America Under Surveillance: Judge Napolitano Asks “Where’s The Outrage?”

OpEd from FoxNews contributor Judge Andrew Napolitano:

For the past few weeks, I have been writing in this column about the  government’s use of drones and challenging their constitutionality on Fox News  Channel where I work. I once asked on air what Thomas Jefferson would have done  if — had drones existed at the time — King George III had sent drones to peer  inside the bedroom windows of Monticello. I suspect that Jefferson and his  household would have trained their muskets on the drones and taken them down. I  offer this historical anachronism as a hypothetical only, not as one who is  urging the use of violence against the government.

Nevertheless, what Jeffersonians are among us today? When drones take  pictures of us on our private property and in our homes, and the government uses  the photos as it wishes, what will we do about it? Jefferson understood that  when the government assaults our privacy and dignity, it is the moral equivalent  of violence against us. The folks who hear about this, who either laugh or  groan, cannot find it humorous or boring that their every move will be monitored  and photographed by the government.

Don’t believe me that this is coming? The photos that the drones will take  may be retained and used or even distributed to others in the government so long  as the “recipient is reasonably perceived to have a specific, lawful  governmental function” in requiring them. And for the first time since the Civil  War, the federal government will deploy military personnel inside the United  States and publicly acknowledge that it is deploying them “to collect  information about U.S. persons.”

Did you consent to the American military spying on Americans in  America? I don’t know a single person who has, but I know only a few who are  complaining.

-It gets worse. If the military personnel see something of interest from a  drone, they may apply to a military judge or “military commander” for permission  to conduct a physical search of the private property that intrigues them. And,  any “incidentally acquired information” can be retained or turned over to local  law enforcement. What’s next? Prosecutions before military tribunals in the  U.S.?

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/06/07/where-is-outrage/?test=latestnews#ixzz1xEVULtP7

“Joe the Plumber” Loses Privacy Invasion Lawsuit

from the Columbus Dispatch:

A federal judge yesterday threw out a lawsuit by Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – the northwestern Ohio man immortalized as “Joe the Plumber” in the 2008 presidential campaign – alleging that three high-ranking state bureaucrats violated his privacy by running his name through confidential databases.

U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley said Wurzelbacher could not show that he had been harmed by the snooping.

Three top managers of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services ran database checks of Wurzelbacher, who briefly vaulted to fame in October 2008 when he confronted then-candidate Barack Obama about the effects of his tax policies on Wurzelbacher’s Toledo-area plumbing business. He then teamed up with Obama’s opponent, Sen. John McCain, at several campaign events and was mentioned several times by McCain in the campaign’s final debate.

Wurzelbacher sued the state in March 2009. He claimed that the search came as retaliation for his speaking out against Obama and that it had violated his constitutional privacy rights.

Marbley disagreed.

“Without allegations of a more specific and concrete nature as to the harms he suffered, (Wurzelbacher) does not meet the constitutional threshold required to state a claim for First Amendment retaliation,” the judge wrote.

for the rest of James Nash’s article: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/08/05/copy/judge-tosses-out-joe-the-plumber-privacy-lawsuit.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Invasion of our Privacy, Control of Our Health, Mind and Body

from Guest Poster:

OFF TOPIC:

Some may find this offensive or distasteful… and I agree.

WHY does our government believe it is so easy for us to give up our precious PRIVACY?

Why do so many American’s feel comfortable, giving the government, deeply personal information about our bodies, our thoughts, our habits, and our health?

When did every conceivable event that could take place “down there” become PUBLIC INFORMATION?

Did “they” take that part of our body and decide to make it a target for “easy access”? Did “they” conclude that if we can get the American People to stop being prudish, they could reach their “control” goals FASTER?

How old were you when you stopped caring about “what Mom and Dad think” ?? Really? And do we not still spare our parents, by reserving a portion of personal issues, for ourselves?

Is there nothing out there that embarrasses us any more? With the popularity of REALITY shows, cell camera’s and youtube video’s, have we lost the ability to be ASHAMED?

Don’t young people feel UNCOMFORTABLE when they have friends over to watch tv, and Fruit of the Loom is dancing ballet?

WHEN did our “conditioning” start ? And more importantly.. WHY does this Democratic government believe it is “okay” to intervene or make decisions, regarding the most PERSONAL discussions and issues, regarding OUR lives ???????????

