Hey NSA! Cut It Out!!

*****Sorry I didn't post an article last week! I was on the road and couldn't get angry enough to rant about something!!*******

Have we ever believed we are not right? We think we are 100% right about something and most times, when we are proven wrong, we feel little to no consequence. How can we learn if we don't believe we are ever wrong?

At one time, we believed the following was true about Malaria:

Mal-Aria : Bad Air -- It was believed that these diseases were caused by poisonous gas released by subtropical vegetation in the hot, humid air
 

Not so long ago, medical doctors were recommending which brand of cigarette best eased throat irritation.

For real.

How can we continue to be sure we are right about so much?

How does our legal system continue to work when only those who are too poor to defend themselves, are forced to abide by our laws? Rob a bank and you will go to jail if/when you are caught. Use a bank to rob people, that's nothing. No big deal. Move along folks, nothing to see here. Shut up.

The NSA scandal was going on long before President Obama took office. Although candidate Obama promised it would be stopped.

Here's what I think happened. President Obama took office and was immediately convinced by the CIA, NSA and The Pentagon, these breaches of the constitution were yielding too many results and preventing many possible terrorist attacks. He would put the nation in great peril if he were to close the program down.

He may have even told himself "I'll keep it there for a year and then re-assess the situation." The longer he kept it going, the harder it was to shut down.

It's like a safety blanket for all the people trying to keep America safe. I think they are over confident in their ability to intercept messages. I think they are often wrong when the 'powers-that-be' interpret something to be insidious (Salon.com). Just look at the number of people who have ended up on the no-fly-list by mistake and can't get themselves off of it.

I and I suspect many other people, would like to get a look at this amazing intelligence they have gleaned while spying on people domestically. I bet a lot of it is pure bullshit. I bet it is not nearly as good as they think it is. If it is so good at stopping terror attacks, why didn't it catch the Boston Bombers? or the ricin letters to the President and Mayor Bloomberg.

I also believe that many governments practice the same policies. It has already come to light that the U.K. and Canadian governments are running similar projects. You can go ahead and laugh off any insistence by them, that these programs are never used domestically. Just pick up your phone in any of these countries and tell a friend you would like to start a terror cell, hang up and wait for the white unmarked van to pull up across the street from your house.

Having this spy technology means it is either on or off. Once it is on, nobody has any digital privacy anymore.

I have heard some people say, "So what? Who cares? They want to listen to my boring conversations? Go ahead?"

I understand and empathize with this level of apathy, however, I don't think it is genuine.

Let's just say I am a Police Officer. I show up at your door while you are having dinner and I say "Tell me who you called yesterday and what each call was about. Remember to include any emails or texts you may have sent as well."

So you say "What is this about?" and I say "Shut up and tell me or I will just use our super awesome computer program to find out."

So you think, "oh well, who cares? I'll just tell him" but as you tell me, I start to ask a lot of questions about certain calls you made. The more you explain, the more obviously suspicious I become. You know you have done nothing wrong, nor do you deserve this kind of scrutiny without being accused of something but your innocence is harder to prove than you thought it would be.

Look back at 'secret police states' from the iron curtain communist era and you will see how quickly these things get out of hand.

Our ancestors fought long and hard for the legal rights we have. Don't let the terrorists win. They have watched us take away our own freedoms and bankrupt ourselves while we do it. They are turning our countries into the kind of freedom hating, narrow minded jump to conclusion bullshit society they want for themselves.


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Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email at shaunabout@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!!

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Pic of the day courtesy of Reddit.com/r/pics

Michael Imperioli and Steve Buscemi at James Gandolfini's funeral.