second and third that.

[kaigou]

I seriously heart the Rude Pundit. Today he's writing about the random searches in NYC [read more about what to do if you walk into one], and observes:

This is the warped logic of our discussions of civil liberties: if you are a good, lawful person, then you shouldn't mind having yourself probed, spied on, and frisked. Principles like the Fourth Amendment are merely covers for the guilty.

Read the whole thing.

And this, I want stapled on the forehead of every politico on the hill, right where they can see it and can't frickin' miss it, no matter what:

In an ideal America, government should be open to the sunshine and air, and citizens' lives should be private. But the Bush administration has reversed this foundational principle.

Which in a nutshell sums up the majority of what has me so uncertain about the state of our nation, these days.

Comments

[christeos-pir.livejournal.com]

Let's not pretend the present situation came about solely as a result of 9/11. As stmartin418 said, a lot of what's in Patriot I was already there (can you say "RICO?"), it's just been strengthened and centralized. CIA and FBI ability to spy on US citizens was strengthened under Clintoon, remember. So while it's true the village idiot mastermind and his handlers have made things a lot worse, so did his predecessors. This slope has been going downhill for some time, it's just that the cliff seems to be looming nearer now.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

True, but the connection here is the contrast between teh WH's secrecy and their insistence that we submit to invasion of our privacy. Clinton may have been part of a line of presidents chipping at our privacy, but outside his private life (assuming, for a moment, that a President has such a thing), he was still as open as his predecessors when it came to the administration's take on things.

Boy, never thought I'd say this, but I almost miss Bush Sr. He was certainly a far cry better of a president than his son.

[christeos-pir.livejournal.com]

Ironic, neh?

Sure wish Barbara had run instead.