Friday, June 7, 2013

Scandalanche® Update: Help Barry Buy a Vowel

We’re running out of letters here, people! We’ve used up so many on our acronym list of new and evolving scandals: IRS, FBI, CIA, DOJ, EPA, DOA, ATF, HHS, and GSA that we need to buy a few more vowels. Just since Wednesday we’ve had to add the LGBT (no vowels, thank goodness) and the NSA (extra “A” required) controversies to our ever expanding list of co-conspirators.

Boy, we just cannot make some of you people happy. First you complain about Big Guy getting all the news he doesn’t know anything about on the news and at his press conferences:

bo obama presser 1 jpgh/t the Morlock Revolt

Then you complain when he takes steps to get in the loop.

phonesNSA national museum of antique eavesdropping devices

The latest issue over some innocent data mining by the NSA came about because the Night Stalker, aka Val Jar, did not wish our hero (that would be BHO, in case you’re having trouble following the plot) to become “The Man Who Knows Too Much” because we all know what can occur when that happens.

val night stalker

So Val’s been screening BO’s calls for him ever since he became president. And since it has proved so useful for her purposes thus far:

valarie reallyOh really? Because that’s not what I overheard.

she decided “Hey! Why stop there when I have the power to screen everybody’s calls, emails and internet searches!?”

So remember this little cautionary tale, the next time you decide that it’s okay to trade a little bit of liberty for more security – a trap that even some of the best and brightest fall into occasionally. Here, for example, is Charles Krauthammer explaining, first, why he supports  Patriot Act style eavesdropping:

and then explains precisely why he shouldn’t:

Here’s the money shot: “when you’ve lost that trust, then the NSA stuff becomes really scary.” Because herein, my children, is the sad, unvarnished truth: you will eventually lose that trust because once you’ve granted unconstitutional powers to your government they will never give it back willingly and sooner or later they will use that power against you. As Charles himself explains, “it depends on who’s in office.”

Or in the immediate case, who’s really in office.

val jar chair“I’ll have a double espresso and bring the little guy a diet Coke.”

bo val“It’s okay, just tell them everything you know and you’ll be fine.”

Simple maxim to remember and teach your children: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” h/t Lord Acton

By the way: we’ve kicked off a special OFA drive today which, regardless of what you hear, is not a legal defense fund. Please contribute today. And if you don’t we will begin spamming your email every 5 minutes until such time as you do.

dig barry out-WM

Linked By: iOwnTheWorld’s Cardigan, and 90 Miles From Tyranny, and Nancy Bailey Mironov Ziegler, and Steven P. Duhon, Alan Doyle, Kimberly S. Hager, Wendy Tucker Morgan, Terry Wells, Annie Brown, Ray Schafer, William J. Hill, Patricia Redd Dobbs, Val Sil on facebook, and penguin on frisco-online, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network