Big Brother is Listening To Phone Calls And Reading Text Messages

Big Brother is Listening To Phone Calls And Reading Text Messages

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

On November 9^th, 2011 Americans will get an up close and personal demonstration of the new powers the US government has given itself over America’s broadcast services.

There will be a complete take over of the nation’s air waves, both television and radio – plus -- cable television systems, wireless cable systems, satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) providers, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers.  The power to do this is now in the hands of the President.  Only he has the authority to do this. (SOURCE)

On November 9^th there will be a test of how effectively the system will work whenever the President decides he must speak to the American people reference an emergency that threatens the nation.

Who exactly, decides when there is a national emergency?  I would expect it to be the President himself.

I am a 30-year veteran of the broadcast business (retired) and this sends chills up and down my spine.  I have visions of Big Brother taking control of the nation’s broadcast systems any time the President feels the need.

But that is not the worst of my concerns. 

There is no such thing as “privacy” in America any longer.  The moment I press “send” on my e-mail, the government scans it.  Every time I make a phone call, whether on my land line, or my cell phone, the government monitors it.  If I send a fax on an instant message, the government scans the wording of the fax.  If and when I send a text message, the government reads it, too.  UNBELIEVABLE, right?  Believe it.

This is a combined project referred to as “Echelon” (or The Echelon Network – sometimes called “The Five Eyes.”) involving the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, with listening posts that span the globe.  Every phone call, e-mail, text message, wire, fax, instant message, computer, and even satellite phone calls is/are intercepted 24-hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year.   Listening posts are located in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Cyprus, Hungary, Pakistan, India, Oman, Kenya, and, yes, in Israel.   And – there may well be others, and there probably are.

Ollie North has said the only kind of message communication not intercepted by the government is – smoke signals!  (Page 400 of “The Jericho Sanctions” by Ollie North.)

When you consider all this, then the TV show “Person of Interest” is not so far fetched – now, is it?

“The system has been reported in a number of public sources. Its capabilities and political implications were investigated by a committee of the European Parliament during 2000 and 2001 with a report published in 2001, and by author James Bamford in his books on the National Security Agency of the United States.

Intelligence monitoring of people in the area covered by the AUSCANZUKUS security agreement has caused concern. Some critics claim the system is being used not only to search for terrorist plots, drug dealers' plans, and political and diplomatic intelligence but also for large-scale commercial theft, international economic espionage, and invasion of privacy.

In 2001 the Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System recommended to the European Parliament that citizens of member states routinely use cryptography in their communications to protect their privacy, because economic espionage with ECHELON has been conducted by the US intelligence.” (SOURCE)

NOW, do you wonder why Americans stand close and whisper in public places, in 2011, yet mindlessly say anything to anyone online, or on a telephone or by text message? 

Call me old fashioned, if you will, but it ticks me off to know that the government has the power to do this.  By the time you read this, the government’s interception center has already read it!

Does this not concern Americans, Brits, Canadians, Aussies, and New Zealanders???  And PLEASE don’t give me the song and dance about protecting us from terrorists.  Terrorists know about Echelon and use “runners” to deliver their messages – live human beings and word of mouth.

Now the government has given the Office of the President the right to simply turn off your radio and TV reception just so you and I can listen to the President of the US warn us of a national emergency, which, most likely,  the regular TV and cable networks have already told us about!

As an American citizen, I feel violated.  I used to have a right to privacy.  No longer.  Right along with a huge chunk of our freedom and liberty, privacy has been flushed down Big Brother’s toilet and into the “government septic tank.”

Come to think of it, every few years you have to clean our your septic tank.  Seems to me, America’s national septic tank, in Washington, needs cleaning out!

J. D. Longstreet

US Government “Health Police” Go Too Far This Time!

US Government “Health Police” Go Too Far This Time!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Gruesome pictures on cigarette packs only serve to demonstrate just how ignorant the US Government thinks Americans really are.

I live in a state that was, more or less, financed by tobacco for over 200 years. Within two blocks of my home are three tobacco warehouses where tobacco was trucked in by farmers and sold at auction. I, myself, have followed the auctioneer down the long rows of tobacco as each pile was auctioned off to the highest bidder. I still savor the memory of the aroma of freshly cured tobacco on the floors of those warehouses.

