Letters at 3AM (#2): "Laws arbitrarily enforced... are no longer laws"

[villager]

An Arbitrary Nation, Pt. 2

by

Michael Ventura


In this series, I examine the Constitution of the United States to demonstrate that it is no longer a functioning document of law. While I'm making my case, entertain this question: If the Constitution is no longer the law of the land, what is?

On to the Fourth Amendment: "The right of the People to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Item 1: Technology knows no checks and balances.

"Police departments in Florida, Maryland, Texas, and Colorado are testing drones for surveillance and search-and-rescue missions. ... [The drones range] in size from a small airplane to a hummingbird ... [that is] capable of ... landing on a window ledge, where it can record sound and video. ... Drones can read license plates, spot body heat at night, or identify faces. ... The American Civil Liberties Union warns that drones [may usher] in an era in which Americans could be monitored every time they step outside. ... In separate cases in 1986 and 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that police don't need a warrant to observe a private property from public airspace" (The Week, June 15, 2012, p.11).

There is also a "growing market of off-the-shelf computer surveillance technologies" that "grab images of computer screens, record Skype chats, turn on cameras and microphones, and log keystrokes. ... Mobile versions of the spyware are customized for all major mobile phones" (The New York Times, Aug. 30, 2012).

<snip>

Shocked? Depressed? This might make you feel better: The Supreme Court just ruled that the blood in your veins is protected. Authorities need a warrant to extract it (The New York Times, April 18). However, when it comes to almost anything else, the Fourth Amendment is applied or not, arbitrarily, when the authorities feel like it, making it just words on paper and nothing more. It no longer functions as law.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2013-05-03/letters-at-3am-an-arbitrary-nation-part-2/

[FirstLight]

1. WOW...

gonna read the whole thing later but the first question is pretty horrifying...what if there is no Law of the Land?

Well, then the Corporatocracy rules the land, since they are the ones PAYING for the arbitrary laws in the first place...

makes me ill.
we thought we were going to be free from facism when bush was gone...but the new boss is just as much of a puppet for the Owners of the Country as the rest of them. There is no government anymore, just buildings full of paper dolls who make noise and pretend they wield the power in order to deceive us into believing that things are 'business as usual'...the only 'government' we have is really the Police State who makes sure that we all fall in line like good little sheep, consume as we are told, and don't stand up to Big Brother...

(someday soon, there's gonna be a black SUV outside my window...just because of my posting here and elsewhere how I feel about this bullshit. The fact i call myself a Journalist will put me in the first wave of 'roundups'...)

see my sig line for my reply to their Police State bullshit

[villager]

2. "Be worthy of their surveillance; earn your file"

This was a maxim we had back in the pre-digital 70's, when we still assumed there was really not much of a 4th Amendment left.

And I work as a journalist and an author, so my "trail" has been a pretty obvious one, too...

See you in the back of the black vans!

[Demeter]

3. That's for sure! Bookmarking..

[abelenkpe]

4. K&R

"There is also a "growing market of off-the-shelf computer surveillance technologies" that "grab images of computer screens, record Skype chats, turn on cameras and microphones, and log keystrokes. ... Mobile versions of the spyware are customized for all major mobile phones" (The New York Times, Aug. 30, 2012). "


Stalking: easily available to all