Aren’t WE the ones who are supposed to decide, WHO, WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE, regarding events that surround our own bodies?

Just today, I had one of those “ah HAH” moments. I realized that we have been groomed to accept discussion, PUBLICLY, about circumstances that are very, VERY personal… really!…. VERY private and personal.

I have been irritated seeing those “Vagisil, Valtrex and Viagra” commercials for some time… especially when they are aired during moments with my family. Hey, “they” rate movies and books… why not commercials?

Think about it: YEAST in the vagina, herpes sores, and Erectile Dysfunction…during dinner…

OH JOY.

It seems like everything we ever wanted to cure is “down there”.

And, how about those commercials for the Gardasil vaccination? No one is appalled by doctors STRONGLY recommending that our 12 year old daughters get a shot to ward of a Sexually Transmitted Disease that is MOSTLY CURABLE ON IT’S OWN? While STRETCHING THE TRUTH about causing/detecting/preventing cervical cancer???? “I didn’t know!”

What about those commercials for those KY Gel… “intimate” lubricants… OH yea, his and hers… combine them and, well, hmmm, I’m sure they will show us soon, exactly what can happen.

Do you remember the first time you heard an adult say the word breasts, on television? How about uterus? vagina? And the biggie… abortion…??

Now, this is interesting… we are told that women have complete control over their bodies if they decide to abort a pregnancy…. but if you are a healthcare worker, it is mandatory to be vaccinated for the swine flu ???? Oops, getting off topic here…

Penis, Penis, Penis, Penis…. How fast can you say this word? How many times?

Personally, I think it all started with those commercials for ExLax… uh huh, I remember being a child and chuckling at those… I’d rather talk about Carter’s Liver Pills… at the time, nobody knew what they were talking about, but we always expected to hear an advertisement sometime during the evening.

OH and there are the famous Preparation H commercials… people grimacing and then smiling.

And all of the males in the family ran to the tv to see those pictures of the Platex LIVING BRA… Of course, NOW they run to the tv to see the women NOT wearing a bra.

How about those STAY FREE MINI PADS ??? yes, this stuff started creeping up on us, until TAMPAX became a household word. What were women using before these products were advertised on television?

So we no longer need our physicians in order to discuss our forms of contraceptive…YAZ commercials use doctors to tell us how great this product is (that has just been taken off the market)…

But PLEASE remember that CONDOMS DO NOT PREVENT PREGNANCY!!! Oh no, they can only help prevent the SPREAD of HIV/AIDS or STD’s that may be contracted via sexual activity… gay or otherwise. Trojan seems to have the most advertisement.

Gee, didn’t we know about “rubber’s” before these commercials?

Hmmmm, it seems that since we have been bombarded with all these sex related ads, the number of STD’s, teen pregnancies AND out-of-wedlock births has SKYrocketed, out of control!

From an historical perspective, we have made it all the way up to dedicated cable programming for EROTIC TOOLS… and these infomercials seem to be on “floating” channels, as you never know which station they will appear. I don’t know how to get that off my satellite programming. I am sure I did not ask for that OR the LOGO channel.

Someone, some where, has decided that we would have never known about any of these issues/hazards OR REMEDIES, without television commercials.

AND, WE (WE) Let It Happen… while we were sleeping….

In our defense, who would we complain to?

Strange, the “powers that be” stopped airing the commercials about alcohol and cigarettes… and you almost need the aid of those products in order to watch the others!!

Have we been conditioned, so that we can accept this idea of socialized medicine???

Have we become DE-sensitized, into believing that these issues “advertised”, are not private or sacred ????

So, after decades of being indoctrinated through television commercials, the generations behind mine, are perfectly comfortable with these issues, open to the public for scrutiny.

How can this SMUT that floods our airwaves be considered “education” ????

If there was a plan to desensitize us, it is working.

American’s will no longer believe that what occurs in our bodies is PRIVATE… and personal, NOT a government issue.

Will the ability to blush become extinct?.

By the number of commercials for ailments “down there”, these businesses must think we are all desensitized in more ways than one.

The constant bombardment of advertising these PRIVATE ISSUES, appears to have removed all shame, guilt and embarrassment; and replaced them with permission, acceptance and TOLERANCE!!!

So, now, you can see where this has gotten us.

Soon, our bodies will belong to the government, on a chip, in a computer, for anyone to analyze, critique, explore or ignore.