It was a wonderful time here when the tobacco-selling season opened. Money was everywhere. A farmer could truck in a load of tobacco in the early morning and leave the warehouse in the afternoon with a roll of bills large enough to choke a horse. They headed for the retail district of town, ASAP, to pay off loans and buy the needed clothing, etc, for their families and supplies for the next years planting. The sidewalks of our town were so crowded with shoppers that often one would have to walk in the street because maneuvering the sidewalks was impossible. Cash flowed like water.

That is all gone now. The city is a ghost of its former self. The county is now one of the poorest in the state. And I resent the hell out of it.

Look, I am a smoker. I have been since pre-school age. I am now a few months shy of my 70th birthday and I am still smoking.

I smoked cigarettes, a pipe, and cigars, and I carried a plug of chewing tobacco in my hunting vest when I was in the swamps or fields hunting. I never liked to smoke in the forests and swamps for fear of accidentally starting a fire. So rather than smoke, I would chew tobacco.

Today I only smoke cigars and a pipe.

I like tobacco. I always have. I intend to smoke, because I enjoy it, until my life is up on this plain on existence.

Love of tobacco sort of runs in my family. My maternal grandfather used tobacco products all is life. He only lived to be 96 years old. My paternal grandfather did the same thing but he was not as fortunate for the Lord called him home at the relatively young age of 93. (One of my most prized possessions is his pipe.) My father was a cigarette and pipe smoker until he expired at the age of only 89.

My aunts died in their 80’s and 90’s and they were smokers, too.

One of my greatest joys in life is to “PO” a non-smoker who might dare to look exasperated when I light up my pipe.

See, I don’t give a rat’s rear-end whether you favor or disfavor smoking. I really, really, could not care less. It is a personal choice I made many decades ago, and I like it, and I make absolutely no apologies for it.

That said -- it irritates me no end that the government, which derives tons of cash off taxes from the sale of tobacco products, has the audacity to pressure me -- and all smoking Americans -- to quit. It is none of the government’s business what I choose to do with a legal product.

When they finally make the sale of tobacco products illegal, I intend to grow my own, shred it, and continue to smoke ‘til my dying day.

As to those god-awful pictures they are proposing placing on cigarette packs, I suppose we will have to bring back the old plastic and metal cigarette cases, within which, one could slide a complete pack of cigarettes hiding the logo and the government’s scare art. Cigarette smokers may continue to smoke without looking at those disgusting government propaganda posters splashed across the packages.

Another thing that really, and I mean R E A L L Y ticks me off about the “holier than thou” anti-smoker crowd is they totally ignore the dangers posed by the use of alcohol, which is indisputably far more dangerous to a consumer’s health than a cigarette, cigar, or pipe. How about some pictures of an auto crash with dead bodies lying all about the pavement alongside empty beer and whiskey bottles. No, that is not going to happen because the authorities, the “Health Police,” and so darned hypocritical and, most likely, many are consumers of alcohol products, themselves. Being the elitist snobs they are, they are going after only those who offend them -- and drunks obviously do not offend them. I wonder how many of those elitists “Health Police” have DUI tickets they’d rather we not know about? Huh?

This is simply another case of our elitist government flexing its muscle and demonstrating its power over we “peons” by intervening in the lives of the private American citizen.

This is also another reminder that America is no longer a free country. We have a lot of rogue government agencies in Washington with the power to pass rules and regulations, which have the power of law. That, absolutely, must be brought to a screech halt.

In my opinion, there is no need for the majority of those interventionist agencies and the new US House of Representatives, where all spending bills must originate, ought to begin defunding those agencies and starving them out of existence just as soon as they are sworn into office.

Ronald Reagan once said: “Government is not the answer to our problems. Government IS THE PROBLEM.” Some of the agencies, I’d personally like to see disbanded and done away with include: the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and all of Obama’s Czars and Czarinas. And that just scratches the surface for the list of agencies that serve only to harass the American public and American business. It is a very long list, indeed.

The government is too big, too intrusive, too powerful, and too full of itself. It needs to be brought to heel, which is where an American representative republic belongs in the first place.

