Why give away our right to privacy?

Verizon has allowed Bush/Cheney access to its customers telecommunications records.

For more detail go here. The article written by John Dean of AlterNet.com.

It is illegal, under federal statutes 18 U.S.C. 2511 and 18 U.S.C. 2702, for any “entity to provide an electronic communication service to the public" without a court order. Verizon, and other communications companies, obviously think that if the White House asks them to hand over these confidential records to them then the companies should be immune to any legal recourse.

Telecoms are not protected against legal recourse and Bush/Cheney is lobbying congress to alter the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to exclude liability against these companies that have helped the White House gain access to these communications. This immunity would be retroactive to cover the period that the telecoms colluded with the White House in its criminal activity.

The White House is also pushing congress to make permanent the Protect America Act which congress enacted to provide ‘temporary’ approval to electronically eavesdrop on anyone the president feels to be of interest. Don’t you just love the title of this act. As in you have to give up your right to privacy in order to save yourselves. Putting my privacy rights in the hands of the likes of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney is not my idea of protection. Their arrogance and paranoia scare the hell out of me.

Once again I say, “What is tolerated today will become commonly accepted tomorrow”. This is a very dangerous attack on the privacy of the citizens of the U.S.

Telecoms are becoming a de facto arm of the federal government at the beck and call of the executive branch.

The Bush/Cheney White House has proven time and again that they are far too paranoid and unbalanced in their judgment to have access to private records where their twisted thinking can manufacture plots anywhere they look.

The limiting of privacy is a tool of a fascist government. We have been sliding dangerously close towards fascism from the moment this lunatic duo took power. To give them this power, under the guise of National security, and using the seductive reasoning that if you have nothing to hide then it should not concern you, is simply criminal.

Do your homework people. Hitler started out in a very similar fashion.

What is to prevent the president from declaring any citizen a terrorist combatant? If Cheney follows true to form he will again strike out at any perceived threat before it has been proven to be real.

This ‘temporary’ eavesdropping power expires in February 2008, so congress is addressing the subject.

The potential loss of privacy, and the resulting erosion of freedom, that we face is unthinkable. Yet too many people are complacent in believing that the ‘only’ reason the eavesdropping is taking place is catch terrorists in our neighborhoods. And they all accept that this is a good enough reason to give away their privacy. One day it will be too late to get it back. One of our basic freedoms is being handed to the White House based on the lies from that White House.

We all feel the results of the lies Bush/Cheney have told us every time another soldier is sent to Iraq. We are reminded of their lies with every insurgent attack in Iraq, knowing the only reason they attack is because we are in their country. We see the results their lies every time we look at where the twin towers stood before 9/11.

You must know from their past performance that Bush/Cheney cannot be trusted with the power to eavesdrop on anyone they want to. We cannot afford to give up this freedom.