Today the rule of law, the checks and balances and the rights reserved in the Bill of Rights were damaged as the FISA act was once again altered and retroactive immunity was authorized for law breaking telecoms. A lot has been written about this. I will not add to that.
Instead, I thought I would point out a pair of quiet revolutions that took place over the last couple of years that got very little coverage. I do so for two reasons. First it is worth noting that not all of the battles for civil liberties in the last couple of years have been lost, and second, it is important to realize that major changes both for good and ill can happen with virtually no one noticing.
If O.J. had been a campus security officer and all he had been carrying was a TASER®, he wouldn't have gone to jail?!! And the memorabilia dealer would have gone to jail and would have gotten more than a scaring, he would have gotten 50,000 volts!! That will start your heart!But even better, had he been employed by Blackwater, and they had not been in the US, he could have popped that mother, no questions asked??And we are now safer??How you figgah??I thought it very appropriate that Nuremberg starring Alec Baldwin was aired last month. If you haven't seen it, make a point to. Better yet, rent it. It is all too easy to dismiss this kind of behavior as just part of conflict and war. You really need to look a little deeper and see just what kind of people they really are.Not just any campus security guard is the kind of person who would decide that they are judge, jury, and executioner for someone who is exercising their first amendment rights. EVEN when they ARE obnoxious.As for Blackwater, I think this is a far greater evil than it appears. It is not just "privatizing" security. Can you really "privatize" or "outsource" foreign relations?No, I think Blackwater, as much as an asset it may seem, as heroic and glamorous as it may be, in principle it presents a far greater evil than we can imagine. Think about it. Doesn't the 2nd amendment talk about the necessity of a well regulated militia? Well, not in those exact words, but do you think the founding fathers weren't aware of Hessians? One of the thorniest issues, one of the hardest to enumerate is the need for a military and at the same time adequate controls on it to keep it from running amok threatening our very form of government?Just think why we have the Posse Comitatus act! Do you think that just because they work abroad, there is no threat here in the US? Waco, Ruby Ridge, Oklahoma City will be insignificant once someone realizes what is possible with a Blackwater with 200,000 men and enough weapons. Wait, we already have one!! Who is minding the store? ...
What? Have I ever heard of "Raptor"? Am I aware that because this can be read by people outside the United States, this is subject to survailance by NSA? I could be declared an "enemy combatant"??
Hon, is sombody at the door? ....
