
President Obama said he's open to debate on this topic. Perhaps it's time to enter into that debate in earnest? But my guess is, it is a debate that the nation will never have - at least not a fair and transparent debate, as virtually nearly everything our government does is classified.
Just a few miles up the road from where I live is a State who's motto reads: "Live Free or Die." Sounds extreme. Then again, given the amount of money taxpayers shell out for this government, particularly the DOD, why would it even be necessary for the government to intrude on our privacy, if the DOD was so highly competent at protecting U.S. citizens? (The U.S. spends more money on defense than the G-20 combined, and is the number one arms merchant on the planet.) The question is rhetorical because the DOD is not about protecting U.S. citizens. Ironically, the "live free or die" ethos was the basis of our country's founding. When we allow terrorist, and DOD/Surveillance advocates and fear-mongers to prey upon ordinary Americans fears and prejudice, so that they are willing to sacrifice freedom for specious claims about enhanced safety, we let the folks like OBL and the terrorists win. So that the land of the free and the home of the brave, becomes but a former shadow of itself.
The
world is watching, and the Chinese government must be laughing.
P.S.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist... We must never let the weight of this (MIC) combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
President Eisenhower
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few."
President Madison
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist... We must never let the weight of this (MIC) combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
President Eisenhower
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few."
President Madison
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2013
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