Alan Cheslow

Because of 9/11 the government restricted our freedom from unreasonable searches, our right to a speedy and public trial, our freedom of association, our right to legal representation, our freedom of speech, and our right to liberty.

Because of the economic collapse the government will further restrict the free market and our economic freedoms.

I predict that next the Internet will be either the target or a major component of a national catastrophe, resulting in new government regulations that severely restrict our access to information on the Internet.

I hope I’m wrong.

From FRONTLINE:

“In the broad reach of NSA eavesdropping, the massive FBI data sweep in Las Vegas, access to records gathered by private database companies that allows government agencies to avoid the limitations provided by the Privacy Act, and nearly 200 other government data-mining programs identified by the Government Accounting Office, experienced national security officials and government attorneys see a troubling and potentially dangerous collision between the strategy of pre-emption and the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure.”

View the full program online.

The Bush administration is urging Congress to pass a law that would halt dozens of lawsuits charging phone companies with invading ordinary citizens’ privacy through a post-Sept. 11 warrantless surveillance program.

The measure is part of a legislative package drafted by the Justice Department to relax provisions in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that restrict the administration’s ability to intercept electronic communications in the United States. If passed, the proposed changes would forestall efforts to compel disclosure of the program’s details through Congress or the court system.

Link

In a News.com editorial published today, security experts Bruce Schneier and Richard Forno lay out what’s wrong with REAL ID:

“As currently proposed, Real ID will fail for several reasons. From a technical and implementation perspective, there are serious questions about its operational abilities both to protect citizen information and resist attempts at circumvention by adversaries. Financially, the initial unfunded $11 billion cost, forced onto the states by the federal government, is excessive. And from a sociological perspective, Real ID will increase the potential for expanded personal surveillance and lay the foundation for a new form of class segregation in the name of protecting the homeland.”"It’s time to rethink some of the security decisions made during the emotional aftermath of 9/11 and determine whether they’re still a good idea for homeland security and America. After all, if Real ID was such a well-conceived plan, Maine and 22 other states wouldn’t be challenging it in their legislatures or rejecting the Real ID concept for any number of reasons. But they are.”

Also found thru BoingBoing:

“If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps.

As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration.”

Full article here.

(Part 1)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRd-iA8v89I]

(Part 2)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJw97CL2Coc]

(Part 3)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJqqtMQ6pkA]
The central premise of Loose Change is that the United States Government was, at the very least, criminally negligent in allowing the attacks of September 11th, 2001 to occur.

However, when one looks deeper into the evidence, one might come to the startling conclusion that our own government might have been directly responsible for the attacks themselves.

Loose Change merely scratches the surface of information that points to a massive government cover-up regarding 9/11. We highly encourage you to take it upon yourself to research the events of 9/11 for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Obs8PDy6mY]
Ex-MI5 Officer David Shayler speaks out about 911 and explains why 911 is so important in todays political climate.