Thanks to Marc Rotenberg for sending this link along through the IDOF mailing list. William Safire in today's New York Times:
If the Homeland Security Act is not amended before passage, here is what will happen to you:
Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend — all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as "a virtual, centralized grand database."
I have colleagues who think this is okay because they are scared. Their fear is that without this and all the other powers seized since 9-11, the feds will be unable to wage war on terrorism. What my friends don't understand is that none of the new powers gained by the Administration since September 11 have had anything to do with combating terrorism. It's all about control baby. Once this database gets started, nothing will be private. And your every action will be subject to the watchful eye of petty tyrants and career government employees alike. And instead of being safer, we'll just be easier to control, blackmail, manipulate and violate.
And then my scared friends will be even more scared, but they'll have only themselves to blame for going along willingly. As a dissident, I rest easy. I may be on a watchlist, but I won't be kicking myself later for going with the program and letting emotion rule out over reason. This freedom stuff ain't free folks. Sometimes it requires you to be among a vocal minority, ridiculed and attacked. I'll take that over the life of a willing slave.