OTOH, if you haven't noticed, America is at war against international terrorism. Certain actions by the federal gov't are necessary in order to obtain the intelligence required to fight the war on terrorism. I for one would rather stretch the limits today and thereby protect our rights, freedoms and liberty in the long term.
BTW, the last time I looked, an individual American's "politics, hobbies, and even sexual orientation", are generally not considered behavior that is consistent with law breaking activities. If you have nothing to hide, then you shouldn't be afraid. Those forces fighting terrorism are looking for sympathizers and supporters who are aligned with subversive groups that engage in espionage and/or sabotage within America's national borders and those defenses of our international interests.
This is no time to over react and allow fear to control our lives.
Will we be hearing this same phrase once someone decides to outlaw our firearms or, when someone decides that all of our guns must be registered? Surprisingly, no one raised a peep when the gov. decided to "register" our children (reportedly to stop "welfare" and income tax fraud) so the old thinking that people won't register their guns, no matter what, is pretty idiotic when one stops to think about it. I suppose, when that time comes, that people will still be saying "but if you've registered your guns, you don't have anything to worry about" - right up until the point that the BATF knocks on the door demanding that we hand them over.
Honestly, I don't want to be confrontational about this. I just want everyone to REALLY stop and think about the POTENTIAL for abuse of all these "powers".
Prior to the gun bans in the Peoples' Democracy of Kalifornia, what kind of firearm you owned was not considered "law breaking activities" by the PDK now it is.
The restrictions only go one way. Getting the tyranny in Washington to undo some restriction requires a miracle. You should never give the SOBs in DC anything, because 1. You'll never get it back, and 2. what they promise in return is worthless.
We should have reacted long ago. Read the article below and see how far we have come under this "conservative" administration".
By Jacob Levich
BUSH'S ORWELLIAN ADDRESS: HAPPY NEW YEAR -- IT'S 1984 Seventeen years later than expected, 1984 has arrived. In his address to Congress Thursday, George Bush effectively declared permanent war -- war without temporal or geographic limits; war without clear goals; war against a vaguely defined and constantly shifting enemy. Today it's Al-Qaida; tomorrow it may be Afghanistan; next year, it could be Iraq or Cuba or Chechnya.
No one who was forced to read 1984 in high school could fail to hear a faint bell tinkling. In George Orwell's dreary classic, the totalitarian state of Oceania is perpetually at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia. Although the enemy changes periodically, the war is permanent; its true purpose is to control dissent and sustain dictatorship by nurturing popular fear and hatred. The permanent war undergirds every aspect of Big Brother's authoritarian program, excusing censorship, propaganda, secret police, and privation. In other words, it's terribly convenient. And conveniently terrible. Bush's alarming speech pointed to a shadowy enemy that lurks in more 60 countries, including the US. He announced a policy of using maximum force against any individuals or nations he designates as our enemies, without color of international law, due process, or democratic debate.
He explicitly warned that much of the war will be conducted in secret. He rejected negotiation as a tool of diplomacy. He announced starkly that any country that doesn't knuckle under to US demands will be regarded as an enemy. He heralded the creation of a powerful new cabinet-level police agency called the "Office of Homeland Security." Orwell couldn't have named it better. By turns folksy ("Ya know what?") and chillingly bellicose ("Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists"), Bush stepped comfortably into the role of Big Brother, who needs to be loved as well as feared.
Meanwhile, his administration acted swiftly to realize the governing principles of Oceania:
WAR IS PEACE A reckless war that will likely bring about a deadly cycle of retaliation is being sold to us as the means to guarantee our safety. Meanwhile, we've been instructed to accept the permanent war as a fact of daily life. As the inevitable slaughter of innocents unfolds overseas, we are to "live our lives and hug our children."
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY "Freedom itself is under attack," Bush said, and he's right. Americans are about to lose many of their most cherished liberties in a frenzy of paranoid legislation. The government proposes to tap our phones, read our email and seize our credit card records without court order. It seeks authority to detain and deport immigrants without cause or trial.
It proposes to use foreign agents to spy on American citizens. To save freedom, the warmongers intend to destroy it.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH America's "new war" against terrorism will be fought with unprecedented secrecy, including heavy press restrictions not seen for years, the Pentagon has advised.
Meanwhile, the sorry history of American imperialism -- collaboration with terrorists, bloody proxy wars against civilians, forcible replacement of democratic governments with corrupt dictatorships -- is strictly off-limits to mainstream media. Lest it weaken our resolve, we are not to be allowed to understand the reasons underlying the horrifying crimes of September 11.
The defining speech of Bush's presidency points toward an Orwellian future of endless war, expedient lies, and ubiquitous social control. But unlike 1984's doomed protagonist, we've still got plenty of space to maneuver and plenty of ways to resist. It's time to speak and to act. It falls on us now to take to the streets, bearing a clear message for the warmongers: We don't love Big Brother.
As an example of why you are "mis-named", Ronald Reagan knows that the US Constitution does not grant any rights. It merely enumerates those unalienable rights that are granted by the Creator. You are not free to own a firearm because some document grants you this right. You are free to "keep and bear arms" because you possess the right to self-defense.
Please, change your screen name!
Sport, you flamed me on a thread the other day, and I ignored you, because it's my habit to ignore ignorant people.
The fact is, that if you truly believe what you spout, you're either a) on the wrong side or b) a clueless sheep. I'm supposing it's only b). I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
I've been actively involved in the fight to keep What's Left of America free for many many years. The Bill of Rights is essentially dead, and is ignored almost totally by our "rulers." You don't think so? Then you haven't been watching. This once-great nation has become EXACTLY what the men who founded it feared and tried so hard to prevent by the Constitution they wrote and its attendant Bill of Rights. And it's only getting worse.
Sadly, most Americans, just like most Germans several decades ago, will only wake up when it's far too late.
As for it being "war time," so we "need to give up some liberties" - never forget that Evil rides in on the back of a white horse.
I'm of the opinion that anyone who utters words like those should immediately have the citizenship stripped, and be deported to live in the nearest police state.