4th AMENDMENT AND THE NSA

Here is an excerpt from an article I read:

“On this spying business, officials from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to self-important senators are, in effect, telling Americans not to worry: it's not that big a deal, and "trust us" because they're keeping US citizens safe. This position must be turned on its head and opened up to a genuine discussion about the necessary, dynamic tension between security and privacy. As it now stands, these programs are ripe for abuse unless we establish ground rules and barriers between authentic national security interests and potential political chicanery”.

The article can be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/23/nsa-intelligence-industrial-complex-abuse

Here is my personal take on this whole affair:

If you sit back and look at it, there is no debate on this matter. This is covered clearly by the 4th amendment of the constitution.

“IV - Right of search and seizure regulated”

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

I am not a lawyer but this is clear to me. No probable cause and no warrant equals no listening to private phone calls (cellular or land line), reading private mail or e-mails, bugging homes, tracing citizens GPS location, etc. etc. etc. Granted, one argument I have heard is that all these means of communication didn't exist when the constitution was written. Well, neither did the modern technology used in spying. E-mail may not be on paper, but it is no different than mail, so it would be included in papers. A person’s effects, that covers everything they own, including their phone and computer.

The only legitimate argument for electronic surveillance that the NSA can make in regards to electronic monitoring is social networking. When an individual puts something out there on G+, Facebook, Twitter, or a public blog, it is public. Anyone can read it, including the government. If your going to put your buiness out the for any Tom, Dick or Harry to read, expect that either Tom, Dick, or Harry work for the government. No different than a speach on the town hall steps. Now, private papers, even electronic, they need a warrant, no question about it.

Don't tell the American people that we need to allow you to violate our rights for our own protection. As for me, if I had to choose between safety and liberty, liberty would win every time.

NIDAL HASAN'S DEFENSE

Nidal Hasan (I refuse to associate his name with a military rank) murdered 13 soldiers and wounded over 30 others at Ft. Hood. He is being allowed to defend himself at his trial. Many people are upset at the judge’s decision to allow this. I am not and will explain why.

Any judge or lawyer will tell you that the worse defense council in the world is yourself. Hasan says he is going to use "the defense of others" as his defense. Well the others he is referring to are Muslims in Afghanistan. The only Muslims in Afghanistan coming under U.S. fire are combative members or combative supporters of the Taliban. So in other words he is defending the Taliban. The Taliban are the enemy and he was an Army officer at the time of the shootings. By shooting our soldiers to defend the Taliban he is a traitor and committed treason. He is going to admit to treason, in a court of law, as his defense. Treason during war time can carry the death penalty.

I am not a lawyer but this seems pretty straight forward to me. My words to Hasan, go for it. Use that defense. We'll execute you for treason instead of murder. Same result.

Government Employees

As a current government employee, that gets frustrated by a small percentage that give us the bad stereotypical "government employee" title I think this article is great

http://www.fedsmith.com/2013/05/01/the-effects-of-rotting-apples/?enews-2013-may

A TEAR IN MY EYE

I have not been posting much and am not on a political rant this time. I’ve been busy with work and getting more involved with local veteran’s activities. I’ve just been elected Director of our local American Legion Riders chapter and have been trying to attend as many Patriot Guard Riders (PGR) missions as I can. This brings me to what I am writing about. Honoring our Veterans in any way you can. Saying you support our troops is politically correct these days, but actually doing something, even something small to show that support, is a heartwarming thing to do.

Yesterday I was privileged to take part in a PGR mission at our local airport. Unfortunately, so many of our missions are for funerals. This one was different. This was a welcome home. A local Army Reserve MP Company arrived home from their tour in Afghanistan. The arriving soldiers were spread out on about eight different flights over a twelve hour period. The PGR volunteers made sure there was a group standing a flag line and applauding for each and every one of these soldier. The looks of pure joy (and sometimes a little embarrassment) on these young soldiers faces as they rounded the corner to a gauntlet of applauding flag holding bikers was fantastic. Even better that that was the looks on the faces of the children and spouses of these returning hero’s. I’m not ashamed to tell you that more than once, I had a tear in my eye. A tear in my eye and a warmth in my heart.

Memorial Day is this weekend. Please remember it is not national barbeque day. Remember what this day is for. I encourage each and every one of you to take some time to honor a veteran. Whether you applaud the veterans in a local parade, visit a veteran’s cemetery or grave site, or find a single veteran, shake their hand and thank them for their service, do something. After you’ve done that let me know how it feels. Tell me if I’m wrong. Remember, honoring our veteran’s, both past and present, goes a long way to ensuring we have future veterans. Lest We Forget.

GUANTANAMO BAY MILITARY PRISON

I just read that the military prison in Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) Cuba is spending an average of $900,000.00 per inmate annually. By anyone’s standards this is an exorbitant amount of money. A major portion of the cost is the fact that everything needed there must be shipped in from the states. Everything from maintenance supplies to food to judges and lawyers. The President would like to close the prison. From purely a financial aspect I agree with him. Yes, I am shocked as well. I normally do not agree with Obama on anything. If he told me the sky was blue I would go outside to check. But, looking at things from a cost cutting angle, closing the Gitmo prison makes sense. The part the baffles me is that none of our leaders can figure out what to do with the 166 current inmates at Gitmo. This is the simple part. Place these inmates in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

The BOP is a professional government agency. Keeping inmates and running prisons is what they do and they do it well. Average per inmate cost that the BOP spends is $30,000.00. This is a savings of $870,000.00 per inmate, per year, or a total annual savings of $144,420,000.00. This is quite a chunk of money and a considerable savings to the American tax payer. There are other advantages to this. The government then has the ability, if need be, to split some or all of these inmates up. These 166 inmates could be separated and placed at numerous prisons throughout the United States. Should the government wish to keep most of these inmates in one location that is also easy. We have several smaller Federal Detention Centers that sit on the same grounds as larger Federal Prisons. These detention centers usually hold pre-trial, pre-sentencing, and hold over (in-transient) inmates. These detention centers are not normally at full capacity. Move the current inmates from one of these and place the Gitmo inmates there. Problem solved, the inmates are in a safe, secure, well run institution and the American people save money. A win win situation in my book.

SEQUESTRATION CONFUSION

Some key Democratic politicians have just come out to say they don’t like the sequestration. Where have these people been? Did they just now realize the impact of sequestration and mandatory furloughs for staff? I know the impact. I am a federal employee. All of these impacts are bad, but the one they key in on is Air Traffic Control. Air Traffic Control is important, commerce requires we keep planes flying. But is that the main issue they are complaining about? Someone they know must be missing a flight. What about meat and food inspectors, teachers, law enforcement and the military. If you’re going to complain about your President’s plan, complain about the whole thing.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) tweeted “If Republicans will work with us, we can act now to save Americans from millions of hours spent waiting in airport lines due to sequester”. So let me get this right, Obama suggested this plan in an effort to strong arm Republicans into his way of thinking, but now that the Republicans did not cave and sequestration is in place, it is their fault for not caving. Did that sum things up or am I confused?

Now, I don’t think the Republican side is completely blameless. There is a line in the sand that neither side will cross. I honestly think that both sides need to flex and work together. But I do believe that President Obama and his Democratic cronies strong arm tactics drew that line and they need to be the first ones to flex.

Most people also do not realize that furloughs are not the only way government agencies can meet their required budget cuts. Unfortunately the department heads are not given the flexibility to do so. Staff furloughs are mandatory for most agencies. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) tweeted “FAA has flexibility to cut costs w/o delaying air travelers; why won’t President Obama let them?” I for one would like an answer to that question.