Wednesday, February 22, 2012

We're Not as Free as We Used To Be

In a First Amendment Center/AJR survey, nearly half of those responding said they think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees. And about the same number said the American press has been too aggressive in asking government officials for information about the war on terrorism. (AJR - Too Free?)
We don't need to invite the world's huddled masses; we ourselves are turning into a shivering, whining huddled mass...
The freedom celebrated on July 4, 1880, entailed a person’s right to live his life any way he chose — responsibly or irresponsibly, healthy or unhealthy — so long as his conduct was peaceful. Drug laws were nonexistent because freedom entailed the unfettered right to ingest harmful or unhealthy substances.
Unfortunately, in our time Americans have rejected our ancestors’ philosophy of freedom in favor of a “freedom” in which the state’s primary role is a paternalistic one. Today, the “freedom” celebrated is the collective power of the state to take care of people in society by taxing them.
John Quincy Adams’s statement to Congress on the Fourth of July, 1821, that America does not go abroad “in search of monsters to destroy” is now considered a quaint and obsolete philosophy of foreign policy. “Freedom” now entails an enormous standing army whose mission is to invade and occupy foreign nations with the supposed aim of taking care of their people, protecting them from tyranny or oppression.
How is the domestic policy and foreign policy celebrated as “freedom” by Americans today different from the philosophy that guided King George in 1776? (FFF-Hornberger)
A government vested with the power to fix everything also then has the power to break everything

Crashing around with impunity overseas acts as a societal corrosive that eventually eats through the firewall of us and them, here and over there. A government that can get away with it “over there” will eventually bring it home and turn the technology and tactics on its own people.

Also, when you allow government to advocate for certain protected groups instead of for the good of all, and when you cheer when government tramples the rights of your hated political enemies, how can you complain when that monster goes rogue and starts goring your sacred cows?

Jonathan Turley gives us 10 Reasons Why The US is No longer The Land of the Free.  It's full of good civil liberties stuff, and although he's a liberal, he's an honest one with a strong libertarian streak.  

The kooks at MSNBC and Daily Kos stood up on their hind legs and cheered him when he was calling for Bush and Cheney to be tried for war crimes.  They changed their tune when he lambasted Obama over his serial violation of our civil rights.  Those same lefty loons now resemble a horde of rabid Muslim nutballs screaming and burning over a flushed koran when his name is mentioned.

Here's more from a website called End of the American Dream...
In America today, you do not have the right to say whatever you want. If you say the wrong thing on a blog or a website it can have dramatic consequences.
In America today, you do not have the right to raise your own children as you see fit.
In America today, you do not have the right to grow whatever food you want and you do not have the right to eat whatever food you do grow.
In America today, you do not have the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
In America today, you do not have a right to privacy. In fact, you should expect that everything that you do is watched, tracked, monitored and recorded. (12 Signs)
For those misguided souls who think this started with Obama, here's an article from 1994:  FFF – Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberties

39 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Boiling the frog.

Anonymous said...

Hm.

Calling evil as good and good as evil...
Right is wrong and left is right...

Now where have I heard this before?

It sounds vaguely familiar, and eerily spot-on.

Ducky's here said...

It's our own fault.

The 1st amendment was written to give citizens the means to push back.

Do we use those freedoms? Please, bore me later.

ook at how the Baggers allowed their movement to be corrupted and turned to nothing but corporate manipulation and religious freaks like Michele Bachmann.

Occupy? We sat by and let them get bulldozed by the stinking cops.

Keep listening to Glenn Beck, that will fix it.

We are a sorry people.

Ducky's here said...

Silver, as you blame the left for center/right Obama's disregard fro due process and civil rights please remember who started this Patriot(LMFAO)Act nonsense.

Right wing bed wetters all in a tizzy over the scary Muslims have done tremendous damage to the nation.

Bunkerville said...

I can still recall the day I learned about the rounding up of the Japanese during the War. I was in my late twnties. It was explained to me that no one knew who the enemy was, there was a chance the war may be lost,my mother watched for subs off the coast. Fear does strange things to folks.

