Wednesday, July 09, 2008

My house is my castle: Barack's betrayal

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and ther persons or things to be seized."
-The Fourth Amendment, US Constitution, 1789

Barack Obama won the joyous support of progressives not so very long ago when he promised to FILIBUSTER any attempt by Congress to provide retroactive immunity for telecoms against spying on Americans.
His spectacularly disastrous reversal in the Senate vote today calls into question all of the ways that progressives have believed in Barack, because we wanted so desperately to believe. Even Hillary Clinton voted against telecom immunity today.
Yes, all politicos have to be strategists, as an old campaigner True knows all about that.... But, we Loved Barack because his strategy seemed to be telling the truth and generating support from the vast majority of Americans who have suffered under the lies of the neocons. It diminishes his campaign when he caves rather than stands up for what is right, and what can be more right than the Fourth Amendment?
The MSM have contrived to make it appear that government surveillance without a warrant applies only to the very baddest guys. Barack knows that this is not so but he also suspects that most people don't realize this and so he can get away with reversing a stand that brought him huge support from the Democratic wing of the Dim Party.....
And not only them; the 3,500 journalists at the National Conference on Media Reform believed in Barack's promise to protect the Fourth Amendment. Every single one of us understood what was at stake and we all believed Barack would stand up for the Constitution even if he had to cave on some issues in order to get elected.
Every single one of us who were there, from Bill Moyers down to the lowliest journalist like True, feel betrayed. Barack had a chance to stand up and be counted for something that the vast majority of Americans believe in: the sanctity of privacy, the home as castle.
The Repug neocons have sold the FISA surveillance by telecoms in several ways, mostly by denying that surveillance creeps into our homes in ways never imagined by the founders, but also by insinuating that anybody who is spied deserves to be, and that YOU and I have NOTHING to HIDE.... depending on who raises or lowers the bar. Who is listening and to whom? The answer, well-documented though you will NEVER see it in a MSM story, is that the National Security Agency is listening to EVERY conversation that you and I make by phone or email. Yes, modern technology permits them to do this.
True doesn 't care, True follows Her mandate to peaceably address grievances in the First Amendment and takes Her role in a Free Press very seriously.
So, who cares? Well, friend, you ought to, perhaps. You have been led to believe that only the bad guys are spied on and even if you are spied on, you have nothing to hide, right?
Don't be so sure. They go by code words in your phone conversations: did you ever say you are sick of America these dahys? Or anything mildly critical?
It never was intended -- OR EVEN IMAGINED -- that every single phone or email conversation would be monitored by paid spies of the government.
Bushcos are bragging that they WON a big victory and it is True.

Barack is/was our leader and we adored him, but we adored him BECAUSE he spoke truth to power in this essential, critical issue of the Fourth Amendment. When he doesn't do that, how can we trust him to do all the other things he promises?

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