Poster's Note:
Does the above make you feel safe, as Congressman Martin Meehan mentions? Feelings of safety to blazes, are you, in actuality, safe? My letter to the editor follows. Readers might find it interesting.
Editor:
Even if one were satisfied with the question being put as "Do You Feel Safe", taking even a casual look at what has been going on around us all would argue strongly against even feelings of safety, let alone the actuality of being safe.
A couple of years have passed since The Congress directed the arming of airline pilots, actually the REARMING thereof, yet TSA is still slow-walking the program, with very few pilots having been qualified as FFDO's, that's Federal Flight Deck Officers in case you were wondering as to the meaning of that bit of "alphabet soup".
Social Security Numbers are still the subject of rampant abuse by bureaucratic types both in and out of government, and are likely to so remain, due to ongoing lack of action by our "elected things". Identity Thieves are having a field day, though in fairness to the above mentioned "elected things" part of the blame lies in the laps of the general public. Then there are the ongoing transgressions of THE INFORMATION GATHERERS/INFORMATION PEDDLERS, the LexisNexis's, the ChoicePoints, the CardSolution Systems, add such company logos as you might desire to the foregoing short list to this rogues gallery of those whose data security must be the subject of hysterical laughter in certain circles.
Then there was the giant giveaway to the credit card and banking industries that was an integral part of this year's Bankruptcy Reform legislation, a give away that comes out of your hide, and nobody else's.
Don't forget a couple of Intelligence Reform bills, so-called, one of which removed your Social Security Number from the grasp of driver license issuers, while a later version put it back. How many identity thieves have access to this data? Of course, lest I forget, there was The Real ID Act of 2005, and perhaps even more egregious, the way it was passed by the U.S. Senate.
I could likely go on with a listing of such things, but let's return to the article, which quotes Congressman Martin Meehan, D-Mass. as follows. "... How much freedom are we willing to give up to feel safe"? Note, the congressman spoke of "feelings of safety" not the actuality of being safe. Re this, good old Benjamin Franklin, in about 1759, supposedly observed on the subject of exchanging freedom for safety, "he that surrenders essential liberties to gain temporary security shall have neither liberties nor security". The quote might not be exact, though I don't think it misses the essentials of what Mr. Franklin had in mind when he spoke.
Lest I forget, respecting the "sunset" of certain provisions retained in the House passed version, and the ten year period mentioned, who is kidding whom? By the way, regarding Section 215, and the much mentioned business of library and book shop records subject to FBI demands, that's only part of the story. Actually the purview of the FBI covers "business records" in general, of any business. You might want to think a bit on a listing of establishments could or would fall under the view of those wonderful folks down there at The FBI, given the less than sterling record that that agency has garnered to it's breast. Having done that, how safe do you now feel?
I respectfully submit that people really need to read through this thing called The USA Patriot Act, for while the time to speak with your congress critters might have come and gone, the opportunity to address comment to your Senators hasn't, or given that "the fix is in" possibly it already has, and if that be the case, then realize this. Another large bite has been taken out of the essential liberties that Mr. Franklin spoke of, liberties that many Americans have bled for, that many have died for.
How goes it with those feelings of safety now?
Does the above make you feel safe, as Congressman Martin Meehan mentions? Feelings of safety to blazes, are you, in actuality, safe? My letter to the editor follows. Readers might find it interesting.
Editor:
Even if one were satisfied with the question being put as "Do You Feel Safe", taking even a casual look at what has been going on around us all would argue strongly against even feelings of safety, let alone the actuality of being safe.
A couple of years have passed since The Congress directed the arming of airline pilots, actually the REARMING thereof, yet TSA is still slow-walking the program, with very few pilots having been qualified as FFDO's, that's Federal Flight Deck Officers in case you were wondering as to the meaning of that bit of "alphabet soup".
Social Security Numbers are still the subject of rampant abuse by bureaucratic types both in and out of government, and are likely to so remain, due to ongoing lack of action by our "elected things". Identity Thieves are having a field day, though in fairness to the above mentioned "elected things" part of the blame lies in the laps of the general public. Then there are the ongoing transgressions of THE INFORMATION GATHERERS/INFORMATION PEDDLERS, the LexisNexis's, the ChoicePoints, the CardSolution Systems, add such company logos as you might desire to the foregoing short list to this rogues gallery of those whose data security must be the subject of hysterical laughter in certain circles.
Then there was the giant giveaway to the credit card and banking industries that was an integral part of this year's Bankruptcy Reform legislation, a give away that comes out of your hide, and nobody else's.
Don't forget a couple of Intelligence Reform bills, so-called, one of which removed your Social Security Number from the grasp of driver license issuers, while a later version put it back. How many identity thieves have access to this data? Of course, lest I forget, there was The Real ID Act of 2005, and perhaps even more egregious, the way it was passed by the U.S. Senate.
I could likely go on with a listing of such things, but let's return to the article, which quotes Congressman Martin Meehan, D-Mass. as follows. "... How much freedom are we willing to give up to feel safe"? Note, the congressman spoke of "feelings of safety" not the actuality of being safe. Re this, good old Benjamin Franklin, in about 1759, supposedly observed on the subject of exchanging freedom for safety, "he that surrenders essential liberties to gain temporary security shall have neither liberties nor security". The quote might not be exact, though I don't think it misses the essentials of what Mr. Franklin had in mind when he spoke.
Lest I forget, respecting the "sunset" of certain provisions retained in the House passed version, and the ten year period mentioned, who is kidding whom? By the way, regarding Section 215, and the much mentioned business of library and book shop records subject to FBI demands, that's only part of the story. Actually the purview of the FBI covers "business records" in general, of any business. You might want to think a bit on a listing of establishments could or would fall under the view of those wonderful folks down there at The FBI, given the less than sterling record that that agency has garnered to it's breast. Having done that, how safe do you now feel?
I respectfully submit that people really need to read through this thing called The USA Patriot Act, for while the time to speak with your congress critters might have come and gone, the opportunity to address comment to your Senators hasn't, or given that "the fix is in" possibly it already has, and if that be the case, then realize this. Another large bite has been taken out of the essential liberties that Mr. Franklin spoke of, liberties that many Americans have bled for, that many have died for.
How goes it with those feelings of safety now?