Anonymous said...

Ducky,

"We are a sorry people."

Yes, Ducky, lefties are indeed a sorry people. As a matter of fact, it is your being so sorry that will one day lead to your destruction at the hands of those you seek to defend.

Silverfiddle said...

Ducky: I guess you missed the last line...

Anonymous said...

LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!

When we hear so many boldly asserted lies masquerading as the truth, we lose our capacity to tell truth from falsehood.

It is then that we are at our most vulnerable.

The Merchants of Mendacity have won through the process of attrition.

Sixty years ago we knew who the liars were. We tried to root them out of positions of power and influence. The process was vilified, labelled "indecent," and became known derisively and dismissively as "Mccarthyism."

Our sworn enemies, practiced as they are in the Arts of Deceit, the use of specious logic and disingenuous Argumentation, are a great deal cleverer and far more cunning than we. Because they have had no compunctions about using dishonorable, deceptive, unethical methods to win their points, they have walked all over us roughly wiping the dung from their hob-nailed boots on our tender, white, unarmored, blood-streaked, dying forms.

By cleverly using a perverse, disingenuous, but legally tenable interpretation our own constitutional provisions against us, our enemies have infiltrated our most hallowed precincts and grabbed control of the levers of power.

WASP America is KAPUT. The Liars and Thieves are in charge now.

~ FreeThinke

98ZJUSMC said...

We are a sorry people.

Speak for yourself.

98ZJUSMC said...

center/right Obama

LMMFAO. There it is again.

dmarks said...

Most of the outcry against "Citizens United" is based on ignorance or hostility to our First Amendment rights.

Most opinion pieces I read about it mention that they don't like negative campaign ads, and we need the government to get in and censor them.

------------

Ducky said: "Occupy? We sat by and let them get bulldozed by the stinking cops."

The filthy camps were a public hazard. The cops were doing a necessary job. If the OWS protesters weren't such slobs this would have been entirely different.

Jersey McJones said...

It wasn't the Left calling for the GWOT, for the wars, for the indefinite detentions, for assassinations, for domestic surveillance, for borrowing instead of taxing to pay for it all. That was all the Right and Center.

As usual, it is the Right who are destroying this nation.

JMJ

Anonymous said...

Occupiers:

There's only so much credibility that can be had when a group rails against corporate America yet maintains Mac books and other Apple products in their daily social networking.

Corporatism stinks as long as it doesn't inconvenience them or damper their socializing with other filthy hippie wanna-bes.

Fah. Mindless rabble the whole lot of 'em.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

I'd like to see evidence that someone was arrested for peacefully criticizing the US government.

Jim at Conservatives on Fire said...

No, this didn't start with Obama. He is just the latest madman at the helm.

Z said...

Bunkerville, a friend of mine did see a sub off the coast of California during WWII......Where did your mother live? There were definitely Japanese subs that came up enough for some to see them.......or do damage:

http://www2.tbo.com/news/life/2011/oct/11/wwii-ship-sunk-off-california-may-hold-3-million-g-ar-271104/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_date_was_a_Japanese_submarine_sighted_off_the_California_coast_in_World_War_2

My friend lived in Santa Monica and talked about people seeing a sub then.

Trekkie4Ever said...

It's quite sad to see how every single right we used to enjoy as free Americans are systematically being taken away by our dictatorial government.

How I truly wish we could go back to simpler times.

Ducky's here said...

Every single one, Leticia? How about your natural right to use hyperbole?

Ducky's here said...

Well not exactly, Leticia.

The governor of Virginia is refusing to sign a bill the compels women seeking a legal abortion to undergo an invasive medical procedure.

My guess is that the procedure wouldn't have been covered by medical insurance either. But thank the left for lobbying for women's rights not to be forced to undergo the procedure.

Now the fringe right would be happy to compel women but suggest that contraceptives by covered and they have a choice -- well your religion doesn't allow for choice and EVERYONE better take notice, right? Wrong.

dmarks said...

