Congressman Ron Paul Gets Heated With The Emerging Surveillance Bill

[clintontj72]

Good speech...

http://pressmediawire.com/article.cfm?articleID=18642

[WarningSLO]

I love 'Texas Straight Talk'.

If only it could be marketed as well as McCain's 'Straight Talk Express' (anyone wonder if McCain stole the whole 'Straight Talk' thing from Dr. Paul?).

EDIT: I believe Dr. Paul's 'Texas Straight Talk' dates back to at least 1996.

[JaylieWoW]

We have been told that this power to listen in on communications is legal and only targets terrorists. But if what these companies are being compelled to do is legal, why is it necessary to grant them immunity? If what they did in the past was legal and proper, why is it necessary to grant them retroactive immunity?

Dr. Paul always asks such good questions doesn't he?


We should remember that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer was brought down by a provision of the PATRIOT Act that required enhanced bank monitoring of certain types of financial transactions. Yet we were told that the PATRIOT Act was needed to catch terrorists, not philanderers. The extraordinary power the government has granted itself to look into our private lives can be used for many purposes unrelated to fighting terrorism. We can even see how expanded federal government surveillance power might be used to do away with political rivals.

Usually liberties gradually recede. In this case it was only 3 or 4 years following the passage of this legislation before it was used for other than its intended purpose. I'd say we're in a free-fall from liberty, officially.