September 13, 2006 05:49 PM UTC

Living Behind the Iron Curtain

• 3 Comments
• by: tmgt

I am seriously going to date myself here.

When I was growing up, I vaguely remember television ads depicting life behind  The Iron Curtain.

“Assure someone behind the Iron Curtain that they have friends―for one dollar, send 1  minute of hope”, there was the deep clunk and hollow ring of steel doors slamming tightly.

They must have been ads for Voice of America, or something like that.  And somehow, in the depths of my very young mind, I knew that these ads spoke of deprivation and suffering.

Moving from the McCarthy era to the Vietnam Era confused me.  Somehow, we were at war with something called “commies”, and the “commies” had managed to move out from behind the Iron Curtain and were spreading something bad in a place called Nam.

When I was old enough to go to school, we learned that Russians were “commies” and Chinese were “commies”.  We didn’t know much about the Chinese commies, but in Russia we had spies.  So we knew what kind of evil the commies did in Russia.  Russia had secret police called KGB who spied on everyone in Russia.  The people in Russia also spied on each other.

Now, flash forward to 2006.  In May I wrote in regard to The Report: “NSA has domestic phone call database-Agency collecting information on tens of millions of Americans”. I was proposing that this activity was making the US look like a KGB agent’s wet dream.

But now, it gets worse.

Dateline Denver:

Counterterrorism Web Site Launched

Colorado counterterrorism officials used the 9/11 anniversary to launch an Internet system that lets ordinary people electronically report “suspicious activity” — ferreting out possible terrorist bombers or plotters in their midst. The system lets anybody with Internet access send a report and photos (via www.ciac.co.gov) documenting the activity in question. MORE: Denver Post Coloradans could abuse the system “to undermine their neighbors or their enemies,” said State Patrol Sgt. Jack Cowart

While the Bush regime seeks to vest his warrentless spying on American citizens through the Specter/Cheyney bill that would give Congress’s blessing to domestic spying outside of FISA’s strictures, we now have the setup in place for citizens to spy on and report each other.

Deep clunk and hollow ring of steel doors slamming tightly…does anybody else hear it?