How can we believe our government spokespersons?
One was asked about snooping into our cell phone calls and they responded, “We only look into calls made from abroad.”
It was explained surveillance of incoming calls from overseas is carried out to keep America safe.
I’m finding it difficult to trust anything made public by the government. In the cases being investigated presently regarding journalists’ phone messages, the first excuse was, “This did not happen.” The next was, “The government did not authorize that action.” It finally was declared, “Homeland Security was responsible.”
I don’t know much about Homeland Security, only what the government tells me but that changes every week or so.
One thing I do know about them is, I don’t feel any safer than I did before they came along. No government agency should be allowed to delve into our privacy without our permission — Homeland or any other title.
The telephone tapping has me concerned because I make calls to a foreign country. I have friends in Canada, and we share information and secrets. I gave my friend an idea on how to catch a certain kind of fish when he visits Florida. I don’t want to read about this in the newspaper or see it on television just because some government snooper is a member of Greenpeace.
Oh, what the heck, I’ll just tell the secret now and avoid being investigated. “Fishermen or women that fish the Great Lakes and use Bomber Lures for Salmon can also find them productive for Dolphin and Wahoo.” So there is my secret, now leave my phone alone!
There really does seem to be a loud uproar about the boundaries of the Patriot Act, according to Senator Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat. He said, “The balance between the people and the government seems to be out of control.” Oh, really? Is he referring to collecting our phone bills, financial records or where we travel? I don’t really care if Uncle Sam wants to see my phone bill, but he has to agree to pay it or butt out.
President Barack Obama has said the Patriot Act and amendments to it have been approved by Congress. We all know that was before his time because he can’t get Congress to agree on anything.
The Patriot Act was adopted Oct. 26, 2001 “to strengthen domestic security and prevent terrorism.” The interpretation has been, “The National Security Administration can do anything they wish to.” One of those things they do is keep track of your financial accounts. You may not deposit to your own account $10,000 or more of your funds at any one time. You may only make a set number of deposits that they deem acceptable. If a deposit is too high, they can freeze an account.
This would be OK with me if they agreed to add a few deposits for me if my account gets too low.
All things considered, the Patriot Act and its enforcers at Homeland Security and National Security Administration have created a lot of new jobs; adding to the cost of government. What they have not done is put a stop to terrorism.