Do
you remember back in the 1980’s and 1990’s the talk of black helicopters with
no markings? People that claimed they existed were thought to be paranoid
conspiracy theorists. They were considered on a par with those that said they’d
been taken by aliens and probed then returned home with no memory. There was
even a movie about this paranoia called “Conspiracy Theory” where Mel Gibson
played the part of someone that seemed to be off center mentally and had to buy
the book “The Catcher in the Rye” each time he saw it.
For
years, if you said anything about what the government might be doing, it was usually
said to be 1984 coming true or if you were really adamant about it, you were a
nut job or right wing extremist.
Along
comes Ed Snowden. Snowden leaks documents showing that the American government
is spying on allies and worst of all, Americans! The National Security Agency (NSA)
naturally denies that they are spying on Americans. So it appears if we think
the NSA is spying on us we’re part of the black helicopter conspiracy
theorists.
Congressman
Mike Rogers (R) from Michigan, and former FBI agent, immediately comes to the
defense of the NSA and says they are not spying on American citizens. He still
says it as recently as March 2014 on Meet the Press. However, the NSA finally
admitted that they are indeed spying on Americans and they admitted it during
2013.
We
now know that phone companies, such as AT&T, Verizon were forced to give
phone records of Americans to the NSA. Internet companies such as Google, yahoo
and facebook were required to give the NSA information and access to Americans.
Some of those companies willingly, some through legal means.
Today,
it’s reported that the navy, through the Naval Criminal Investigative Service
(NCIS) is collecting information on parking tickets of Americans. Over 500 million
and counting.
Let’s
look at some recent events. Remember Fast and Furious? Guns were given to drug
cartels in Mexico. One was used to kill a border agent. Our government, who
gave the guns to the cartels, can’t find them. Didn’t track them. Drug cartels
are a serious threat to Americans. Some Americans along the border of Mexico
have been killed. Their homes invaded. The government is charged Constitutionally
with protecting our borders and Americans. Yet our government agencies charged
with protecting us aren’t protecting the borders and can’t find guns that they
gave to cartels with the purpose of tracking them spend their time reading transcripts
of women sharing their apple pie recipe’s.
Remember
Benghazi? Four American’s were killed. An ambassador and three military men in
Benghazi. Our government told us that it was due to a video that nobody had
seen. They sent out officials (Susan Rice) to say that it wasn’t a terrorist
attack but due to a video. Our
government, who can spy on our allies and spy on Americans can’t tell the truth
about an attack on our Embassy in Libya and don’t protect our citizens, our
officials, and our soldiers in our Embassy, but spend their time listening to
teenagers talking about their latest boyfriend/girlfriend at school.
Remember
the IRS scandal where they were not allowing status to tea party organizers
while approving liberal political organizers? Our government is taking sides
politically against American citizens and for other citizens based on political
ideology but they can listen in to conversations of Americans who are
suggesting a restaurant to a friend of theirs on the phone or in E-mail or IM’s.
Remember
the TSA making us go through body scanners at the airport and told that while I
our genitals are able to be viewed by the screener and only the screener, those
images wouldn’t be saved and not seen by anyone else. Then we find out that
they are not just keeping those images but hanging them on the walls for
viewing by the rest of the staff. It went so far as to have a TSA employee have
his own image put out there for other co-workers to see and he was teased about
it and then attacked a fellow employee over comments made about his genitalia…or
lack of. I wonder how many terrorists these body scanners have caught.
Now
we have parking tickets being gathered and monitored. Well, here’s a weird
scenario for you. I go once a month to the county court and pay my child
support. Because I have a snarky ex wife, I end up going to court about twice a
year. I have to feed the parking meter each time. I spend five to ten minutes
going into the courthouse, going through the metal detector and the wand and
raising my pant legs up so they can see the tops of my shoes or boots. I have
to remove my coat and send it through an X-Ray machine. I have to remove my
wallet and send it through the X-Ray machine. Are they afraid that before
someone attacks a court employee they are going to view pictures of their kids?
Or maybe the technology is now out there that you can build a gun using a
master card or visa.
A
technical school student in Ohio is doing as he should. He’s working hard at
his education. He’s decided he wants to be in the military and when he gets out
he wants to be either in law enforcement or a firefighter. He’s involved in all
sorts of organizations and classes to achieve his goals. He works as an EMT and
needs a knife for things such as cutting a seatbelt away in traffic accidents.
But because of a zero tolerance policy at school, he’s arrested and thrown in
jail for thirteen days because of a knife in his vest, in his EMT kit locked in
his trunk. He’s kicked out of school. He’s in very serious danger of not being
accepted by the Army and not permitted to be part of law enforcement nor
firefighting due to this event.
Where
is the zero tolerance policy of the American government when it comes to
illegal immigration? Border security to protect our borders from terrorists
slipping into this country amidst the illegal aliens? Where is the zero
tolerance policy in attacking our Embassies?
America
is being protected from Americans but Russians can move a ship to Cuba. America
can listen in to conversations between grandmother and grandson but Iran can
develop a nuclear weapon and take their own naval ships to outskirts of our
waters off of our own coasts.
States
first pass laws allowing medical marijuana and say it’s not a way to expand it
to recreational use legally, and are now passing laws to legalize marijuana for
all, which has more carcinogens than cigarettes, yet if you smoke cigarettes,
you’re a pariah despite cigarettes having always been legal.
Does
our government really need to be told that the real threat is from terrorists
and terrorist countries and our common enemies? Or do they really think that
Billy Bob walking to school along dirt country roads is the real danger?
Our
government is more concerned with forcing us to buy into their useless health
care than they are about taking care of our borders as is their requirement.
They are more concerned that some Americans may not like them so they’ll
prevent us from showing ID before we vote, but they’ll inspect grandmothers in
wheelchairs, grandfathers with colostomy bags, and young children before they
can get on an airplane.
Our
elected officials will write laws telling us what our kids can be taught, that
we have to pay for others people’s deviancy despite our own beliefs, how to
live, what to eat, what doctors to see, and then decide if we’re worthy enough
to be kept alive if we get too sick but they don’t stop attacks on our country.
When
election time rolls around, will we get rid of the politicians that are trying
to run our lives and replace them with those that believe in the common sense
of the people of this country, or will we keep our heads in the sand and tell
ourselves that we like our guy so we’ll leave him/her in there?
It’s
not big brother that is watching us. It’s our government that is monitoring
more and more details of our private lives.
There
used to be line that was used a lot which was “I love my country, but I fear my
government.” Don’t you wish other countries feared us enough to not attempt to
attack us?
The American government apparently believes that their biggest enemy is you and I.
Your comments are welcome.
Brett
