Peeping Through Your Window
BY CLARENCE BARR, II
As further evidence that the freedom Americans believe they enjoy being little more than an elaborate illusion, it was discovered last week that the U.S. government has been operating a secret program called PRISM that collects personal information on U. S. citizens from different sources including cell phone service provider Verizon, tech giant Apple, internet search engines Yahoo and Google as well as the popular instant messaging company Twitter. All allegedly under the guise of keeping us safe from terrorism.
Political experts who approve of the government’s actions say that this kind of close monitoring is needed to ward off future attacks. That assessment is questionable considering just two months ago the F.B.I. and C.I.A. both admitted that they were well informed about the radical potential of Russian immigrant Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but were unable to stop him and his younger brother from pulling off the bombing of the Boston Marathon.
According to their logic and reasoning, that bombing should have never occurred. But yet, even with that kind close attention being paid, it did.
The fact that the feds are digging into the personal lives of individuals without court issued warrants is disturbing in itself. But when you connect the lines between this most recent revelation with past developments like the hidden tracking device that was found inside of Apple’s i-phone two years ago, President Barack Obama’s approval of using military drones over U. S. cities, and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the legality of law enforcement agencies being allowed to collect DNA from anyone arrested, a picture begins to form that is even more ominous than we could have ever imagined.
Of course President Obama, with all of his charm, is trying to downplay the intrusion by calling a press conference to say that the program, as it pertains to phone calls at least, doesn’t allow for conversations to be heard. If that’s true, then the next question has to be, “what’s the point?” If they’re not listening to what’s being said between party A and party B then where does the actual benefit in the surveillance begin?
The only truth in this entire scenario seems to be that they’re not telling us the truth. This is nothing out of the ordinary though. World governments, particularly this one, have never been completely open with their populations. Why would they start now?
When you think about it, it really should come as no surprise that the United States government is involved with this type of intrusive activity. Conspiracy theorists have been saying for decades that the feds would compromise our civil liberties on the way to establishing some kind of “New World Order.” Maybe they weren’t so crazy after all.
The most disappointing thing to come out of this, to me, is the fact that it’s happening under President Obama’s watch. Sure, George W. Bush got the ball rolling with the Patriot Act (as far as we know). But now that it’s continuing during an administration that promised transparency means one of two things: Either President Obama is being kept out of the loop or worse, he’s down with the program.
The disturbing part is that this could only be the beginning. Today we’re talking about secret wire-tapping, phone and email monitoring, hidden tracking devices and drone policing.
In a few years this same conversation will probably include camera’s installed inside of all televisions in order to watch us while we’re watching it, mysterious black helicopters, the removal of paper currency and the mandatory imbedding of microchips into our flesh. I mean, who knows?
It sounds far-fetched. But 5 years ago no one believed that a 3-D printer could create a fully operational gun either.
Tomorrow is here. It might be wise to stay tuned to what’s coming next because, from the way it looks now, it won’t be all good.
Anyone wanting to contact Clarence Barr can reach him at: Clarence Barr, II, 43110-018; P. O. Box 7007; Marianna, FL 32447-7007. Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company.
