The Manchester Guardian has the latest scoop on how the NSA has, and can monitor your email and your phone conversations. The hue and cry from both the right and left has been deafening. But what is often omitted is the fact that not only is this all done legally, it has been legal ever since the Patriot Act was pushed through congress.
The Patriot Act was a blatant power grab allowed by Democrats and Republicans in congress in the days following 9-11. It was the Bush Administration's single-handed usurpation of personal privacy that alarmed some of us nearly 12 years ago, but only now is it becoming obvious to the rest of us.
The lowest of us have even used these revelations as a basis for further attacks on Barack Obama, who has the unfortunate circumstance of being black while President, and must now bear the brunt of conservative attacks on a program begun by those of their own ilk.
Because he is black.
Really, the only revelation here is our collective ignorance of what has been reality for nearly a dozen years now.
Fortunately there is a fix to this. There is a way for a private citizen to convey his thoughts to another private citizen without fear of government interception. Most of us have abandoned this mode of communication for the convenience of electronic transmissions. Maybe this will spark a re-emergence of a mode of communication, as elucidated by this message.
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