OK ... so, who's watching the watchers watching YOU

Concern Over Wider Spying Under New Law

By JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU / NYT
Published: August 19, 2007

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 — Broad new surveillance powers approved by Congress this month could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond wiretapping to include — without court approval — certain types of physical searches of American citizens and the collection of their business records, Democratic Congressional officials and other experts said.

Administration officials acknowledged that they had heard such concerns from Democrats in Congress recently, and that there was a continuing debate over the meaning of the legislative language. But they said the Democrats were simply raising theoretical questions based on a harsh interpretation of the legislation.

Surveil THIS ...

I am firmly convinced that those of us who were born in the 40s and 50s, grew up in the 60's and 70's, and came of age in the 80s and 90s are the luckiest people who have ever lived. We got to experience the American Dream of being who we wanted to be, pursuing happiness in what ever way we chose. We had the greatest personal freedom and the greatest privacy of person and thought. We could befriend anyone we chose.

In the 60s we could protest injustice and change the world ... and we did ... though, to my chagrin, those changes we made appear to have been only temporary.

My greatest fear is that it is downhill from here. Those wonderful freedoms our fathers fought and died for in defense of this country 65 years ago, against the juggernaut of unbridled xenophobic hatred, war profit motivation and the dream of world domination are now ... a mere 65 years later, being surrendered to the same forces in human nature they fought against ... and all because, pressed for time to get on with their precious vacations, our duly elected representatives can't be bothered to read what they are voting on in Congress!

In case you missed it in school, here's the text of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America - the one that just went away:

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 the persons or things to be seized.

What part of "shall not be violated" don't they understand?