IN THE EYE OF BIG BROTHER

Subject: IN THE EYE OF BIG BROTHER Fri May 25, 2012 9:35 pm

MAGGIE'S FARM.COM

In the eye of Big Brother

"Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's-"

It's smile for the camera time.

So there I was this morning, getting this puppy ready to post, when I stopped by the Drudge Report:

Welcome to the party, Matt.

As you may have noticed, there have been an increasing number of articles written lately on spy drones being used on U.S. citizens here at home.

But before we get into the nitty-gritty of civil rights and the Constitution and all that, I thought I might point out that there's a side to this that hasn't been discussed.

To wit:

You're flying to Denver for a family reunion. Or maybe a new job. Or maybe your dad is seriously ill and they're not sure he's going to pull through. Whatever the reason, there you are, flying in a commercial jet to Denver.

Suddenly, even before conscious mind can register the horror, the plane is disintegrating in mid-air, cartwheeling into the ground in a blaze of burnt metal and plastic. Your remains are never identified.

Spy Drone Almost Causes Mid-Air Collision With Jet Over Denver

A mystery object, thought to be a military or law enforcement drone, flying in controlled airspace over Denver almost caused a catastrophic mid-air crash with a commercial jet Monday.

The pilot of the Cessna jet radioed air traffic controllers to warn them that “A remote controlled aircraft” had flown past his plane far too close for comfort.

It'll happen someday. Let's just hope you're not on the plane when it does, right?

But somebody will be.

Uttered by the incomparable Charles Krauthammer, here's what I consider to be the best line of the year so far:

I an predicting that the first guy who uses a Second Amendment weapon to bring a drone down that's been hovering over his house is going to be a folk hero in this country.

Amen, brudder. Please sign me up as a contributor to his legal defense fund.

Down to the nitty-gritty below the fold.

I first wrote about this subject five years ago. Worse, the post has been ongoing. Here I thought I was just writing a quick little parody, but as the years have rolled by and new boundaries have been reached, I've continued adding to it.

And, presumably, will continue to do so.

At least, until the nightmare becomes a reality.

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You know what's really scary about that article?

The vast majority of entries were added after I wrote it. If you only look at the first four or five, you can see why I wrote it as parody.

I thought I was kidding.

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In regards to the current topic, I suppose the best place to start is the video where the Krautmeister utters his now-famous quote. Bird Dog once mentioned that he thought ol' Krauty was one of the best pundits out there, and I'd tend to agree. I don't like any of them, but he's one of the ones I don't like least of all.

Next, from reason.com, is this searing little piece.

If the drone operator sees you doing anything of interest (Is your fertilizer for the roses or to fuel a bomb? Is that Sudafed for your cold or your meth habit? Are you smoking in front of your kids?), the feds say they may take a picture of you and keep it. The feds predict that they will dispatch or authorize about 30,000 of these unmanned aerial vehicles across America in the next 10 years. Meanwhile, more than 300 local and state police departments are awaiting federal permission to use the drones they already have purchased -- usually with federal stimulus funds.

The government is out of control.

I suppose I should note that the "30,000" figure is just for the Feds. It, by no means, accounts for state, county and city agencies — much less the private sector.

Like Senator Imhofe has been the most prominent figure speaking out against the global warming hoax, cable TV regular Judge Andrew Napolitano is probably the biggest figure speaking out against the spy drones today. Congress said they'd like to help out, but they're too busy spending the year being reelected.

You can catch the Judge on video here, and here's a Washington Times article written by him.

I noted at the start of this post how the spy drones can put you in accidental harm's way, and here the Judge touches upon a slightly more direct way:

Add to all this the use of drones to kill people. President Obama has argued that he can use drones to kill Americans overseas, whose deaths he believes will keep us all safer, without any constitutional due process whatsoever. His attorney general has argued that the president’s careful consideration of each target and the narrow use of deadly drones are an adequate substitute for due process. Of course, no court has ever ruled that way. The president’s national security adviser has argued that the use of drones is humane since they are "surgical" and only kill their targets. Of course, that’s not true, but it misses the point. Without a declaration of war, the president can’t lawfully kill anyone, no matter how humane his killing.

How long will it be before the Air Force and the police adopt the unconstitutional arguments of the president’s wrongheaded advisers and use the drones not only to spy but also to kill Americans in America?

"Not long", would be a pretty good guess. The question isn't when — it's will we even find out when it happens? The article Drudge links to is on the same subject. Although far too brief in length, at least it's bringing the topic into the public eye.

There's also a small pragmatic issue that comes to mind. Okay, let's say there are thousands and thousands of drones in the formerly-friendly skies. Can you imagine what a nightmare that will be for the FAA and the flight controllers? Now you've got to monitor 37 inbound airliners — and how many drones?

But if they don't allow drones in the flight paths, then:

1. Every wanted felon and terrorist in the country will be living safely under flight paths, leaving the drones to spy on the rest of us, and,

2. Every terrorist group with a decent in-house hacker will be able to tap into the local radar mapping and know exactly where the drones are in real-time. Airport equipment has never been ultra-secure, simply because if you want to know which planes are currently landing and taking off, all you have to do is walk outside and look. I think we can safely say that "keeping tabs on citizen-butchering spy drones" wasn't part of the original plan.

If I were the head of the FAA, I'd be cringing every time I heard the word.

Maybe we should be, too.

Posted by Dr. Mercury in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects

Subject: Re: IN THE EYE OF BIG BROTHER Sun May 27, 2012 11:40 am

This is a really sore subject with Constitutional law attorneys! Military psuedo law enforcement activities of this type inside our continental borders are a very dangerous thing to start! Where is the line drawn and who has the authority if anyone? These are questions that will be answer because it appears big brother has decided to commence. I certainly hope that flight operations do not commence over my small plot of ground as things could not be very pretty! Have not had that opportunity yet to figure out exactly what I would/could do about them but I would not appreciate my tax dollars being used in such a manner!