A New Assault On The First Amendment - Obama Has Your Email Address... and MORE!!

Well, Big Brother strikes again! It has been reported that the National Legal and Policy Center has revealed the White House New Media team is seeking to hire a "technology vendor" to collect data such as comments, tag lines, e-mail, audio and video from any place where the White House "maintains a presence" – for a period of up to eight years.

Which, in my mind anyway, immediately raises the question, "WHY? WHY? and WHY?" The first WHY - Why does the White House need a presence anywhere on the Internet other than at www.whitehouse.gov? The only answer I can come up with is to impose the collection of data by its "technology vendor" (which vendor, I am certain, is tasked to provide all such information to a review and analysis team, so that they may determine who's naughty [disagrees with Obama] and who's nice [agrees with The Messiah), justifying it thusly -

"The contractor shall provide the necessary services to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP (Executive Office of the President) on publicly-accessible web sites, along with information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP offices under PRA (Presidential Records Act) maintains a presence."

The White House will then begin harvesting information about Americans from its pages on popular social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

The second WHY is -Why is paranoia suddenly running rampant in the White House? George W. Bush apparently never felt the need to circumvent/violate the First Amendment by spying on our citizens social correspondence. Nor did Bill Clinton (he was too busy violating his marriage vows to violate anything else).

And the third WHY is - WHY has nobody in the Legislative Branch or Judicial Branch of our government challenged Obama's intrusive and illegal act?

The Presidential Records Act is being abused as an excuse to marginalize our rights under the First and Fourth Amendments! Knowing that our government is spying upon you by harvesting your Internet communications should make you very wary of this administration. It's also an excellent way to intimidate those who might choose this venue to voice their disagreement on certain issues with the current administration.

Even if our communications are highly critical of the administration, it does not make those comments the property of the White House. This makes about as much sense as lug nuts on a cake! There is no acceptable rationale for such an action on the part of the White House. It is plainly an attempt to "do an end-run" around the Constitution, stifle dissent, and to reduce the overwhelming numbers of persons who do not agree with the direction Obama is taking our country, under the guise of keeping Presidential records.

The Legislative and Judicial Branches of government are the guardians of the Constitution. Where is their hue and cry? Where is the public outrage? (Where is Carmen Sandiego... and Waldo?)

There's a very remote possibility that I could be wrong about this situation... we'll just have to see what the future holds.

"Reality TV": It's More than Just An Oxy... Moron!

Big Brother... Survivor... The Great Race! Interesting, somewhat entertaining concepts being presented to television audiences as "Reality TV". Everybody that believes there's such a thing as "Reality Television" please raise your hand. (Put your hand back down, Billy Jim-Bob! Y'all ain't been right in the head since you peed on that electric fence.) Okay, the short bus will be along to pick you 4 people up tomorrow morning. (Strangely, these shows - for the most-part - have been quite successful, with repeated renewal contracts for several consecutive seasons.)

There's as much "reality" in Reality TV, as there is in professional wrestling. Why do you think the "World Wrestling Federation" had to change its name to "World Wrestling Entertainment"? There's probably more reality in a Spongebob Squarepants cartoon than there is in "Reality TV"! Anybody who hasn't figured out, after how long now - 5 years? - of "Reality TV", that the programs are fully scripted and choreographed should be made a ward of the courts.

Personally, I watched the first episode of Big Brother and Survivor, and haven't watched another show of that type since. Perhaps they should rename that genre of entertainment to something like "Simulated Reality TV", or "Pseudo-Reality TV". But don't give me a bowl of BS and tell me it's ice cream!

Unpleasant as it may have been to watch, "Reality TV" is what was broadcast on September 11, 2001, live, from New York City. THAT was reality! Even our documentaries are modified to meet the expectations of the producer, just as our news is adjusted to support the political views of the publisher or station owner. That which we call "reality" is our own personal perception of the interaction between man and his environment. If your reality includes a hopping rodent with large floppy ears and a basket full of goodies, or a fat man in a red suit whose M.O. is to enter homes under cover of darkness via the chimney, then you are a prime candidate for "Reality TV". I have no quarrel with entertainment television. In fact, I LOVE entertainment TV! But, let's call a spade a spade - it's not a manually operated personal soil removal and entrenchment device - regardless of what it says on the US Government Bill of Lading!

I usually end by saying, "I could be wrong about this..." but, there's not a snowball's chance this time.