The “Health Police” have crossed the line with their gruesome scare tactics on packs of cigarettes and I sincerely hope, when their budget comes up for review soon, it will be cut to near zero in order to bring some control and humility to their agency and remind them who they work for. They, apparently, have it backwards.

Oh, I am happily puffing on my pipe as I write this piece. If you don’t like it, may we suggest – well -- you know what you can do with your objection.

J. D. Longstreet

America’s Golden Age of Ignorance

America’s Golden Age of Ignorance
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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One can only conclude that America finds herself in the current mess as a direct result of ignorance. “Ignorance of what,” you ask? I must answer, “Ignorance of practically everything.”

I concluded, early on, the election of Obama was a direct result of ignorance. Ignorance of just how politics works in America as a result of no education -- period. Ignorance as a direct result of education received in the government schools, and just plain old willful ignorance – choosing to be ignorant of politics in America, by electing not to involve oneself in the distasteful, and sometimes less than sanitary job of maintaining America’s freedom.

Ignorance of America’s colorful political history, and that of the world, is much to blame for the Obama Regime’s continued acceptance by vast numbers of Americans. But, I am happy to report that number is growing ever smaller as each day passes.

Ignorance of history, as well as of current events, among the populace of any country, can lead to consequences that are truly awful. Take the election of America’s first socialist government, for instance. The election of 2006 turned our national legislature into a socialist machine bent on creating an even stronger central government with all the power it could grasp. Then, in 2008, the capstone of socialist victory in American politics was the election of Barack Hussein Obama. He promised fundamental change in America. The politically savvy in America understood he meant to lead America into out and out (pure) socialism. And he did.

Even today, the average democrat voter will deny the existence of a socialist government in America. They simply do not recognize it. I am convinced that ignorance stems from the fact that they were not taught the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the genius of America’s founders, and the love of a free constitutional republic that led their ancestors to lay down their lives to protect and preserve the freedom granted by that constitution. That is ignorance.

Back in the day, before teacher’s unions, American students were taught the fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. We learned, as students, that life in America is a priviledge. We learned that freedom is not free, it is preserved by Americans who know its value, even if it means laying down their lives in its defense.

Students also leaned the immeasurable value of The Founding Documents, the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the all-important Bill of Rights. They learned that The Founders said what they meant and meant what they said when writing the constiturtion. Students also learned that the US Constitution is a document for the ages. It is not a living breathing document subject to change at the whim of those citizens who live under its protection.

No longer. Today we graduate students wo cannot read their diplomas, who cannot find Canada and Mexico on a map, and have no idea what the Constitution or the Bill of Rights are! They have no clue that the Bill of Rights limits the role of government in the daily lives of Americans. If they did, there would be riots in the streets all over America today.

These are the Americans who placed the "so-called" democrats in charge of America’s government. I say “so-called” because those of us who have dabbled in politics, all our adult lives, understand that those in charge of the US government today are not democrats as they would have you believe. They are socialists, Marxists, communists, and progressives.

So – how WERE they elected? They were elected by people who genuinely thought they were voting for democrats, and by people who don’t care what kind of government we have so long as their place on the government dole is protected and their “hand outs” continue to arrive every month, and by those who were interested only in the power that would accrue to them if socialists controled the US government. The latter could not have accomplished this feat without the ignorance of the former, whose votes they knew they could count on.

Ignorance is a dangerous, dangerous, thing. We, here in America, are only just re-learning this lesson.

This is truly the Golden Era of Ignorance in America. If we survive the damage it has done, we must begin all over again teaching our children what it means to be an American under the protection of the original US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

If we cannot repair the current public education system in America then we must trash it and build a new one in which the federal government and federal dollars have no part – and -- unionizing teachers is illegal.

We Americans must purge our Congress and the White House of socialist, Marxists, communists, and progressives at the ballot box and reclaim our country. If we do not -- America will have earned its place on the dust heap of history.

J. D. Longstreet

The Curse of A Strong Central Government (Updated)

The Curse of A Strong Central Government (Updated)
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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A strong central government is a nightmare to freedom lovers everywhere, especially here in the United States. The Nightmare has become real, in the US, since President Abraham Lincoln tossed out the Constitution. We have never been able to recover the government our forefathers, the framers of the Constitution, intended.

