Thursday, July 18, 2002
OPERATION 'TIPS'
Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. -- James Madison (1788)
It's been reported that the United States is developing a program called TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) that will recruit 1 million Americans to become secret informants for the government - American Citizen Spies. Who will they be? Your neighbor? Your mother? Your grandson?
According to the article, this will be a larger covert system of informants than the former East Germany's infamous Stasi. The pilot program is set to launch in the 10 largest U.S. cities, with 1,000,000 informants participating in the first stage. This would equal 1 in every 24 citizens.
The program will be under the jurisdiction of FEMA, which was granted broad powers during the Reagan administration, including the power of internment. With the recent passage of the Patriot Act, which allows for a person's home to be searched without disclosure to them that the search took place or that any surveillance devices were planted, the implications are clear. Our freedom is threatened, again. And the potentials for abuse are countless.
You can read about the program on the government web site, Citizen Corps.
Read the article, with descriptions of the frightening implications, here.
Quoting the article: "Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic states. According to a 1992 report by Harvard University's Project on Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of having fabricated their reports."
Read about the Stasi for a historical perspective on citizen informant programs.
If men use their liberty in such a way as to surrender their liberty, are they thereafter any the less slaves? If people by a plebiscite elect a man despot over them, do they remain free because the despotism was of their own making? -- Herbert Spencer (1884)
Well, our leader was not elected. But our freedoms are being stripped away nonetheless. And as much as we're being told otherwise, WE ARE NOT AT WAR.
Many of us are too young to remember World War II. I know I am. But I know what a war is. In WWII our entire nation had to mobilize its resources to fight a real threat to our freedom, our country, and our lives. This is not the case today - not even close.
In WWII, the fate of the world was in the balance. Dubya's "War On Terrorism" does not compare. We are being duped.
We are NOT at war!
Freedom cannot be trifled with. You cannot surrender it for security unless in a state of war, and then you must guard carefully the methods of so doing. -- Arthur Hays Sulzberger (1952)
Our freedom is being trifled with - in the name of security - and I don't think the methods of doing so are guarded at all.
Frightening. Be aware.
It's been reported that the United States is developing a program called TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) that will recruit 1 million Americans to become secret informants for the government - American Citizen Spies. Who will they be? Your neighbor? Your mother? Your grandson?
According to the article, this will be a larger covert system of informants than the former East Germany's infamous Stasi. The pilot program is set to launch in the 10 largest U.S. cities, with 1,000,000 informants participating in the first stage. This would equal 1 in every 24 citizens.
The program will be under the jurisdiction of FEMA, which was granted broad powers during the Reagan administration, including the power of internment. With the recent passage of the Patriot Act, which allows for a person's home to be searched without disclosure to them that the search took place or that any surveillance devices were planted, the implications are clear. Our freedom is threatened, again. And the potentials for abuse are countless.
You can read about the program on the government web site, Citizen Corps.
Read the article, with descriptions of the frightening implications, here.
Quoting the article: "Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic states. According to a 1992 report by Harvard University's Project on Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of having fabricated their reports."
Read about the Stasi for a historical perspective on citizen informant programs.
If men use their liberty in such a way as to surrender their liberty, are they thereafter any the less slaves? If people by a plebiscite elect a man despot over them, do they remain free because the despotism was of their own making? -- Herbert Spencer (1884)
Well, our leader was not elected. But our freedoms are being stripped away nonetheless. And as much as we're being told otherwise, WE ARE NOT AT WAR.
Many of us are too young to remember World War II. I know I am. But I know what a war is. In WWII our entire nation had to mobilize its resources to fight a real threat to our freedom, our country, and our lives. This is not the case today - not even close.
In WWII, the fate of the world was in the balance. Dubya's "War On Terrorism" does not compare. We are being duped.
We are NOT at war!
Freedom cannot be trifled with. You cannot surrender it for security unless in a state of war, and then you must guard carefully the methods of so doing. -- Arthur Hays Sulzberger (1952)
Our freedom is being trifled with - in the name of security - and I don't think the methods of doing so are guarded at all.
Frightening. Be aware.
Filed in: Politics!
