Comments on: U.S. Official: Anonymity Is A Lost Cause

Intel Official Says Citizens Should Rethink Notion of Privacy And What To Give Up For Safety

[gunownerdan]

"Today we need a nation of minute men; citizens who are not only prepared to take up arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as a basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom.
The cause of liberty, the cause of American, cannot succeed with any lesser effort."
- President John F. Kennedy, January 29, 1961

[undermyboot]

The King and his court demand more power. Today they say, "Privacy does not matter, it''s ''old fashioned''. Just trust the government with all your private information, communications, and activities." They claim it is needed to make you safe. They say that liberty is an illusion and freedom is the enemy of safety. The dumocrats bend over and spread their cheeks for the King. The country heads toward fascism and dictatorship. The Congress applauds this. The King claims unlimited power is his divine right. The people follow blindly. The press is silent. The Party mouthpiece Faux News supplants the truth with lies and calls it "fair and balanced". "Truth" is redefined by the King and his sycophants to be whatever they say. Behind the scenes the last vestiges of the Constitution are burned under a veil of "national security", and the population applauds the end of liberty as if it were a victory. The monkeys howl their success. The parrots repeat the King''s loud claims of increased "security". The founders of the USA roll over in their graves one last time. The Republic is lost.

[glaswolf]

brianbwb, my friend I do believe the NSA is driven by high IQ nerds with independent insightful minds. My most enjoyable assignment, before I got that proverbial free all expenses paid tour in Vietnam, was in Combat Developments Command. We had 60 officers, no enlisted men, 3 civilians in math, I was the military guy in math. Five of the officers were full bird colonels. We were pretty independent folks, there isn''t anything on the other side ... we were processing. Some of the results were so unusual and relevant to our national security, a general wanted to suppress that item. We discussed it, pros and cons, decided this collegial general was correct and we accommodated him. Today, we reap the benefits, as a nation, of his discretion. There was no threat, no sense of our being pressured, and no change in our awareness nor was the knowledge base of our military diminished. We just ensured others less trustworthy would not be aware of where we, as a nation, were evolving.

[undermyboot]

"The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedoms."
-Justice William O. Douglas

When a high-level government official makes the kind of Orwellian statement dismissing "privacy" (an essential foundation of liberty) as old fashioned, then we glimpse our future life in a totalitarian America.

"As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
-Justice William O. Douglas

When some mis-guided Americans express the desire to throw away our liberty and amend our Constitution for a "threat'', then they are falling into the trap that has led many into the abyss of despotism.

"The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes." -- Thomas Paine

But they listen to their neocon masters. They gobble up talking points, and stop thinking for themselves. The enemy becomes the "liberals", the "Soldier haters", or some made-up straw man, and they stop thinking. It''s easier to turn on government Fox "News" TV and be told that all will be well if they simply give up their liberty piece-by-piece.

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." -- James Madison

[gunownerdan]

"Tyrants from Hitler to Mao to Stalin have sought to disarm their own citizens, for the simple reason that unarmed people are easier to control. Our Founders, having just expelled the British army, knew that the right to bear arms serves as the guardian of every other right. This is the principle so often ignored by both sides in the gun control debate. Only armed citizens can resist tyrannical government."
-- Congressman Ron Paul, June 26, 2006

"To disarm the people is the most effective way to enslave them."
-- George Mason

http://www.a-human-right.com

[wogerwabbit]

Never heard of this Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence dude before, but he''s obviously an enemy of our republic. This is subversive propaganda written only to undermine our faith in this country that our forefathers fought and died for. This petty man in this petty administration reveals to us that he''s a traitor to all that it means to be an American by willingly bending over and taking it because he doesn''t have the balls to stand up for what we''ve all pledged alliegence to our whole lives. To subvert the Constitution and do unspeakable things in our name is not what I swore to preserve, protect and defend. No army has ever beaten us, but this drivel says we have already lost. We''ve been conquered by neocons, religious wackos and corporate greed. Big Brother will now take care of us. Nuts!

[glaswolf]

ontheleft, a little over 30 years ago two events occurred within chicano indian activities that illustrate the nature of America. An international criminal enterprise was going to intimidate and try to control a city and county government. Two local indian military societies stepped in and resolved the ambiguity forthwith, no one was going to intimidate our police, politicians or judges. In a sister city, at a major university, some far left folk were going to make a martyr out of student organizer, who just happened to have been a special forces sargeant in Vietnam. Unfortunately, to be made a martyr they have to kill you first. I was asked to verify the capabilities of the source of threat, so I asked five separate indian military societies to check for me, as a favor to the Comanche of course. After extensive conversations in the neighborhoods and the towns sourcing the threat, the threatening folk ceased any interaction with that potential martyr, and in fact for years would not make eye contact ... and never did to my knowledge. I don''t know what my allies said to these far left folk, I only know for certain they were introduced to a potential fear exceding their worst nightmares. Which is fine, education must continue in tranquility and those who work with our students must feel safe.

[kissamaarse]

Kerr is a fascist, surrounded by fascists, aided and abetted by fascists. This is NOT America.

[bobgee_1999]

"...a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy."

Maybe it''s time Donald Kerr changed his definition of civil servant, and found a new job. By the same token, anyone who puts personal or sensitive information on a networked computer is an idiot.

[brianbwb-2009]

"The NSA is a basic trustworthy organization..." Posted by glaswolf

No such animal, dude. Events and revelations show the NSA to be yet another corrupt facilitator of the new fascist agenda.