The Founders and Framers foresaw a limited government subject to the States. Today it is exactly the opposite. Now the states are subject to the federal government. In other words the creation of the States… namely, the Federal Government has become a “Frankenstein” of sorts. This was NOT what the founders and framers intended. Not by a long shot.

Look at the recent ruling by the Supreme Court that medical marijuana use is illegal… even though eleven states have passed laws saying it is legal, in their states, for a doctor to write a prescription for a patient to use marijuana to relieve his, or her pain, on any number of other ailments.

This is raw power. And it is dangerous… dangerous in the extreme.

One of the real shortcomings of this country is its inability to study its past history and learn from its former mistakes. Even our public schools teach so little history, I’m talking about American History now, that the graduates, those schools turn out, are virtually ignorant of their country, and the rights they are granted under the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. As a result, rulings similar to the one, recently, on medical marijuana, is easily passed by a Supreme Court which is obviously out of control and needs to be reined in by the Congress.

Problem is… the Congress is out of control, too. They are handing down laws, which curtail our constitutional freedoms because “the people” are clamoring for security. Sorry, folks, but I don’t hear that clamor! I believe it is imaginary. A figment of minds so used to power they will grasp every chance to expand their controlling reach into our society.

Can we stop it? Can we bring citizen control back to our government? Not in our lifetimes or that of our children. We cannot even begin until we stiffen the spines of the American people. That will not be easy. The Leftist Media is continually feeding their readers the idea that they, as citizens, are helpless and their only hope is in government. And that, Dear Reader, is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place!

Those of us who believe in the original Constitution must be able to reach the populace with this message of truth. Those who would oppose us with their dying breath control the conventional means of communications, in the US.

So, we have gone to the Internet. Soon the Internet will be under attack by the Federal Government. They seek to control our speech out here in cyber space. Their actions smack of fear -- raw fear of losing control. You see, if they don’t control us… we might speak the truth. Christ Himself said, “Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free!” Therein lies the problem for our strong central government… the simple truth.

But we have to stand up like the sons and daughters of heroes that we are! Bound together by the common goal of Freedom, we can once again break the bonds of a strong central government and the power it has over our everyday lives. It may take decades. It may take a century, or two, but if we remain in the fight, we can win. But… that is the only way. It will take all of us, in the harness, pulling together to put our Republic back together again. Slackers need not apply.

Here’s something one of our founders and framers, John Adams, said:

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."

Mr. Adams sums it up nicely.

We must not tarry. The goal is much too important. Our liberty, our freedom regained. That smoldering ember, down deep in your soul, is calling to you to answer the growing thirst for freedom again.

In November we have the Mid-Term election. This will be an opportunity to let your voice be heard loudly proclaiming that you want your birthright of freedom returned. Tell the government loudly and clearly that we choose liberty over security. We choose our freedom. As an American, it is our right!

J. D. Longstreet

MORE TRUTH ABOUT OBAMACARE

MORE TRUTH ABOUT OBAMACARE

INSIGHT on Freedom Presents :
An article by: Michael Connelly
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There is SO much information, of which, the pubic is being deprived in this battle with our own government over the greatest transfer of power from the people of the United States to the Executive Branch of the government, that it is just unbelievable. So, I have decided to publish the article below.

I have received the article several times by e-mail but, I had not had the time to check it out until recently. You, too, may check it out at Mr. Connelly’s website: HERE.

In the meantime you may read what he has said below – and -- at the end of the article you will find a large amount of “bio” material on Mr. Connelly. We also suggest you click over to his blog (you will find the address below) and read a number of additional articles he has written concerning the healthcare bills and the Obama Regime.

Now, read -- and carefully consider -- Mr. Connelly’s opinion of ObamaCare.

J. D. Longstreet
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The Truth About the Health Care Bills –
By: Michael Connelly, Ret. Constitutional Attorney (08.24.09)
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Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.

To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.

The Bill will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats and most of them will not be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled.

However, as scary as all of that it, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated. If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.

The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the American people and the businesses they own. The irony is that the Congress doesn’t have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with. I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.

