Dear A-Letter Reader:
I think it was the late drug-addled Kurt Cobain who, before he died at his own hand, sang in one of his grunge ditties: "You're not paranoid if they're really after you." The thought was hardly original with poor Kurt, but these days, with the Bush administration and its open-ended war on terror, the phrase has new resonance.
Put aside for the moment the horrendously unconstitutional PATRIOT Act and its evil consequences; secret police spying on all our finances and banking; arrest and detention for years of US citizens without charges filed or right to counsel. Put aside the secret, Bush-approved NSA wiretapping and FBI searches without warrants clearly required by federal law. You can even forget for a moment the confiscation and forfeiture of millions in private bank accounts, based on nothing more than a presidential directive and suspicion by federal money police with no due process and no judicial appeal.
But consider these choice items in the news, mostly ignored by the "mainstream" media:
1) PATRIOT Act games: This was supposed to be an "anti-terrorist" law. We previously have noted that the Act is being used for easy secret police action against any alleged "crime" they choose. Two federal judges ruled in secret that the Act can be used in any criminal investigation, not just those involving alleged terrorism. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal ran a front page article showing how the greatly expanded Act powers, that waive many usual constitutional rights, were used to convict, possibly wrongfully, a US citizen of Lebanese extraction, of buying stolen baby food! Eight years in prison based on evidence obtained with secret anti-terrorist investigations that the defense counsel was not allowed to see. LINK (subs only): Please click here for more information.
2) Drones may prowl US skies: Unmanned aerial vehicles have soared the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq, spotting enemy encampments, protecting military bases and even launching missile attacks against suspected terrorists. Now police UAVs may be flying over the USA. Testimony before Congress this week from police agencies envisions using UAVs for everything from border security to domestic surveillance high above American cities. Smile when you look up! LINK: Please click here for more information.
3) Federal mass detention centers: Shades of the mass roundup of Japanese Americans in 1941-- the US government has awarded a $385 million contract (to Halliburton, of course) for the construction of "temporary detention facilities." These would be used, the US says, in the event of an "immigration emergency." Read this one and wonder what's next -- LINK: Please click here for more information.
4) Get out the RAID: The Pentagon is trying to develop insect cyborgs able to sniff out explosives, or "bug" conversations (pardon the pun), by lurking unseen with micro-transmitters strapped to their bodies. The cyborgs -- half insect, half robot -- would be created by inserting tiny devices into the bodies of flying, hopping or crawling insects while in their larva or pupa stage, so that the mechanisms become part of their bodies and ultimately allow them to be moved by remote control. And you think we are making up this stuff? LINK: Please click here for more information.
5) No longer "safe" deposit boxes: The rumor is that in the event of a "national emergency" agents from the US Dept. of Homeland Security will be in charge of opening safe deposit boxes and determining what items will be given to bank customers. No weapons, cash, gold, or silver will be allowed to be given to box owners. Bank employees have been told not to discuss this matter in public. LINK: Please click here for more information.
In pop culture, "paranoia" is used to describe excessive concern about one's own well-being or persecutory beliefs concerning personal threats to ourselves or our property, often linked to a belief in conspiracy theories. In psychiatry, "paranoia" describes a mental illness. So are we all going crazy?
That's the way that it looks from here...but I wonder who else is looking?
BOB BAUMAN
Editor