Detroit Judge: NSA Wiretapping Program Illegal

A huge blow to the Bush Administration took place yesterday, a truly landmark decision in a federal court in Detroit between the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Wait what? Detroit? Not much more then five miles away from home did this landmark decision (that is bound for the Supreme Court) take place.

Bush’s goon Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez says he will fight the ruling all out, defending its legality. The legality, though, of this wiretapping has already been established: it is most defiantly illegal. It clearly violates the fourth amendment by wiretapping without a warrant, it violate the first amendment by infringing upon citizens communications and upon the press’ ability to report information, and finally it violates separation of powers established by the constitution for it refuses to obey law enacted by congress (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978).

Why must Bush act as King George? He is acting as the very king the framers of the constitution fought so very hard to expel and make sure would never return. He is continuing the trend of “Imperial Presidencies.”

So what should we do? For one, don’t forget this; don’t let Bush’s lies deceive us into his evil plan of total control and world conquest and never forget our civil liberties (the very things we are apparently “fighting” for).

ACLU

The Nation

A Bad Attitude of Civil Liberties

Yesterday, driving up to my friend’s house in East Lansing, Michigan with two of my good friends, I discussed the so called terror plot that was broken up by British officials and the raising of the Terror Alert by the Ministry of Homeland Security. After talking for a few seconds I heard a voice loudly interrupting me from the back seat, a normal event when discussing politics. Apparently, while discussing my most recent post on the threat of “terror threats” being used to put fear in the minds of the public, one of my dearest friends (which I mustn’t name) had to throw in her view: “Why would they want to scare us? They are just trying to protect us. Not everyone has the rights we have in this country.” While she was completely false on the former, the latter statement was not completely false, just used in the wrong context. Of course, and as most high school history books will tell you, the United States has unprecedented rights, many more then other nations, and we live a lifestyle far better then the majority of the world. But what they do not explain well enough is why those rights are there, and why we need to do anything in our power to keep them.

Before the American Revolution, the 13 British colonies’ rights started to disappear; houses and businesses were searched or seized without warrant, the people were taxed without any representation or vote, soldiers seized private homes as their quarters, freedom of the press became severely infringed, and the king ruled with tyranny over the colonies. After the Revolution was won (which was fought to win sovereignty and liberty), the founders of this nation set up a constitution with checks and balances, and separation of powers. What they forgot, at first, became the Bill of Rights, and those who opposed it then are still opposing it now. The anti-federalists drafted the Bill of Rights (or the first 10 amendments to the constitution) in order to protect the civil liberties of the common citizen from another tyrannical force like the British crown.

Can you imagine a United States without the Bill of Rights? Can you imagine a world were the executive branch has taken full control of all three branches of government? If you can, and I can, something around the lines of Nazi Germany, Iran, North Korea, or the Soviet Union might come to your mind. It would be a scary, scary place; the president would act as some sort of dictator, with no regard to any rights, possibly waging war for profit or scaring the public into submission. Wait a second… Sound familiar?

If it does sound familiar, and it does to me, then maybe it’s because our president is acting this was as we speak. He has allowed the nation to be attacked (and as of now, we still do not really know) by terrorists, or “Islamic extremists,” used this attack as a pretext to enter into a war over oil (which had been planned before the attack), taken away many of our basic civil liberties (USA Patriot Act), wiretapped our phones and entered all our calls into a massive NSA database, collected a database of our banking records, and just recently passed an act to require all citizens to be issued a national ID card in which all peoples will be placed into a massive database. What is happening here? Is this what George Orwell warned us of? Why must our actions be tracked to every inch of our lives? For security?

It’s obviously not for security, and if you don’t see that then just keep tight behind the president until the next terrorist attack – then you’ll change your mind. I’m making the prediction now: there will be a terrorist attack within the next five years, and when this happens you won’t want to live in the United States any longer, it will be total tyranny. Total control. Martial Law.

Just my two cents before you forget how important civil liberties really are. And one more thing (and I’ve said this over and over again): do anything possible to protect your liberties, no matter what the government tells you.

Terror Alert = Terror, Tyranny

Today the Ministry of Homeland Security declared a Code Red terror alert on all flights from the U.K. to the U.S. and a Code Orange for all flights in and bound for U.S. Now what seems to be the problem with alerting the public to a possible terror attack? Well nothing, but there actually is no terror attack, the government just wants the average citizen to submit their civil liberties out of simple fear. Fear of being attacked by a enemy we have no real knowledge on, other then the “fact” that they are supposedly “Islamic” extremists. What many American’s are missing out on is who we are fighting and what the fighting is really for, and the reasons why things take place they way the do.

It’s September 11, 2001 and we have just been attacked by some terrifying force, completely unexpected to the average American. It was a day that sparked a revolution in the United States, a revolution towards tyranny, a true Reichstag Fire. In 1933 Hitler and his thugs burnt down the German parliament, blamed it on the communists, and used it as a motive to go to war, remove freedoms from the citizens, and declare martial law. It’s not been done just once, it’s been done many times in history, including in Rome, the US and Europe.

The neocon solutions to our problems with terrorism include giving up our basic civil liberties in order to fight the ongoing global “War on Terrorism;” awarding the President with unprecedented imperial powers, allowing him to practice total disregard for our constitution; and also giving us a “terror alert” so we will always know when and when not to be scared.

It is this method of fear and submission that the neocons love so very much; though, they’re plan to achieve total domination over the American people can and will not succeed if my faith in American people are true. I do truly believe the American people, as a whole, are good and compassionate people. This image, though, has been spoiled by a few bad apples (very evil ones, might I add). We have gone from being one of the most loved nations in the world, to one of the most despised. The American government has spewed their ideology of global dominance over the world throughout the Twentieth Century, but not until recently has this trend been so very real.

We, the good people of the United States, have essentially become the terrorists, the target of tyranny. We have surrendered, without a fair fight, our liberties to the USA Patriot Act, the war on terror, the REAL ID act, and similar legislation. The target of the government is not Islamic extremists living in caves in Afghanistan, or the deserts of Iraq, but rather the American people: the true enemy of the oppressor.

So what I ask of my reader today is that you stand up, question authority, refuse to submit to the tyranny, refuse to be placed in databases and viewed as a statistic. Refuse to allow the government, founded by the people, to wage a war on its own people. But most of all, to get out and speak your mind, fight the system that is created to destroy you, and become activists; because democracy starts at the bottom, with local government and grassroots organizing. And please, please, whatever you do, do not forget your rights… especially the one that was written down first on the much forgotten bill of rights.

Knowledge is Power.