Post #181
So we’ve been talking about living in a Republic or a Democracy. Whichever one you think we live in. One cliché we always use is; “This is the land of the Free”; Free– equated with a life of Freedom.
Freedom……??????…..I’ve have a little problem, at least right now, with the concepts of being free. I remember in high school, freedom was explained this way, “as you walk down the side walk swinging your fists, your freedom extends to the to the point of your neighbors nose”.
Going back to “and to the Republic Part 1; we deemed we were safe from attack, until the day of 9-11. What we learned was that we had no idea this was coming, our information collection was pitiful, and yet we thought we were impregnable.
So, now each of us needs to sort out what we believe our freedom concept is suppose to be. We are at a crisis point between our freedom and our safety, regarding our information-gathering-security establishing-Patriot Act. The gathering of digital data, both computer and telephonic is said to be vital to establishing counter intelligence data to thwart another 9-11 or December 7, for that matter.
I have worked some national and international ham radio communication. One thing I learned early, don’t ever say anything “on the air” that you wouldn’t want someone else to over hear. In the mid-1980’s there were some high frequency receivers that could listen to analog cell phone communication. Telephone communication in the day of telephone hard lines were “private”. Today’s digital cell phone signals bounce from one cell tower to another. What makes you think that yours is a private communication????
And so today’s big up roar, is the government’s intrusion into your private communications. So I must ask: “What are you saying that’s so private?” Maybe you’re afraid you wife will find out about that other woman. Maybe it’s that secret business deal, where you cheat you employees or partners. I’m thinking if the government wants to know what my mother and I talk about, they are more than welcome to listen.
Preferably, I would really like for the government to listen to a terrorist plot the next attack on my county. I believe this sort of tracking is invaluable.
At this point the Republicans and national press want “transparency”. The want to know everything the government knows–speaking of national intrusion, this is it.. The national press gives the impression they want to strip down our intelligence core. It looks like the press would like for the door to the intelligence agency to be opened. I don’t have a lot of confidence that the press is competent enough to determine our national security!! Say, maybe we can let the terrorist sit at our intelligence tables and listen to my mother and I talk!
It truly sounds like the Senate investigations and press inquiries are examples of paranoia in full tilt. And then, we have this NSA Contractor who wants to expose, and now give our information gathering techniques to our most contentious enemies , as if they are pure!
It really is beginning to sound like we should stock pile our nukes, become isolationists and let the other counties slug it out. We will no longer have sufficient information to help anyone!
And yet, we need that balance, between authority and power. I wonder if we will ever hear the whole story about the “Minnesota terrorist, preparing to attack the local politicians?” If he’s found innocent, the story will be presented in the back, by the county health departments’ restaurant inspections.
Terry's Life and Times 