Misty Water Colored Memories
by digby
Here's a little flashback to September 2001 when the country lost its mind and decided that the first thing we needed to do was throw away the constitution or we'd never catch the boogeyman. You can't blame it all on Bush. He had plenty of help:
Big Brother No Longer So Scary
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 19, 2001; 9:30 AM
The clash was all but inevitable.
For decades, they have shadow-boxed their way through all manner of policy disputes, the champions of more aggressive law enforcement and the guardians of civil liberties.
The FBI wants to wiretap more phones or intercept e-mail communications? Civil libertarians complain about the loss of privacy. One administration or another wants to pare down the rights of accused criminals, junk Miranda warnings or allow the use of improperly seized evidence? The ACLU-types attack the proposals as unconstitutional. The battles are fought in Congress, in the Supreme Court, in the court of public opinion.
Sometimes the reformers have the upper hand, such as when the CIA runs amok and public sentiment supports new restrictions. Sometimes the prosecutors get their way, such as when there's a public clamor for a crackdown on lawlessness.
From the moment terrorists attacked New York and Washington, it was clear that this age-old battle would be waged on a global scale. And there's little question that momentum is on the side of those who want spies and investigators to have a stronger hand to hunt down those who are, or might be, involved in terror.
In short, Big Brother may no longer have such a menacing image. And the White House, not surprisingly, is seizing the moment.
Yes they did. I'm sure the government hasn't been spying on Kurtz, though. But then they don't need to. He's already so far in the tank he's probably spying on himself.
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