Posted at NoQuarter 6/10/06

I'm very afraid. Not just because the senior Senator from Pennsylvania is a toady in sheep's clothing. First our telephones, then our internet searches, and now, our discussions on myspace or livejournal or you name it are going to be fair game. Call me naive, but until yesterday (metaphorically speaking) I assumed it would be impossible for the all-seeing eye to pick my conversation out of the squillions going on at any one moment. We now know that's not true (well, some of us are slow learners). And it's always been the case that a warrant was needed (at least if the eye wanted to stay on the up and up--unlike Nixon and Hoover). But with Spector and others paving the way for the spying to be done without judicial oversight, the gate's wide open, and any agent with a grudge, or for that matter a Vice-President with a grudge, or anyone in between, has limitless access to our thoughts, our relationships, and our lives. I'm very afraid. And I wonder how the founders managed to convince their compatriots that the need for security doesn't trump the right to privacy. I'm not, nor never have been, a radical. And I don't suggest armed revolt or anything like that. But what are we to do? How do we wake the sleeping giant? We're going to have to be very clever, starting now, to energize people of good will everywhere to put a lasso on the Eye, or we'll soon all be in chains.