It’s scary people can be so complacent

I am not a terrorist. Nor do I have anything to hide: in my conversations, in my letters, in my telephone calls, nor in my e-mails.

The National Security Agency, the CIA, the FBI may have free access to any of the above – provided they do it in the constitutionally approved way by firstobtaining a warrant! Under the FISA regulations, that is possible for them to do with dispatch (even at night or on weekends).

I was shocked when it was reported that 65 percent of U.S. citizens who were polled about NSA’s (read “government”) warrantless spying said they were not concerned. Apparently a good many of us have short memories. The late Pastor Walter Nimbler of Germany was an outspoken advocate for accepting the burden of collective guilt for World War II and the Nazi atrocities that the German nation (through the Nazis) had caused before and during WWII.

What he said decades ago stands yet as a warning to our freedom-loving citizens: “When the Nazis arrested the Communists, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Communist. When they came for the Socialist Democrats, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Social Democrat. Then they arrested the trade unionists, I said nothing; after all, I was not a trade unionist. When they arrested the Jews, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Jew. When they came to arrest me, there was no longer anyone who could protest.”

Thank goodness neither Qwest, T-Mobile nor Working Assets have seen fit to betray the trust of their subscribers!

George C. Brown

Everett

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