The initial paragraph of the story pretty much tells the whole story:
"Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday that Americans need to ease their concerns about turning over personal information to the government, especially if they want to fly safe from terrorism."
He's braying about how we should all gladly surrender personal information to airlines and the oh-so-secure(tm) TSA Big Brother database so that everyone can be safe.
The article quotes an ACLU counsel who basically shoots down that claim with the obvious argument that amounts to: This really only protects us against incompetent agressors who don't have the resources to get a fake identity. Or those who could otherwise sneak through our screening systems, but who happen to have the same first-initial-last-name as someone who's already on the TSA "Do Not Fly" watchlist. Which, of course, is most of them.
Okay peeps, I grew up in an America in which we valued personal liberty and shuddered at the thought of the "show me your papers" governments of Nazi Germany and the USSR. That USA is the one I love, not the scary-ass one where some 12-stepper-looking, cabinet-level appointee tells me that "Ignorance is Strength" and "Freedom is Slavery".
I swear it wasn't that long ago that republicans railed against intrusive big-government. Can't we please get back to the point where the government just spent my tax dollars irresponsibly, and Presidential lies only really benefited their political cronies? I'm feeling so terribly nostalgic for those days...
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