The Final Throes... of Freedom?

It might have been a bad dream from the old cold-war days, that dream where I wake up and find that I’m living in the Soviet Union. But it wasn’t a dream; it was real. The latest item in the unending stream of the inconceivable is the news that the NSA isn’t just spying on some of us, the ones who make or receive long-distance calls. No, they’re spying on almost all of us, everyone except the fortunate few who are served by Qwest.

And all the while those who are sworn to faithfully defend the constitution stutter and stammer and assure us that all is well, that our Big Brother has our best interests at heart and shouldn’t be questioned or investigated or even talked to in anything other than a reverent tone. Be afraid. Freedom isn’t just a slogan. It’s something that has to be defended every moment, protected from friend and foe alike, something that can disappear in the blink of an eye. Or the ring of a phone.