In Kim Willenson’s collected oral history of Vietnam, the most interesting perspectives often come from the senior and junior military officers. Reading the warnings of Admiral James B. Stockdale on the importance of “moral leverage” would have been extremely useful for members of the Bush administration, especially those who knew the evidence of WMD was in short supply. 
Though news of this sort cannot be considered unusual any longer, I still find it insufferable and mildly shocking. The likelihood of a British citizen having their personal home computer hacked by government authorities, secretly and without a warrant, has increased. Even more infuriating, this intrusion may be at the behest of a foreign nation, thanks to a recent plan adopted by the EU.
Since the hacking may proceed if an officer believes there is sufficient reason to believe it would help prevent or detect a serious crime, the obvious question is, who decides what is considered “sufficient reason” and what is to prevent abuse of these over-reaching powers? If there is truly sufficient evidence, why wouldn’t a judge simply grant a warrant? This would at least grant some oversight.
The Los Angeles Times ran a stunning piece in this Sunday’s paper detailing the resignation of Lt. Col. Darrel J. Vandeveld, the man who was prosecuting nearly 1/3rd of the pending trials for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay. Vandeveld, a self described conformist, became disenchanted with “the system” set up in Cuba over issues relating to fairness and lack of due process for the very prisoners he was suppose to prosecute. He lays out accusations of intentional withholding of exculpatory evidence from defense attorneys by military officials, and even goes so far as to say he reached out to a defense attorney to ask “how do I get myself out of this office?”.
CNN is out with a new poll that shows Americans don’t trust the government when it comes to safeguarding their rights, and rightfully so:
A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government’s become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.
The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans.
Some would say that this is paranoia, but it’s not. Over the last several years, we’ve seen a dismantling of the Bill of Rights through restrictions on speech, attempted restrictions on the Second Amendment (Heller was a rare victory), a running over of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, which guarantees the right to privacy, due process and private property. There is also no protection of economic liberty by government anymore.
During a recent event sponsored by the University of Chicago Law School’s Federalist Society, former US Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) and John Yoo, whose legal opinions paved the way for the Bush Administration to subvert the Constitution and Bill of Rights, squared off for a debate on national security and individual liberty during wartime.
Here is the debate in its entirety:
Here is the situation: A man in Oklahoma City gets pulled over by the police. Reason? He has a sign on the back of his truck that reads “Abort Obama, not the Unborn.” The police tell the man that this sign could be construed to be threatening the president’s life!
Wait a minute… I thought all abortion does is remove a blob of tissue from a woman’s uterus. Seems like the Oklahoma City Police know better… But I digress.
The police confiscate the sign and then call the Secret Service, who show up at the man’s home and search it to make sure he wasn’t a part of some “hate group.” After politely interviewing the man for 30 minutes, the Secret Service leaves.
And the crickets start chirping from the Left.
jason [at] unitedliberty [dot] org
brett [at] unitedliberty [dot] org
United Liberty
