Thursday, May 16th, 2013
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
LATEST EROSION OF FREEDOMS NOTHING NEW!
In the past week, the Washington establishment is in crisis mode over a series of revelations of government intrusions that would seem to go way over the line of what is constitutionally legal. First, the Internal Revenue Service admitted it had targeted Tea Party groups for priority audits. Then came another bombshell disclosure. The Justice Department had secretly seized and monitored phone records from the Associated Press, which is a direct threat to a news organization’s constitutional right to gather and report the news.
Is this a new chapter in the country moving toward a “Brave New World?” Hardly. This type of undermining of one’s constitutional rights has been going on for years. The press turned its back on gross attacks on our individual freedoms as the Patriot Act “legalized” a litany of personal and private invasions that our constitution was intended to prevent.
The difference is that now, the abuse is hitting close to home. “The audacity of invading the freedoms of the press and political groups like the Tea Party!” many cry out. But where were the voices of such concern during a whole rash of such individual privacy invasions during the Bush and, now, the Obama Administration? Both Democrats and Republicans, who now express outrage, stood by and allowed the Patriot Act to sweep individual protections under the rug.
In an interview with CNN this past week, former FBI counter terrorism agent Tim Clemente said that the FBI could listen to phone conversations between anybody they wanted. “Welcome to America,” he said. “All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.” Continue Reading…….
