The
report also said, "Up until now, the breach of copyright has been
a civil matter. The Obama administration seems to now want to criminalize
it."
The
report continued saying, "Some say modern America is being overtaken
by a culture of surveillance."
A
culture of surveillance indeed. What began in earnest under former President
George W. Bush is now sharply escalating under President Barack Obama.
According
to Ecommerce Journal, President Obama and his Big Brother fellow travelers
in Congress are seeking power to "cut the whole world off the Internet."
The report says, "Senators John Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe proposed
the Cybersecurity Act that would create the Office of the National Cybersecurity
Advisor. Its powers are detailed in the The Cybersecurity Act of 2009.
"If
the President so chooses, he can call a 'cybersecurity emergency' and
shut down or limit any 'net traffic or a 'critical' network 'in the
name of national security,' though the bill fails to provide concrete
definitions on what is 'critical' or what constitutes an 'emergency.'"
The
report goes on to say, "This new legislation seeks to give even
more power to the government to regulate the Internet and, in future,
the possibility to regulate content and usage. What begins as a method
of defeating terrorism and protecting telecommunications, can quickly
become a method to regulate 'hate speech' to assign 'motive' or 'intent'
to harm and even to regulate and legislate the flow of information that
is deemed by the 'thought police' to be inflammatory or counter-productive
to their cause."
The
report says that the new cybersecurity legislation can be a "framework
for future, more invasive legislation. It is a first step to the loss
of internet privacy, free speech and the free flow of information."
So,
once again, the passing of a Republican Presidential administration
and the advent of a Democratic Presidential administration have resulted
in zero change in the overall direction of the ship of state. In the
name of "national security," the federal government of this
country continues to deepen its commitment to what can only be described
as a police-state mentality. And, once again, the national news media
in America chooses to ignore the story, and by so doing, shows willful
compliance with this disturbing phenomenon.
I
wonder how many Obama supporters are paying attention?
During
the Bush years, my "conservative" brethren (especially the
ones calling themselves Christians) repeatedly turned a blind eye and
deaf ear to the myriad foibles and falsehoods, and frequent fraudulence
of President Bush because he was a Republican. Now we will see how many
Obama supporters will look the other way in order to protect President
Obama because he is a Democrat. I suspect most of them will show themselves
of no better character than the Bush supporters.
Consider:
Obama promised to end the war in Iraq. But what has he done since being
elected? He merely moved the major combat theater to Afghanistan. He
is even in the process of escalating the war in Afghanistan to possibly
include Pakistan. So, where are the "peacenik" liberals who
supported Obama? Why do they not loudly proclaim their opposition, as
they did when Bush was in office?
Furthermore,
Obama criticized Bush's undisciplined deficit spending, but what has
he done since becoming President? He has deeply expanded Bush's failed
financial policy of excessive deficit spending. Again, where are all
the loud voices of protest?
George
Bush wanted amnesty for illegal aliens. Barack Obama wants amnesty for
illegal aliens. George Bush supported the assault weapons ban. Barack
Obama supports the assault weapons ban. George Bush wanted to limit
the legal rights of certain people charged with crimes. Well, friends,
Barack Obama also wants to limit the rights of people charged with crimes.
Just
last week, an Associated Press report stated, "The Obama administration
is asking the Supreme Court to overrule long-standing law that stops
police from initiating questions unless a defendant's lawyer is present,
another stark example of the White House seeking to limit rather than
expand rights.
"The
administration's action--and several others--have disappointed civil
rights and civil liberties groups that expected President Barack Obama
to reverse the policies of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush,
after the Democrat's call for change during the 2008 campaign."
So,
where are Obama's supporters who thought they were voting for change?
Will they do nothing, as did Bush's supporters, and accept this abridgment
of personal liberty, simply because "their man" is in the
White House? Probably.
In
addition, George Bush created a Big-Government monster known as the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Can there be any doubt that DHS
is in the process of manufacturing a ubiquitous surveillance society
that eavesdrops, snoops, and monitors virtually our entire lives? And
what does Barack Obama do immediately after assuming office? He multiplies
and expands the surveillance society to even greater degrees. So again
I ask, where are all the Bush critics to denounce Barack Obama's draconian
anti-privacy, anti-freedom policies?
The
Internet is the last best source of free and independent information
left. Think where the liberty movement would be without the Internet.
But even as we speak, President Obama and his allies in Congress are
attempting to obtain the authority to censor information on--and curtail
access to--the Internet. Plus, in the name of "cybersecurity,"
they are plotting to obtain the authority to monitor and seize anyone's
personal computer at will.
The
Russia Today report is right: we do have a culture of surveillance.
We also have a culture of cowardice by people from both sides of the
political aisle who, in the name of partisan politics, are willfully
accommodating and facilitating the demise of this constitutional republic.
