Every breath you take

Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you

WASHINGTON - Following a report that the U.S. agency in charge of a domestic spying program is building a database of every phone call made in the country, President Bush on Thursday told the nation from the White House that all anti-terrorism efforts are within the law.

“We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans,” Bush said before leaving for a commencement address at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Biloxi. “Our efforts are focused on links to al-Qaida and their known affiliates."

I can't believe you haven't already heard it on the news today, but the story is

here

.

Uh...excuse me? "We're not mining or trolling..."??

Then what the fuck do you call it, George? You're playing with words. It most certainly is 'trolling'.

Ya know, last year, when Bush said that he authorized the NSA to listen, without warrants, to international phone calls involving Americans when terrorism is suspected, I didn't have much of a problem with it. And I figured most other people wouldn't either. At least the ones that don't have anything to hide.

I figured if you're not a terrorist, well hell...what's the big deal?

But now...just think of all the information they could learn from eavesdropping on every telephone call made in this country. And it's not just phone calls. Hell, I don't really care who knows who I'm calling or who's calling me. But if they're doing that, then what else are they doing? And, more importantly, why? Just exactly what could they do with this information?

Bank records, health information...private things. Confidential things. Things that I once believed we, as Americans, had the right to keep private.

And while I'm on the subject of privacy of health information, go read

Dave's

post about New York City's newest public health regulation. I've gotta admit...I'm feeling just a teeny bit schadenfreud-ish about this, though. If you think what the smoking nazis are doing is a good thing, you oughta love this...as long as you're not a diabetic.

I can't even begin to tell you how disturbing all this is to me. It goes waaaaay beyond any kind of "national security" issues.

The government is slowly stripping away personal rights...personal freedoms...personal choices and responsibilities...and no one seems to be too awfully concerned about it.

They're eavesdropping on our personal telephone conversations. They're using what's supposed to be confidential health information to coerce us into doing/not doing things for our own good.

I dunno...I always thought I lived in the United States of America. But it's starting to feel more like Communist Russia or Cuba.