Bush is holding a news conference today to pressure Congress to pass an intelligence bill that'll make it easier for the government to spy on its citizens suspected of being involved in "terrorism". In other words, he wants the government to be able to listen to your phone conversations and read your emails whenever they feel like it, without having to go through legal channels and obtain a warrant for doing so. And this isn't a new thing, this is a renewal of a temporary bill that has expired which had already given them this legal immunity.
Fascism is spreading through this country in the name of homeland security and all the people do is roll over and accept it thinking it's somehow related to protecting us from "terrorism". We've got to stop accepting these breaches of our civil liberties and let them know we won't stand for it. I'm sorry, I thought this was America and the Fourth Amendment afforded us a bit of privacy from Big Brother.
Fascism is spreading through this country in the name of homeland security and all the people do is roll over and accept it thinking it's somehow related to protecting us from "terrorism". We've got to stop accepting these breaches of our civil liberties and let them know we won't stand for it. I'm sorry, I thought this was America and the Fourth Amendment afforded us a bit of privacy from Big Brother.
Excerpt from a famous recorded interview of Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg Trials by Gustave Gilbert, a German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist:
"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."
"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."
"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."