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Phoenix
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Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguards people's private communications and financial information. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071111/D8SRJ1DO0.htmlIn other words, he's saying, "Trust us. WE'LL make sure you stay safe. WE know what's best for you. WE won't do anything to violate your rights..." These are the same guys who botched the intel leading up to the Iraq war, and the same government that bollocksed up Katrina... I think about ten thousand people who are stuck on the "no-fly" list despite having spotless criminal records can tell you how well the government handles information. Let's not forget those laptops that went missing that had all sorts of personal data on them as well. But... you're supposed to trust them with your personal information?
Republican, Democrat... listen folks, it doesn't matter who is in office. They're there to serve YOU, and they need to be reminded of that fact very harshly. People need to make that point clear to these idiots or this will just continue to go on and get worse. Once they can track every iota of your daily activities, it's over, and you can kiss liberty goodbye. It's getting closer every day. |
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  I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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Dr Sean
Ogre
Posts: 50
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Sounds pro-communist to me.
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Tabun
Pixel Procrastinator
Team Member
Elite (3k+)
   
Posts: 3330
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It's got nothing to do with communism - this is more about totalitarianism in general. The trick is usually to apply anti-*isms (like the war on terrorism, or McCarthyism, etc.), to destroy liberties in the name of Liberty. Just like Pho says: this thing rarely, if ever, is a partisan kind of thing -- it's just how power works, and what people in power do.
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| Tabun |
?Morituri Nolumus Mori? |
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~Va^^pyrA~
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To quote Thomas Jefferson, "God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.
The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is
wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts
they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ...
And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not
warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as
to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost
in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure."    |
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scalliano
Elite
Posts: 1095
Yup, that's me
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Ensure your safety by ensuring that the government knows absolutely everything about you. So, in a nutshell, it's OK for the US to phonetap its citizens but it wasn't for Saddam? Double standards there, methinks  "You are free to do as we tell you." |
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PSN ID: scalliano
The Arena knows no gender, colour or creed, only skill.
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scalliano
Elite
Posts: 1095
Yup, that's me
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It was sarcasm. Relax  In your reply, you have basically stated the point I was making. Of course the US government is nothing like Saddam's regime, but thst's not to say that it isn't headed in that direction. Besides, MI5 over here have said as much in recent times ie that "civil liberties may have to be reviewed in light of the current political climate". Which is bollocks, frankly. We all know that if the "current political climate" were to improve, we'd still have to put up with things like not being able to take bottled water on board a flight, passports with biometric ID imprinted on them, interviews for such to ensure that you're not a threat to the gov - er, I mean public safety and other such Orwellian practices. Freedom is eroded, but never replenished. Not without a fight. |
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PSN ID: scalliano
The Arena knows no gender, colour or creed, only skill.
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Phoenix
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Oh, drat. I completely missed the sarcasm there Scal. My apologies for my oversight.
It is the policy of incrementalism, otherwise known as the "slippery slope". That is how it works with the loss of liberty. The warriors thundering over the hill can be fought, and beaten, with courage, armament, and strength of will. While one can say that the sword can be used to protect as well as slaughter, so it is with the pen, except while butchery with one elicits wholesale outrage, the second kills slowly, and silently, and by the time one realizes the depth to which they have been poisoned it is already far too late. The old rhyme about sticks and stones could not have ever been more wrong. A stone can hurt a man, a sword or gun may kill or save a man, but words carry the power of life and death for entire nations. Men in power fear words, and use words to instill fear in their subjects.
The real tragedy I think is that there certainly is real terror, and evil men who wish to kill in the name of their god, yet the danger of these is being simultaneously trumpeted and ignored. Who has not heard the clarion call to rise up against terror, yet how much insanity has been sanctioned in the name of this crusade? Old women, and children, are searched for bombs and guns and all manner of ill material because it's not politically correct to do otherwise. I should more properly say it is demanded of political correctness that instead of looking for those who fit the profile of the criminal, in the interests of maintaining the the charade of equality's impostor, all will be treated as if they are criminals and it will be done in their own interests and for their own good, or so they will tell you. This spectacle of lunacy will spiral inevitably toward it's conclusion - that of total submission, or total rebellion. The criminals and terrorists are allowed to walk free, blind eyes turned toward them so as to avoid offense, while those guilty of no wrong are punished en masse for the crimes of others. How long until either the rights of the free are abolished completely by their supposed protectors, or their lives are extinguished by their sworn destroyers? Tick, tock, tick, tock... Tick your government imprisons you, tock your city is a cloud of ash. So we'll continue this merry little dance of death until time runs out and the clock stops at midnight, only this time there will be no pumpkin coach to carry Cinderella home from the ball, only coffins to bury those poor souls who had the chance to stop the clock, but instead did nothing and watched on in horror as the ball came to its inevitable close.
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I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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Sucutrule
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Privacy no longer can mean anonymity Nope, It will mean the goverment controlling your every action so you won't in a different way than them. But then again, the US is pretty much stuck in 50's since they still want to make everyone think like them. Off topic: I'm back |
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How I am supposed to type will all this cheese laying around?
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scalliano
Elite
Posts: 1095
Yup, that's me
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True. Control never goes out of style.
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PSN ID: scalliano
The Arena knows no gender, colour or creed, only skill.
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