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Freedom Slowly Slipping Away

It seems like almost every day since September 11, 2001, American citizens have lost a little more freedom than they had the day before. Sometimes freedoms are removed in one fell swoop (e.g. the Patriot Act); other times existing freedoms are chipped away bit by tiny bit.

This morning was another one of those “one fell swoop” moments, even though we’ve learned it’s been taking place since September 11. The government has a listing of all of the phone calls you’ve made or received since September 11, 2001. Well, that’s not entirely true. If you use AT&T, Verizon, or Bell South as your telephone service provider, the government has a listing of all of the phone calls you’ve made or received since September 11, 2001.

Here’s a comforting note:

“It’s the largest database ever assembled in the world,” said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA’s activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency’s goal is “to create a database of every call ever made” within the nation’s borders, this person added.

But I had heard of President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program, and the government could only monitor international calls. Sure, they didn’t need a warrant, but I don’t make too many phone calls to people outside the country. Maybe these “sources” are confused about this program.

In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. “In other words,” Bush explained, “one end of the communication must be outside the United States.”

As a result, domestic call records — those of calls that originate and terminate within U.S. borders — were believed to be private.

Sources, however, say that is not the case…

What!? President Bush misled the American people? That’s heresy! Well, at least the NSA only has a listing of the phone calls. They don’t actually record them, and my name, address, and other personal information isn’t tied to these listings.

But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information.

Doh!

Okay, enough with the sarcasm. But, seriously, has George W. Bush never read George Orwell’s 1984? Has he even heard of it? This is serious. Very serious. The government is now creating the largest database the world has ever seen to make records of every single call placed or received in this country. Does this bother you? It bothers the sh*t out of me. And I’m not the only one:

[Senator Arlen] Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, expressed his frustration at the Bush administration’s refusal to give details of other surveillance efforts, and said he would call executives of AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon “to see if we can learn some of the underlying facts that we can’t find out from the Department of Justice or other administration officials.”

This is how bad things have gotten: Republican congressmen and congresswomen who have acted as President Bush’s rubber stamp for years are now getting pissed that there’s no oversight. And the question du jour?

“Are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with Al Qaeda?” asked Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the committee’s ranking minority member.

Yeah, that’s right. President Bush and members of his administration seem to have no idea what the phrase “probable cause” means. It’s the lazy approach to criminal investigation. Protecting freedom requires energy. President Bush apparently doesn’t have this kind of energy. It’s just easier to take a sh*t on our civil liberties.

“It’s our government, our government!” [Senator Leahy] said, turning red in the face and waving a copy of USA Today. “It’s not one party’s government, it’s America’s government!”

Turning red in the face? You bet your a** I’m turning red in the face. I’m tired of this. Sick and f*cking tired of this. I live in America, damn it. I’m supposed to have freedoms. Freedoms that other people supposedly hate. Freedoms that other people supposedly hate enough that they’ll fly airplanes into buildings to try to destroy.

And the proverbial insult added to injury?

The sources said the NSA made clear that it was willing to pay for the cooperation.

Nice. The government is using my hard earned tax dollars to pay telecommunications companies to hand over my private information. I’m paying the government to take a sh*t on my own freedom. Nicely done, President Bush. Nicely done.