So along with our government's many short-comings, there is still this issue of privacy and the government's right to infringe upon it. As of late, the issue on the table is wiretapping and surveillance. The president has continually decided that he can sort of "ignore" the legal proceedings required to take such measures against anyone in this nation. Before I get into the details, think about this: If the government can just listen in on everyone's conversations, we are in for a rude awakening. The freedom's we feel when bashing our current administration or disagreeing with national policies made by either, Georgey Bush, Jr. or any other residing president, suddenly find the need to be censored. I wouldn't feel quite as "free" to state my opinions, question the "man", take the civil liberties I love so much to heart. The idea of "Freedom of Speech" has haunted those in power for some time. Are they afraid of a revolt? Sadly, if we were going to revolt, we could have done it in 2000 or again in 2004 but even after documentaries were made about poll fraud, international relations have officially gone down the drain, the sad awareness that our government used the fear-tactics of 9/11 to start an unrelated war in Iraq has done little to ignite a revolt, I'm doubtful they're going to have any luck seeing one happen in their lifetime. So ... why are those in "command" so afraid of us "national citizens" using, and sometimes exploiting, our freedom to say whatever the hell we want? Who knows!!! In all reality, if the government agencies have evidence to garner the need to survey or wiretap, the federal courts will do their job and grant that access. I have enough faith in our system to trust that. So the need to simply wiretap or survey at random, or just because they have a feeling, is in fact unconstitutional. Here is an interesting quote found on CNN: "Our attempts to obtain information through testimony of Administration witnesses have been met with a consistent pattern of evasion and misdirection." Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee Sad that our own VP can't be a man about his mistakes, but then again, everyone in this Administration seems to have been afflicted with the same illness - bs!
