Industrialized Cyclist Notepad


Turley on American Authoritarianism
June 7, 2013, 09:51
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…

An authoritarian nation is defined not just by the use of authoritarian powers, but by the ability to use them. If a president can take away your freedom or your life on his own authority, all rights become little more than a discretionary grant subject to executive will.

The framers lived under autocratic rule and understood this danger better than we do. James Madison famously warned that we needed a system that did not depend on the good intentions or motivations of our rulers: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

[…]

Since 9/11, we have created the very government the framers feared: a government with sweeping and largely unchecked powers resting on the hope that they will be used wisely.

via 10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free – The Washington Post.

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Texas Oilfield Town Runs Out of Water
June 7, 2013, 09:23
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Yeah, that’s what happens.

Barnhart, a small community in West Texas, has run out of water.

[…]

About 30 communities statewide could run out of water by the end of the year, according to a list compiled by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

via West Texas Oilfield Town Runs Out of Water | The Texas Tribune.

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The Fourth Amendment
June 7, 2013, 08:10
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…to the Constitution of the United States. At least if it’s written here you know the NSA will read it.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

There is no way that indiscriminate domestic surveillance, data “collection”, whatever without a warrant can be considered lawful.

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