From NewsMax Poll: Prosecute the N.Y. Times
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 9:34 a.m. EDT
1) Was the New York Times wrong in reporting about a secret U.S. program that tracked financial transactions of terror suspects?Wrong: 94 percent
Not Wrong: 6 percent
2) Should the New York Times be prosecuted for their disclosures of this program?
Yes: 93 percent
No: 7 percent
3) Do you believe the government should be allowed to obtain financial records without a court approved warrant?
Yes: 80 percent
No: 20 percent
4) Are you willing to give up, even partially, your civil liberties to help stop terrorism?
Yes: 84 percent
No: 16 percent
5) Do you believe the Bush administration�s wiretapping and other surveillance programs are justified even if they infringe on civil liberties?
Justified: 92 percent
Not justified: 8 percent
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/7/19/105605.shtml
Comment (1) the definition of freedom which I for one find most workable goes, 'unrestricted action' ; I have seen this attributed to Thomas Jefferson.The wiretappings in question would come under the constitutional section dealing with freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures.
Moot can be, obviously, what sorts of wiretapping (or the like) be warranted (by the existing situation) — and to what extent can the government go in wiretapping (or other surveillance) without unduly lessening the liberties of the individual (also called 'civil liberties').
I note that wiretapping, other surveillance, while presumably unpleasant or even distasteful prospect to the average person — do not yet stop him or her from doing as he / she sees fit.
On the other had : as a matter of common sense reasoning, the governmental functionaries are presumably not interested in wiretapping entirely innocent persons ; for this would amount to the merest waste of their time and resources.
(Though one does not exclude the possibilities of targeted harassment of individuals by some kind of corrupt groups within the government — which would be a far more serious issue).
(2) I am yet uneasy about "(3) Do you believe the government should be allowed to obtain financial records without a court approved warrant? Yes: 80 percent No: 20 percent
In the context of the anti-terrorist actions, such a response would seem rational.
However, the government has been allowed to obtain financial records of any persons without a court approved warrant even without any terrorist threats having been present.
The direct taxation introduced in 1913 — despite the fact that the US Constitution did not allow direct taxation, and in spite of the fact that the constitutional amendment (16th) has reportedly been not properly ratified by the states — does imply an unrestricted access by the governmental functionaries to the financial records of any body within the US.
Is not that contrary to the article enjoining the US government from "unwarranted searches or seizures" ?
(Is that not contrary to the common sense notion of the liberty of the individual ? )
It certainly is in accord with the criminal marxist 'ideology' (the communist manifesto of 1848, etc).
One notes that the direct taxation (income taxation) has been steadily increasing ever since 1913 — by any criteria. This did somehow coincide with the USSR-driven programs of "destruction of the imperialism", especially the USA ; and with the infiltration of the US by the Bolshevik agents especially after 1930.
Although I would not say such phenomena were directly linked, they presumably were linked indirectly. The marxist 'ideology', seeping into the minds of the people, bit by bit, had not arrived in this country without leaving effects. Unfortunately, these effects are often not perceived ; by the citizen whose mind has already been changed — for him unawares, by some propagandist author or newspaperman or politician.
Not content with whining and despairing, one does propose total elimination, world-wide, of the Marxian calamity of 'philosophy'. This issue is present in most, perhaps nearly all, of the present-day political problems, anyway.
WPT, 20 July 2006