we did it to ourselves...

We did it to ourselves incrementally and with few misgivings.

Huge personal info databases? We created the technology and wrote the code to make it possible. We gave the information when asked, because we didnt want the hassle that would occur when we said "no, thats none of your business".

We accepted the notion of Social Security and believed the government when they told us that SS's would *never* be used for identification except by the SSA.
We elected officials based on the performance of the economy which encouraged them to stay out of the way of businesses as they tracked, junk-mailed, and spammed us.

We accepted the transition from cash to credit cards because we liked the convenience never blanching at the fact that we were leaving a paper trail for ourselves every month.

We accepted the notion that the First Amendment was all about the right to any kind of free speech whatsoever, even commercial junk mail by corporations, who are persons only as a legal convenience.

We were so scared of sexual predators in our schools that we willingly asked the government to take fingerprints of every school employee to match against their databases.

And above all, we clamored for greater security in our own countr. We accepted the 9/11 commission report because losing all of our rights seemed more palatable and *less likely* than our becoming the next Twin Towers victims.

Has government and business taken away our privacy? Yes... but only because we wanted them to."

Why World War IV Can't Sell - by John Brown and Tom Engelhardt

Why World War IV Can't Sell - by John Brown and Tom Engelhardt: "

''I have to infer from that (statement) that you would be happier if Saddam
Hussein were still in power.' - Paul Wolfowitz.

'It's the classic retort given by neocons and other war supporters when
anyone questions the wisdom of the Iraq War. But let's say I get disturbed
by a spider crawling the garage wall. I slam the car into it at 50 miles an
hour, destroying the car and causing a few thousand dollars in damage to the
garage. When my wife objects, I say: 'I have to infer from that statement that
you would be happier if that spider were still crawling up the wall.' No, schmuck,
she says, I'd be happier if we still had a car and didn't have to fork out ten
thousand dollars to fix the garage.'"

Did Bush's opertunistic terror alert and claims of arrests cause the London bombings?

This is amazing... and is one of the most incompetent things the Bush admin has ever done.


Bush admin may be responsible for botching effort to thwart London bombing

NPR : Maintaining Focus: Rove and Iraq War Data

NPR : Maintaining Focus: Rove and Iraq War Data: "NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that the real issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war, and how America was misled into that war.

SOCIOECONOMICS: 7/7 Attacks and Arrogance

SOCIOECONOMICS: 7/7 Attacks and Arrogance: "Be it Al-Qaida or not, most people today are suffering from the actions of those who believe to be in the possession of ultimate truth, and do not feel a need to check their premises or try and see the world from other viewpoints."