Jersey said: "It wasn't the Left calling for the GWOT.....for borrowing instead of taxing to pay for it all. That was all the Right and Center."

Actually, the Left voted fight back against the terrorists (only some Dems opposed it). And it is all paid for. The fight against the terrorists is but a small proportion of the tax revenues we get in yearly. All paid for.

Finntann said...

Jonathan Turley "10 Reasons Why The US is No longer The Land of the Free"

No, no Jonathan, the US is still The Land of the Free (Stuff that is).

Ducky, Wrong! You are under no compulsion to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church, you are however obligated to follow the laws and regulations of the US Government.

And as far as the Governor of Virginia goes...Good For Him! Get Government out of healthcare, they have no more right to mandate procedures than they do to mandate birth control coverage. How's that for fringe right.

Finntann said...

WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!
WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!
WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!
WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!WRONG!

Sorry, I couldn't let that pack of lies above go unanswered.

Cheers!

Ducky's here said...

@dmarks -- All paid for.

-----

Let's see how does that work. We run a deficit a hundreds of billions but the Afghanistan and Iraq fiascoes are paid for. Is that it?

Actually Chucklenuts funded the fiascoes with supplementals so the WERE NOT on the books. They WERE NOT paid for.

Another fringe rightie who has no command of basic accounting.

One of the reasons that Obama's deficit figure is high is that he put the fiasco costs ON THE BOOKS. I believe Silverfiddle agrees with my interpretation. Most thoughtful observers do. Jersey is correct.

Ducky's here said...

Finntann, no part of the law compels you to use birth control.

It does require you to cover the cost. I still maintain this falls under the class of labor law rather than this silly blather about the 1st Amendment.
You take Federal money, you follow Federal labor law. That's the deal.

MathewK said...

"And about the same number said the American press has been too aggressive in asking government officials for information about the war on terrorism."

Perhaps they were looking back on the behavior of much of the msm during the Bush years, i don't think they're far off the mark on that.

I'm in favor of a free press, but i have seen down here as well how that freedom can also be a facade for plain old bastardry.

Finntann said...

"It does require you to cover the cost"

And on what basis of authority does the government have that authority?

What are the limits of government authority? Can they compel a company to buy groceries for their employees? Clothing? Both necessary for a "healthy" life.

Do you see any limits to government authority?

I guess we'll find out sometime between March and July when the Supremes rule.

"You take Federal money, you follow Federal labor law."

And why do you suppose the administration hasn't taken this tact? Because it is wrong or because they know that were that the case, they would stop taking federal money?

Your argument that supplemental funding is off the books is absurd. It is outside the annual budget, it is certainly tracked and accounted for, else... how the hell would you even know about it?

Supplemental appropriations are submitted to and voted on by congress, how the hell are they off the books?

Ducky's here said...

And on what basis of authority does the government have that authority?

-----

I don't think it does. But it doesn't have anything to do with the 1st Amendment.

Challenge it as misapplication of the commerce clause and I bet it falls.

Finntann said...

So your theory of government is see what we can get away with?

Jersey McJones said...

dmarks,

How exactly is the GWOT "all paid for"?

JMJ

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

How exactly is the GWOT "all paid for"?

I suppose the Chinese are up the creek if we tell them to go "un-bomb" Baghdad. ;)

I'm not sure what DMarks' argument is, but I'd argue Chinese loans minus annual trade deficits equals China still owes us a few Trillion.

Of course, selling their swag over here generates around 20% of our GDP and our buying their schwag to sell over here accounts for around 75% of their GDP, so I'm of the mind that we tell China what to do and not vice versa.

We trade with China because slavery is illegal on our shores.

dmarks said...

Jersey: The cost of national defense yearly is but a fraction of the amount of tax revenue that comes in each year to the Federal government.

As an actual necessary function of the Federal government, it's of course paid for. Nothing to do with the Chinese. It's the frivolous unnecessary stuff that ends up being waste spending covered by the loans from the Chinese.

