Glorious Leader is Listening...Always Listening

Many years ago as a G.I. I was part of a small team traveling around Europe working on electronic equipment at many of the Air Force bases in Germany and other countries. In the process I and a handful of team members had a chance to travel into East Berlin several times. This was the during the Cold War, tensions were high between us and the USSR. The border guards at Check Point Charlie were not friendly at all. They killed a couple of people trying to escape to the west while we were there. An Army Captain was shot by the secret police for taking pictures in the wrong place shortly before one of our trips in. So things were tight to say the least.

Now I have to confess the first time we went into the East I didn't know what it would be like. I expected to see drab people wearing gray clothing, (I really did think Mao coats and those stupid hats) going from place to place quietly under the watchful eye of their oppressors. I was sure they were always being spied on by each other and the Stasi so that there could be no dissent. Hell, how did I know I was wrong about the clothes. The East Berliners dressed just like the folks in any other European city. Of course I was right about the other points.

We were briefed before hand that we would be followed by the East German Secret Police the Stasi, and we would be approached by seeming civilians who would ask us questions we might not want to answer. We had to remove our name tags and if asked, we were not to identify ourselves to anyone but a Russian officer. During one of our trips in we took the opportunity to play with a guy who started following us. We let him chase us through a big department store and then chased him around for a while just to let him know we could play that game as well. Buck, if you're out there, remember when... Eventually the Stasi guy went away and came back with five or six other officers and so took all the fun out of the game.

The point of this old and long war story is that the people in East Berlin really were watched all the time. They feared their government they feared their neighbors, they feared their neighbor's children, heck they feared their own children. Their kids were so used to "knowing" it was correct and right to report dissent they had no problem reporting their parents. No one knew who would be willing to turn them in for voicing an opinion that was not approved by the Government. Saying or doing something out of line could and did bring down the Stasi on you. Maybe you lost your job, or maybe you lost some privileges, or maybe you just disappeared.

Today I read an article from Drudge about Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. He is concerned about a new program that "that asks members of the public to flag “fishy” claims about President Obama’s health care plans".

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/08/gop-senator-white-house-encroaching-on-first-amendment.html

Ok, so what was that all about. Well it is about something very frightening when looked at through the eyes of someone who has seen oppression in action.

Follow the link to whitehouse.gov
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

There you will find a very slick video blog by Linda Douglass. Well produced, good camera angles and excellent closeups. She will tell you one of her jobs is to track dis-information about health care reform. Really? The White House has a person who's job entails tracking information posted on the Internet to make sure it meets their standards of accuracy? How does she do that? The interWEB is big, so does she have a staff? If so how many, 10, 20, more? How much is that costing us? What kind of search engine do they use to identify dis-information, can I get a copy of that?

Whether the plan is good, bad or indifferent is not the issue.

The issue is the slow growth of suppression and intimidation that seems to be peeking around the corners of our society.

The following quote is directly from the White House i.e. from the President of the United States.

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

Let's break that down a little.

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

So if you get that email from Aunt Bertha telling you the plan will put your insurance company out of business just what do you do, exactly? Does that mean the President wants you to forward that email from your Aunt on to whoever runs flag@whitehouse.gov or would you only have to give them her email address and tell the "man" what she said? What happens after your rat your Aunt out? Does someone from the government send her an email telling her she is wrong, will she get a call, a letter, maybe a little visit? If you hear something in casual conversation that you think is "fishy" again, just what does the White House want you to do about it? Can you just report to flag@whitehouse.gov that on such and such a date Bob Jones told me this at lunch and I think he is spreading dis-information about the plan. If the reporting is anonymous you could really sting your boss or that co-worker you don't like. Hey, they brought it up, I just want to know what they really mean.

Glenn Beck identified a problem with the Cash for Clunkers program. It allowed the government full access to all of the dealers files on the PC used to submit vouchers. This would include emails, your financial data, their financial data, everything. This raised many questions about things like multiple user accounts for dealers working at home. He was vilified for about three days and then the government changed the program. Oppsie!

A few weeks ago Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook was fired for his action in questioning Obama's citizenship.

http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/pentagon-orders-soldier-fired-for-challenging-obama-army-warrior-terminated-from-job-after-questioning-obama-eligibility-to-hold-the-office-of-potus/

Without arguing the merits of the case. Doesn't it worry you just a little bit that the full weight of the Dept of Defense was brought down on a citizen to insure retribution was metered out?


Have we really reached the point of the East Berliners? Say something the state does not approve of and, maybe someone from your government will come and have a little talk with you, maybe you will loose your job, or maybe you loose some privileges (like access to the internet), or maybe, just maybe one day you just disappear.