This legislation also provides for access by the appointees of the Obama administration of all of your personal healthcare information, your personal financial information, and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is a direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide.

If you decide not to have healthcare insurance or if you have private insurance that is not deemed “acceptable” to the “Health Choices Administrator” appointed by Obama there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a “tax” instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. However, that doesn’t work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the “due process of law.

So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much out the original ten in the Bill of Rights that are effectively nullified by this law. It doesn’t stop there though. The 9th Amendment that provides: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people;” The 10th Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control.

I could write many more pages about this legislation, but I think you get the idea. This is not about health care; it is about seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of the Constitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to “be bound by oath or affirmation” to support the Constitution. If I was a member of Congress I would not be able to vote for this legislation or anything like it without feeling I was violating that sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway I would hope the American people would hold me accountable.

For those who might doubt the nature of this threat I suggest they consult the source. Here is a link to the Constitution: http://www.archives.gov/ex hibits/charters/constituti on_transcript.html

And another to the Bill of Rights: http://www.archives.gov/ex hibits/charters/bill_of_ri ghts_transcript.html

There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us.

Michael Connelly

Retired attorney,

Constitutional Law Instructor,

Carrollton , Texas
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This Michael R. Connelly’s web page:

http://michaelconnelly.viviti.com/

Here’s the "BIO" info about him:

MICHAEL R. CONNELLY

MROBERTC@HOTMAIL.COM

EDUCATION· Diploma, Redemptorist High School in New Orleans, La. 1966.· Bachelor of Science, Business and Public Administration, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La. (Degree required numerous political science and business courses. Many history and public speaking courses were taken as electives.) 1971· Juris Doctorate, Louisiana State University Law School, 1973.· Graduate, U.S. Army Intelligence School, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, 1973.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE MILITARY: Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve, 1971.· Active duty at the U.S. Army Intelligence School from Sept. 1973- Nov. 1973.· Assigned to reserve duty with 352nd Army Security Agency company in Baton Rouge from Jan 1974 until Aug. 1978. (Served as Supply officer, Operations officer, and Recruiting officer.)· Left the reserves in 1978 as a Captain.

LEGAL:· Licensed attorney in Baton Rouge, La. since 1973.· Qualified to practice before all Louisiana State and Federal Courts and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.· I have also represented clients before the U.S. Supreme Court.· Areas of practice include Constitutional Law, Personal Injury Law, Criminal Law, Family Law, Business Law, Medical Malpractice and Successions.· Special assistant attorney general for the State of Louisiana, 1977-80.· Of Counsel for U.S. Justice Foundation, 1980-98.· General Counsel, Council for Inter-American Security, 1978-95.· Still licensed, but inactive since 2001.

REAL ESTATE CONSULTING:· Part Time Real Estate consultant for McNichol & Connelly, Dallas, TX. (Duties included preparation of Market & Financial Feasibility studies, locating real estate for various projects, brokering loans, and locating potential investors.) 1997 - 1999

TEACHING:· Currently teaching courses on Evidence Law, Constitutional Law, Courtroom Strategy and Business Law for Education to Go, an online company providing courses for numerous universities.· Have appeared as a guest lecturer at both LSU and University of New Orleans.· Substitute high school teacher for East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Sept. 1998-Jan. 2000.· Temporary full time teacher of World Geography, Woodlawn High School, Baton Rouge, La., 1998-99.

PUBLICATIONS AND PUBLIC SPEAKING· Authored, “Riders in the Sky: The Ghosts and Legends of Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico”, published by Merril Press in Aug 2001, and “The Mortarmen”, published by Trafford Press in April 2005.· Authored the true story, “Winds of Merit” which was the basis for a television documentary segment on the show “Storm Warning” shown extensively on both the Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel.· Authored numerous published articles on politics, law, and scouting as well as many “keyword” articles for various companies.· Contributor to the book, “Intruder in Your Home” by Ronald L. Cruit, published by Stein and Day, 1983· Frequent speaker before civic groups and guest on radio and television talk shows (both local and national) on various political and legal subjects.· Frequent speaker before school groups on Native American Heritage.· Editor and Publisher of an award winning independent campus newspaper while at LSU.· Co-host of a weekly radio talk show while at LSU.

References available on request