Ducky: There were no fiascos. And it is all on "the books", and was during the Bush administration, as the Federal budget figures show all money coming in and all going out.

And yes, the Federal government received much more than enough money to cover the necessary function of national defense.

-------------------
Beamish said; "We trade with China because slavery is illegal on our shores."

Actually, this makes no difference. The amount of trade that is involved with anything like slavery in China (prison labor) is rather small.

dmarks said...

Beamish said: "but I'd argue Chinese loans minus annual trade deficits equals China still owes us a few Trillion."

Trade deficits are actually meaningless in this. "Deficit" is a misleading term. as there is equal balance on both sides, with equal value being traded both ways.

Anonymous said...

LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!

When we hear so many boldly asserted lies masquerading as the truth, we lose our capacity to tell truth from falsehood.

It is then that we are at our most vulnerable.

The Merchants of Mendacity have won through the process of attrition.

Sixty years ago we knew who the liars were. We tried to root them out of positions of power and influence. The process was vilified, labelled "indecent," and became known derisively and dismissively as "Mccarthyism."

Our sworn enemies, practiced as they are in the Arts of Deceit, the use of specious logic and disingenuous Argumentation, are a great deal cleverer and far more cunning than we. Because they have had no compunctions about using dishonorable, deceptive, unethical methods to win their points, they have walked all over us roughly wiping the dung from their hob-nailed boots on our tender, white, unarmored, blood-streaked, dying forms.

By cleverly using a perverse, disingenuous, but legally tenable interpretation our own constitutional provisions against us, our enemies have infiltrated our most hallowed precincts and grabbed control of the levers of power.

WASP America is KAPUT. The Liars and Thieves are in charge now.

~ FreeThinke

Anonymous said...

This part deserves special emphasis:

By cleverly using a perverse, disingenuous, but legally tenable interpretation our own constitutional provisions against us, our enemies have infiltrated our most hallowed precincts and grabbed control of the levers of power.

What other explanation could there be for the ill that has befallen us?

When you're as old as I am, you automatically get a sense of historical perspective that cannot be learned from books, and cannot be measured by statistics.

I REMEMBER how things USED to be, and I have SEEN the influences that have been brought to bear.

Nothing happens by accident. We are the victims of hostile, manipulative, devilishly clever DESIGN.

~ FreeThinke

Anonymous said...

It's the "legally tenable" part that's most to blame.

Just because it's technically "legal," does NOT make it morally RIGHT.

Law should reflect, support and maintain basic Christian standards of morality and decency.

We have a positive civic DUTY to defy and disobey laws that do not -- and to oust and discredit elements that pervert the intent and spirit of existing laws through twisted, "foreign interpretations."

For instance Supreme Court Justices who would consult "International Law," and let it influence our domestic policy should be IMPEACHED, BUMPED OFF the BENCH, and consigned to OBLIVION.

~ FreeThinke

Kid said...

Too many people are willing to accept any level of incompetence at the highest levels.

janet neopolitan ice cream for example couldn't hold a job keeping the french fry bin stocked at a McDonalds.

eric holder couldn't maintain a job as tree spotter in a forest.

White House spokesperson carney could hold down a job telling fairy tales at a Kindergarten.

Go right on down the line.

Yet, roughly 50% of the idiots in this country will vote for them to keep their jobs in November.

It's over folks.

Ducky's here said...

Trade deficits are actually meaningless in this. "Deficit" is a misleading term. as there is equal balance on both sides, with equal value being traded both ways.

-------------

Well, except e have to increase the money supply by issuing T bills in order to cover the deficit.

We buy 20 billion from China
We sell 10 billion to China.

The other 10 billion comes in the form of IOUs.

You can buy a vowel any time. Really catch a clue dmarks.

Les Carpenter said...

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LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
LESI! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!
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Having fun I see Tom

Anonymous said...

Who's "Tom?"

~ FreeThinke?