“Honey, you might have an affair…”

The Republican yes-monkeys to Bush’s illegal wire tapping, e-mail reading, and otherwise spying on Americans like to argue, “Well, if you’re not a terrorist, then you have nothing to worry about.”

Which is a little like your spouse / significant other coming to you and saying, “Honey, I don’t think you are having an affair, but we know that lots of people do cheat. So I want to be able to read all of your mail, monitor all of your e-mails and get copies of all of your cell phone bills. If you’re not having an affair, then you have nothing to worry about. But you might and I want to be able to catch you at it.”

In other words, you’re presumed to be guilty and must continuously prove your innocence.

I don’t know about the civics classes you took in grade and high school, but my recollection was that the founding fathers believed it ought to be the other way around, and built into the Constitution more than a few provisions designed to safeguard that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Say goodbye to the U.S.

The headline for an AP story moved online 11/11/07 said: “Intel Official: Say Goodbye to Privacy”

The article went on to say that, “As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

“Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguards people's private communications and financial information.

“Kerr's comments come as Congress is taking a second look at the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act.

“Lawmakers hastily changed the 1978 law last summer to allow the government to eavesdrop inside the United States without court permission, so long as one end of the conversation was reasonably believed to be located outside the U.S.”

Mr. Kerr, you are not trying to redefine “privacy” you are redefining what it means to be an American. But that is exactly what George W. Bush and his Neo-Con henchmen want to do.

For anyone who’s thinking about buying into this twisted perversion of patriotism, I would share this quote by Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up Essentail Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty or Safety.”

If, as Mr. Kerr suggests, we say “goodbye to privacy,” then as far as I’m concerned we will also be saying goodbye to the United States of America as we have known it for the last 250 years.